Rugby League-NRL expands westwards with Perth Bears to launch in 2027
SYDNEY, May 8 (Reuters) - Australia's National Rugby League (NRL) will expand westwards in the 2027 season with the addition of an 18th club, the Perth Bears, the league and Western Australian government announced on Thursday.
The government said it had agreed to fund the new team to the tune of A$65.6 million ($42.36 million) over seven years, ensuring the return of professional rugby league to the state for the first time since the demise of the Western Reds in 1997.
The announcement is another triumph for rugby league chief Peter V'landys, who has already helped secure A$600 million from the federal government to fund another NRL expansion team in Papua New Guinea from 2028.
"Western Australians love sport and now they have the opportunity to get behind a Perth-based rugby league club that will capture the hearts and minds of fans across the country," V'Landys, the Australia Rugby League Commission chairman, said in a statement.
The new team's name honours the heritage of the North Sydney Bears, one of the nine clubs that founded Australia's first league in 1908 and which played in the top flight until 1999.
"As a foundation club, the Bears have a rich history in the game and automatically provide hundreds of thousands of east coast supporters for the Perth-based team," V'landys added.
"The heritage of the Bears combined with the energy of the west will have this team flying from the outset."
The last expansion team to enter the NRL was the Brisbane-based Dolphins in 2022. They finished 13th and 10th in their first two seasons.
($1 = 1.5485 Australian dollars)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
40 minutes ago
- Reuters
Australia's Albanese says he will press AUKUS, Indo Pacific security in Trump meeting
SYDNEY, June 16 (Reuters) - Increasing the number of nuclear powered submarines operated by Australia, Britain and the United States will make the Indo Pacific more secure and was in the United States' interests, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday. Albanese will meet U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time on Tuesday in Calgary on the sidelines of the G7 meeting, with tariffs and Washington's snap review of the AUKUS treaty to transfer nuclear submarines to Australia weighing on the talks. "Having Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States all having increased nuclear-powered submarines, in our case conventionally armed, is something that will make the Indo Pacific area more secure," Albanese told reporters in Calgary. "That is in the interests of the United States," he added. Albanese said he will highlight to Trump the financial support Australia is providing to the U.S. industrial capacity to build new submarines under AUKUS, the access the U.S. submarine fleet will gain to maintenance yards in Australia, and the existing U.S. military presence in Australia's northern city of Darwin. Australia was a trusted U.S. partner in the Pacific region to promote peace and security, he said. Albanese has rebuffed a U.S. request to commit to lifting defence spending from 2% to 3.5% of gross domestic product, saying instead Australia would spend what was needed for its defence capability. Around 10% of Australia's steel and aluminium is exported to the United States, and Albanese said he would also raise the issue of Trump's tariffs on the sector, which Australia views as "acts of economic self harm". "Exports are still going in there, they are just paying more for them," he told reporters. Albanese met with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday, and said they had discussed Canada's interest in joining AUKUS's so-called Pillar Two to develop advanced defence technology. Australia wants to increase its defence relationships, including with Canada which was a long-term ally with shared values, Albanese said. "In an uncertain world what people are looking for is certainty, relationships, trusted relationships, Australia and Canada are just such partners," he said. Albanese will also hold talks with the EU on a proposed defence pact, and seek progress on EU free trade talks. An annual poll by the Lowy Institute think-tank released on Monday showed falling public sentiment in Australia towards the United States, with 36 per cent of people surveyed saying they trust the United States to act responsibly, a 20-point drop since last year. The poll showed two-thirds of respondents supported AUKUS.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Australia to hold talks aimed at entering defence pact with EU
Australia is to hold formal negotiations on joining a new defence agreement with the European Union, with the prime minister preparing to discuss plans for enhanced security cooperation at this week's G7 summit in Canada. Amid the deteriorating international security landscape, Anthony Albanese will use the talks with EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the European Council president, António Costa, in Alberta to explore a security and defence partnership, proposed at the inauguration mass of Pope Leo XIV in Rome last month. It could involve military exercises and other cooperation in areas of mutual interest including foreign interference, cybersecurity, counter-terrorism, defence industries and critical technologies. Australia had been cool on the idea but it was discussed with the defence minister, Richard Marles, at the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore, and last week the EU's ambassador to Australia, Gabriele Visentin, confirmed that talks were under way in Brussels. After arriving in Calgary on Sunday local time, Albanese confirmed that Australia could sign on to a deal similar to those agreed between the EU and Japan, South Korea and the UK. Marles and the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, have been charged with developing the plans through work with their counterparts. