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The cashed-up consortium believe their proposal will be able to sway the right people in order to win the 20th licence and join the competition in 2029.<\/p>\n
There have already been talks had during the season between this consortium and the NRL as per The Courier Mail.<\/p>\n
ARLC chairman Peter V\u2019landys says any prospective team wishing to join the league will need to be able to show they can come up with $100 million to enter the competition.<\/p>\n
‘The Eels set to make big play at Best’ | 01:09<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also been reported that V\u2019landys is hoping to make a call on who will be the newest NRL team by Christmas.<\/p>\n
A second team out of New Zealand is still a strong possibility with Christchurch and Hamilton options, but a fifth Queensland team would certainly appease local broadcasters more so.<\/p>\n
BEARS SIGN AUSTRALIAN RUGBY STAR<\/p>\n
The Perth Bears have signed one of the country\u2019s best young rugby union players who says he\u2019s code-hopping because he feels his \u201cfuture is best served\u201d playing rugby league.<\/p>\n
Cooper Watters, 20, has signed a two-year deal with the code\u2019s next franchise after enjoying a swift rise through the rugby ranks which has led to him playing for the Australian Schoolboys and Australia\u2019s Rugby Sevens sides.<\/p>\n
The Bathurst product also spent two years in the under-20 Junior Wallabies team and the NSW Waratahs under-20s side.<\/p>\n
He has already started training with the North Sydney Bears NSW Cup squad in preparation for a pre-season with the Perth Bears under coach Mal Meninga, who described Watters as a \u201ctrailblazer\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is being bold by joining the Bears, which is a core value of the club, as we look to build the foundations for a long and successful future,\u201d Meninga said. <\/p>\n
\u201cCooper\u2019s background in sevens has given him something you can\u2019t really coach \u2014 the ability to read space, beat defenders one-on-one and finish under pressure at speed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bears eye out of favour Horsburgh | 07:42<\/p>\n
Watters grew up playing rugby league so his transition back to the game shouldn\u2019t be too difficult.<\/p>\n
He said it was always his dream to play in the NRL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve loved every bit of my union and sevens journey, but when I look honestly at where my future is best served, I think league is the right path for me. I feel like my skill set is built for it,\u201d Watters said. <\/p>\n
\u201cComing into a new club is a bit daunting, but I think it\u2019s the perfect place for me knowing the frameworks the Bears have in place, and I look forward to growing my game under Mal Meninga and his team.\u201d<\/p>\n
General Manager of Football Gareth Holmes said the Bears had designed a development program built specifically to help Watters make that switch back to league.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to give him every chance to make it,\u201d Holmes said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is exactly the kind of signing that reflects our broader recruitment philosophy \u2014 we\u2019re not limiting ourselves to conventional pathways.<\/p>\n
\u201cCooper\u2019s athletic profile and his rugby pedigree make him a fantastic addition to our development group, and it reinforces the depth and ambition of the talent pipeline we\u2019re building as we head toward our first season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The race for the 20th NRL licence is heating up following reports another Queensland-based bid has emerged as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-581795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}