ARLC boss Peter V\u2019landys has already suggested the NRL could expand to 20 teams by as early as 2029.<\/p>\n
Now, with the imminent arrival of the Perth Bears in 2027 and PNG Chiefs in 2028, Christchurch-based consortium the \u2018Southern Orcas\u2019 says it could also be ready to compete in the NRL by 2028.<\/p>\n
The side would be based out of the South Island and use the spectacular new 30,000-seat One NZ Stadium in Christchurch as its home ground.<\/p>\n
Speaking with Andrew Voss on SEN radio, Orcas chairman and NZ rugby league icon Sir Graham Lowe declared the time was right for the NRL to expand its wings in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
MORE:\u00a0Daley rolls the dice as Blues bump TWO stars for Origin Game II – \u2018We needed a big man\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely (we\u2019d be ready to play in 2028),\u201d Lowe declared.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt won\u2019t be easy, but there are a lot of players available and you\u2019d be surprised where we get them from.<\/p>\n \u201cChances like this come along less than once in a blue moon, so we are ready, we have to be ready and we won\u2019t be coming along with any excuses.\u201d<\/p>\n Pushed to reveal how far expansion talks had advanced with the ARLC for a potential South Island team, Lowe confessed it\u2019s still early days.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no current dialogue, but they are well aware of our keenness and readiness – we\u2019re just waiting to get the call to come over and have a chat,\u201d he said before stressing the opportunity for rugby league to land a crushing blow to the 15-man game was immense.<\/p>\n \u201cChristchurch is right in the heart of rugby union country, this would be like a dagger into the heart for rugby union people over here,\u201d Lowe explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you talk about expansion, when you talk about a new market, there are some brilliant young rugby players coming through schools that just can\u2019t get an opportunity, there\u2019s (currently) nowhere for them to go in rugby league in the South Island.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n For all of Lowe\u2019s bullishness, perhaps unsurprisingly New Zealand Warriors CEO Cameron George\u00a0has warned<\/a> the NRL against rushing into a second Kiwi team.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI would absolutely share in the expansion of the NRL and consider the South Island as a preferred option \u2013 in time,\u201d George told The Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we need to build the game from within and we need further investment in the domestic competitions to underpin a second team in three to five years\u2019 time. That to me would make it sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n Not without some irony, NRL Round 16 will see the Warriors<\/a> play the North Queensland Cowboys<\/a> in Christchurch on Sunday 21 June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLC boss Peter V\u2019landys has already suggested the NRL could expand to 20 teams by as early as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-724479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}