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Von der Leyen said the agreement could be in the interest of both parties because the EU was 'predictable' and shared the same values as Australia. Europe and Australia are both under growing pressure from the US president, Donald Trump, to significantly increase defence spending. The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, this week warned countries not prepared to spend more should 'learn to speak Russian'. 'I'll enter those discussions constructively but we look to cooperate to strengthen Australia's capacity,' Albanese said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'We invest in our capability and we invest in our relationships. The two things are important and often an investment in our relationships can produce very effective outcomes economically as well.' Albanese said caution from the government after talks in Rome reflected the fact that it was the first time the proposal had been floated by the EU side. The negotiations come as the growing war between Israel and Iran overshadows the talks between the leaders of the world's biggest economies. Australia is attending as a trusted partner of G7 countries. Albanese met Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, shortly after arriving from the US. The two leaders discussed Canada's interest in joining the second pillar of the Aukus nuclear agreement, which is designed to better share technology and military applications including artificial intelligence, hypersonics and super-computing. 'We have shared experience and shared values, and often we have fought side by side, Australia and Canada,' Albanese said. Carney raised cooperation with Australia on projects such as the over-the-horizon radar project, an early-warning radar system along the Canada-US border into the Arctic. Australia is a leader in the advanced system that allows for continuous threat-tracking over a vast area. 'As the world becomes increasingly dangerous, Canada and Australia will deepen their bilateral relationship and build shared growth,' a readout from the Canadian prime minister's office said. Albanese will hold bilateral talks with the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Germany and France while in Canada. His meeting with Trump looms as the most significant appointment of the six-day overseas trip. The US is conducting a snap review of the agreement for the US and UK to share nuclear submarine technology with Australia and Albanese is expected to push for an exemption to steel and aluminium tariffs imposed by the White House. 'We've got a few things to talk about,' Albanese said.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Anthony Albanese and Dan Andrews wine and dine at luxury Melbourne restaurant just days before the PM meets with Donald Trump
Anthony Albanese was spotted being wined and dined by Dan Andrews in a luxury Melbourne restaurant just days before he was due to meet Donald Trump. The pair were pictured tucking in to a long lunch last Wednesday at the upmarket eatery Gimlet at Cavendish House in Melbourne's CBD. They reportedly caught up over several hours while enjoying drinks as their security detail kept a discrete eye. Footage of the two leaders, first published by the Herald Sun, showed both men chatting and looking relaxed in open-neck shirts. Albanese was helped into his overcoat by a member of staff before leaving by a side entrance, while the former Victorian Premier picked up the bill. The high-end restaurant, where half a southern rock lobster baked in saffron and sauce rouille costs a cool $320, plays frequent host to celebrities and world leaders. Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle dined there during his speaking tour in 2023, while pop star Harry Styles was also spotted in the restaurant during the Melbourne leg of his tour in the same year. Albanese and Andrews are old friends and once shared a flat together in Canberra in the late 1990s. 'Daniel Andrews is a friend of mine and he's been a friend of mine for a long period of time,' Albanese told 3AW inn February. 'We shared, famously, shared a flat for a little while in Canberra when he was a staffer.' The long lunch with Andrews came just days before Albanese flew abroad for a week of meetings with world leaders. He flew first to Fiji on Friday to meet his 'dear friend', the Prime minister of Fiji, Sitiveni Rabuka, before he travelled on to Seattle for a meeting of world business leaders. He is now at the G7 summit in the mountainous Canadian town of Kananaskis where he will cross paths with the US President, just days after the Pentagon announced it was launching a review into the $368bn AUKUS submarine deal. Albanese was undaunted by the scale of his task as he confirmed the much-anticipated meeting to reporters in Seattle on Saturday, local time. 'Obviously, there are issues that the US president is dealing with at the moment, but I expect that we will be able to have a constructive engagement,' he said. 'We'll have a discussion as two friends should.' Albanese said he would raise tariffs and emphasise the importance of the AUKUS security pact. Both men have already spoken on three occasions but Tuesday's arrangement is the first time they will meet in person. Australia is facing 10 per cent tariffs on goods exported to the US and - like all US trading partners except the UK - 50 per cent tariffs on aluminium and steel sent to America. Supplies of critical minerals and access to the Australian market for US beef could be used as bargaining chips during the talks. Albanese did not want to make 'grand declarations' prior to the meeting, but he reiterated he would put forward Australia's interests.
