Walters’ former Broncos and Queensland teammate, Tallis, agrees that the game should be looking to this side of the Tasman.
“I’ve always said that, that New Zealand needs a second team after Perth,” Tallis said.
The NRL went with Papua New Guinea after granting a licence to the Perth Bears, in a controversial arrangement underwritten by the Australian Government. Tallis believes the 20th team should be based here.
“I would let the dust settle with PNG and Perth, right? After that, I would have had no problem if New Zealand got a second team.”
The Southern Orcas bid is led by Sir Graham Lowe and businessman Andrew Chalmers. Photo / Supplied
The contenders
There are three consortiums that have signalled their interest in bidding for the 20th licence, all of whom propose to base themselves in Christchurch.
The Southern Orcas launched an audacious bid in late 2024 with an overall value of $360 million. It included a 20ha centre of excellence and 10 regional satellite centres. The bid is headed by Sir Graham Lowe who recently told media that the franchise would be ready to go within two years.
The South Island Kea emerged in early 2024, headed by former NRL chief executive David Moffett. They’d hoped to beat Perth to the 18th team licence.
The third hopeful syndicate was most recently led by former Warriors and Kiwis coach, Frank Endacott.
Kevin Walters in Christchurch, speaking with Gorden Tallis and James McOnie. Photo / NZ Warriors
They’re not the only ones interested in the next licence. Other contenders include a fifth Queensland team – but Walters doesn’t see the same benefit as a second New Zealand team.
“I think there’s enough in the southeast corner now of Queensland. We’ve got two or three teams in that southeast corner, and we’ve got the Cowboys up north,” Walters said.
Up the Wahs
The support that the Warriors have everywhere they go has convinced Tallis that rugby league is on the rise.
“Rugby league’s bigger here than it’s ever been,” Tallis said on his first visit to Christchurch. The man they call “The Raging Bull” says he’d been asked for photographs while walking around the city.
“I don’t think that would’ve happened probably 20 years ago.”
Gorden Tallis speaking in Christchurch. Photo / NZ Warriors
Walters, the current Australian Kangaroos coach, has also noticed the game’s surge here.
“I feel like rugby league in New Zealand now has just grown so much that probably a second team is due and ready to go,” Walters said.
Both point to the Warriors as the driving force behind the sport’s new level of popularity.
“I think the Wahs have done an amazing job to promote what I believe is the greatest game in the world,” Tallis said.
Cameron George of the Warriors speaking at an NZME sports panel named ‘Voices of the Game’ moderated by Jason Pine in Christchurch. Photo / Anna Heath.
‘How much are you investing?’
Warriors’ chief executive Cameron George tempers their enthusiasm – though he admits it “should be considered”.
“I’ve never said no to a second team in New Zealand. What I know is that right now the domestic structure of rugby league in this country needs some significant investment,” George told Newstalk ZB’s John MacDonald.
“My challenge is to the NRL. It’s not to say no to a second NRL team, it’s to say let’s put a 3–5-year investment strategy into New Zealand and build these [domestic] competitions to the point where all these players want to stay at home and play in them, rather than go to Australia and never come back. That will underpin a second team.”
Tanner Stowers-Smith, one of a number of NZ Warriors players who hail from Christchurch. Photo / Photosport
George’s view sits somewhere between pragmatic and gatekeeping.
It’s understandable. The Warriors have established a brand that is now, in many aspects, competing with the All Blacks. They are the New Zealand Warriors and genuinely try to engage with every corner of the country. In Christchurch that means bringing a game to the Garden City every year until 2028.
Protecting that investment makes sense. Protecting their share of the talent pool makes sense. But George is also aware that a second team could benefit his club too.
“If a team was based anywhere in New Zealand, it would mean a great competition, it would mean growth in rugby league, it would mean fantastic coverage for the game, the NRL, the competition, the broadcasting – the whole lot. It’d be great.
“However, I’m telling you, we need to get money invested into the country.
“That would be the strategy I’d be asking the NRL – how much are you investing into the country? You want us to put a second team in? You want us to put millions of dollars into this game, into this team – what are you putting into the country to grow the game?
“New South Wales and Queensland get tens of millions of dollars. We offer just as much playing stock to the game and we don’t get a tenth of that. We don’t get any of that.”
