The emotional rollercoaster for WA rugby league diehards continued on Tuesday, following comments from premier Roger Cook.
In September last year, it appeared as though the Western Bears – a private consortium – were within touching distance of being admitted into an expanded National Rugby League competition.
If the situation was being played out on the field, the Bears would’ve been two metres out from the opposing side’s tryline in front of the posts, with the ‘six again’ bell ringing around HBF Park.
However, since just hours before the 2024 NRL grand final, the dream of a proposed Perth-based NRL side – aiming to build on the legacy of the former Western/Perth Reds between 1995 and 1997 – has hit multiple highs and lows along a five-month long and winding road.
Following rejection of the private bid, Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V'landys said the competition would only negotiate with the Western Australian government in a potential bid to admit a Perth-based franchise.
Some could be forgiven for thinking the Bears’ hopes and dreams are now potentially bunched up on the final tackle of a set, a metre out from their own line.
Speaking on Tuesday at a business event at Crown, Premier Roger Cook confirmed taxpayers’ funds would not be used towards helping a Perth-based franchise join the NRL from 2027 onwards.
“Now, let me just say sport, and indeed national sport franchises are big business,” he said.
“And it’s a great opportunity for our economy, but not a single dollar of taxpayers' dollars will go to the NRL.
“We want to make sure that if WA is to participate in another national competition, and I think we should, and I’ve made that clear all along … but it has to be good value for money for WA taxpayers and it has to be a benefit to the WA economy.”
These comments were effectively a reiteration of Mr Cook's remarks last month, in which he said WA Labor "will not write an open cheque for NRL" following a series of "eye-watering" figures within a Sydney-based Daily Telegraph article.
Throughout the Reds' existence, the club was required to pay for the flights and accomodation for every opposing side playing first and reserve grade in Perth, on top of its ongoing away expenses.
When the Reds were wound up at the end of the 1997 Super League season, the club had a debt of approximately $10 million.
In 2012, a rebranded entity managed by NRL WA, WA's rugby league governing body, were called the West Coast Pirates and participated in the underage SG Ball competition, which falls under the New South Wales Rugby League's umbrella, until 2020.
Despite being under control of the NSWRL, SG Ball is essentially a feeder competition to the NRL.
Along with NRL sides (excluding Queensland) being represented, a number of now-defunct NRL standalone entities – including Balmain Tigers, Western Suburbs Magpies, North Sydney Bears and Illawarra Steelers – also play in the SG Ball, which runs between February and April each year.
Business News understands that, during the Pirates era, NRL WA paid for the accomodation and meals of every travelling SG Ball side to Perth, while the NSWRL covered flights and ground transfer-related expenses.
The NRL heads to Perth next month for a double header at Optus Stadium, while a State of Origin and Dolphins-Newcastle Knights regular season game have also been penciled in for June.
