Latest news with #PerthBears'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
NRL poised to unveil Mal Meninga as Perth Bears' inaugural coach
Mal Meninga is expected to be announced as the Perth Bears' inaugural coach ahead of their first NRL season in 2027. Mal Meninga is expected to be announced as the Perth Bears' inaugural coach ahead of their first NRL season in 2027. Photograph:Mal Meninga has a mighty task to make the Perth Bears competitive from the outset as history paints a bleak picture of the NRL's expansion teams in their early years. The NRL is poised to unveil Meninga as the Bears' head coach this week, with the rugby league great expected to relinquish his post in charge of the Australian national team to take the helm in 2027. Advertisement Related: Billy The Kid looks out of bullets as Maroons face another Origin defeat | Jack Snape The nine-time State of Origin series-winning coach is understood to have beaten South Sydney great Sam Burgess and former Parramatta boss Brad Arthur to the role, his first in charge of a club since 2001. The appointment of household name Meninga is expected to help generate big interest in the AFL-mad city, which has not had a team since the Western Reds folded in 1997. But a tough task looms for Meninga amid the excitement of the Bears' return to the NRL, 25 years after their Northern Eagles merger with Manly collapsed. Some 14 expansion teams have joined the NRL and its predecessors since 1982, when the league first began to expand out of Sydney. Advertisement Only two of those teams, the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm, played finals in their first two seasons. Even then, the Broncos only made it to a playoff game to reach the official post-season in 1989, losing that match to Cronulla. Among the 12 remaining teams, only one – the Auckland Warriors of 1995 – had a winning record in either of their first two seasons, while three picked up the wooden spoon in the same time-frame. Only six of the 12 remaining are still in the league in their current format, the vast majority of others folding in the aftermath of the 1997 Super League War. The last Perth expansion team, the Reds, did not play finals in any of their three seasons, the best of those an 11th-placed finish in 1995 that ended with a respectable 50% winning record. The statistics come after Wayne Bennett told AAP last month coaching an expansion team was one of rugby league's bigger challenges. Advertisement Related: NRL approves revised Perth team expansion bid to bring back the Bears NRL HQ considers the Dolphins expansion project a big success for its nationwide fan community and ability to challenge the Broncos for airtime in rugby league heartland Brisbane. But even then, Bennett did not lead the team to finals in their first two years, and the team sits outside the top eight at the halfway mark of their third campaign. '[Coaching an expansion team] sounds like a lot of fun but it can be a journey to nowhere,' South Sydney coach Bennett said. 'It's an extremely tough gig and it's not something I would recommend for anyone to take up.'
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NRL treated state like 'cash cow': WA Premier
Western Australia premier Roger Cook has accused the NRL of treating his state like a 'cash cow', as Perth's chances of joining the league appear perilous at best. In a sign of the Perth Bears' deteriorating chances of joining in 2027, Cook on Saturday suggested the NRL had ignored the strategic value of a team in the west. The Western Australia premier also claimed the NRL had instead only been interested in money, as negotiations reached a crucial point. Perth had loomed as the most likely expansion option for the NRL in recent years with their chances further enhanced by a deal struck with the North Sydney Bears. There had been a setback last October when the NRL rejected a bid from the Perth-based consortium leading the charge. But even when Papua New Guinea's 2028 entry was announced last December, it was assumed a deal would eventually be struck with the WA Government for 2027. Negotiations were then put on hold during the state election campaign in February and early March, before resuming in recent weeks. But concerns emerged on Friday a deal would be difficult to complete, before Cook hit back at reports Perth's entry could be pushed back to 2028 or abandoned. "This week, we made an offer to support a potential NRL licence in WA," Cook said in a statement. "It was based upon support for grass roots development of the game, while protecting the interests of WA taxpayers. "Given our location on the Indian Ocean Rim and in the same time zone as 60 per cent of the world's population, the strategic value of a Western Australian side should be self evident to the NRL. "Unfortunately, like some people from the east, the NRL only appears to see WA as a potential cash cow. "I love rugby league, but as I said during the election I will always do what's right for WA." Cook's comments come just a week out from Perth hosting a double-header at Optus Stadium, with Cronulla, Manly, South Sydney and North Queensland all headed west. There are now serious fears in a parochial state that crowd will now be down on the 45,800 who attended the last double-header there in 2023. Optus Stadium is also set to host State of Origin II in June, which is on track to sell out. The Cook government had initially supported the consortium-based bid for a Perth team, led by Cash Converters boss Peter Cumins. But that fell over last October when Cumins was accused of low-balling the NRL when he did not offer a license fee to enter the competition. A subsequent $20 million was also rejected by the NRL, as head office opted to pursue a deal with the state government for the team. Talks have centred around $120 million in funding over 10 years, along with stadium upgrades at HBF Park, favourable hiring fees, a rugby league state centre and the introduction of the sport into the high-school curriculum. But they now appear to have hit a stumbling block, with the ARL Commission expected to discuss the prospect shortly. If the Perth bid was abandoned the NRL will begin negotiating the next TV rights deal from 2028 as an 18-team competition. Any eventual move to 20 teams would give the NRL more freedom around season strength and structure, potentially through conferences that could allow for fewer rounds and more representative football.