Harry Inch in action for the NZ Warriors’ Jersey Flegg side at Bruce Pulman Park, Takanini, Auckland. Photo / Photosport
The Warriors field teams in the Harold Matthews Cup (U17), SG Ball (U19), Jersey Flegg (U21), NSW Cup, NRLW and the NRL.
“We’re spending millions of dollars a year sending six teams to Australia each year to play in elite competitions because they’re not here.”
But George’s hopes of a strong domestic competition seem overly ambitious and adds a layer that no other expansion club is facing.
Even with the A$600m ($733m) that the Papua New Guinea Chiefs is receiving from the Australian Government – it’s unrealistic to expect them to implement a reserve grade-level domestic competition, and rugby league is their national sport.
In Western Australia, the game has shown significant growth since the Perth Bears were awarded a licence – not before.
Local talent
You could argue that a South Island franchise has a better chance of succeeding than either of those expansion teams. It has a steady stream of local talent playing in the age grade competitions across many NRL clubs – as well as first grade.
Bishop Neal addresses the crowd after being awarded player of the match between the Warriors v Newcastle Knights in the Harold Matthews Cup Grand Final at Leichhardt Oval, Sydney, NSW. Photo / Photosport
Walters, a former NRL coach for the Brisbane Broncos, knows how fruitful it can be to have talent scouts with eyes on New Zealand.
“Every team in the NRL looks for talent in New Zealand, there’s obviously plenty of talent here,” Walters said, suggesting there was more than enough to support a second team.
The idea has previously been supported by Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys.
“A second NZ team has merit. It certainly has merit if we go to 20 teams.”
ARL commission chairman Peter V’landys. Photo / NRL
A brief history of expansion
The NRL has had 20 teams before. When the Auckland Warriors joined the competition in 1995, it did so alongside three other newcomers. The North Queensland Cowboys, The South Queensland Crushers and the Western Reds.
That competition was ripped apart by the Super League war which literally split the competition in two. When the ARL and Super League united in 1998 to form one competition again, only the Warriors and Cowboys remained. It was still a 20-team competition with the Adelaide Rams and Melbourne Storm joining the fray. The Gold Coast Seagulls had also been replaced by the Gold Coast Chargers.
The Warriors’ first match at Ericsson Stadium in 1995. Photo / Photosport
Neither Adelaide nor the Chargers lined up the following season, and when foundation club St George Dragons merged with the Illawarra Steelers, the 1999 competition was reduced to 17 teams.
By 2000 it suffered further consolidation with the Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs Magpies becoming Wests Tigers, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the North Sydney Bears merging into the Northern Eagles, and 1908 originals the South Sydney Rabbitohs being excluded altogether.
In five years 12 clubs had either folded, amalgamated or been kicked out of the competition in a period of instability that the game has been determined to avoid since.
South Sydney was reinstated in 2002 and the Gold Coast re-entered the competition in 2007 as the Titans. The newest expansion club is the Brisbane-based Dolphins who debuted in 2023.
The Northern Eagles only lasted three seasons before their ill-fated marriage disbanded. Manly reverted to their previous model and the Bears exited the top grade for good. The two remaining merger clubs continue to have internal unrest, reportedly.
A jersey design for the proposed South Island Kea franchise. Photo / Supplied
Numbers game
The NRL currently has 17 teams with the Perth Bears joining in 2027 and the Papua New Guinea Chiefs in 2028. The broadcast benefit of 19 teams is no greater than 18 teams, as odd numbers mean that each week one team has a bye. Including a 20th team means each round can feature 10 matches.
That’s widely being tipped as ammunition for a monster new broadcast deal that will see the salary cap for each team grow, too. The next deal is believed to be for seven years and will cost the successful bid well over A$4b.
Canterbury’s Makaia Tafua made his NRL debut against the Sharks last weekend. Photo / Photosport
It could well feature a new local derby – a prospect Tallis is excited about.
“I’ve watched Redcliffe [Dolphins] play against Brisbane, I’ve watched North Queensland play against Brisbane, I’ve watched the Titans. There’s something about a rivalry when you can touch your neighbour. If there was North Island versus South Island here, I think it’d be pretty cool. But I don’t know how long we’ve got to wait for that,” Tallis said.
That could become clearer once the new broadcast deal is finalised. The existing deal expires at the end of 2027.
Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.