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RNZ News
08-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
League: NRL expands west, with Perth Bears to launch in 2027
Auckland Warriors player Joe Vagana takes on the North Sydney Bears defence in an NRL game in 1999. It was the last year the Bears played in the top flight and now the Perth Bears will honour their legacy. Photo: 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 have announced. The government said it had agreed to fund the new team to the tune of NZ$70 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 NZ$650 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. - Reuters
Reuters
08-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
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)
Perth Now
27-04-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
Perth's NRL entry to set right historical wrong: Geyer
Perth was always the golden west for elite level rugby league, which is why the return of an NRL side in 2027 makes perfect sense. That's the view of founding Western Reds star Mark Geyer who was the biggest name to join the fledging club in the 20-team ARL competition in 1995. Geyer played in the 1996 competition and the final year of their existence in Super League in 1997 when rebranded as Perth Reds. They were one of three teams axed when the two warring factions brokered a peace deal for the newly formed NRL in 1998. The Reds won 11 and lost 11 in their first season and their win/loss percentage in three years was superior to the likes of Penrith and Cronulla in their formative three seasons. Geyer said an unsustainable financial burden placed on the Reds led to their demise No-one was more delighted than the 1991 premiership-winner with news the Perth-based Bears, in an affiliation with North Sydney, would play in the 2027 season under the auspices of the NRL and with Western Australia government support. "I love, love, love it … love, love, love … times one hundred ," a beaming Geyer told AAP. "The Western Reds were a success but from day one we had to pay for the flights and accommodation of the opposing players (in both first and reserve grade) for all our home games. "That is what eventually sent the club broke and out of the comp. "The difference this time is the NRL and the WA government is behind the bid. "Last time we were thrown in the deep end and started swimming and getting out of the current, but out legs were taken out from under us. "Our first game at the WACA we got 25,000 against St George. All the junior participation was up in 1995 and we missed the finals by two points. We had a footprint but just lacked the support from the game that the new franchise is going to get." Geyer predicted the new club would be supported like the Reds were as an integrated member of the sporting landscape and be a huge boost to broadcasters and, as the 18th team, to the NRL as they go in search of a $3 billion broadcast deal. "Our sponsors Cash Converters were fantastic. We all drove around in cars with a big red kangaroo on the bonnet and everyone knew the Western Reds were in town," Geyer recalled. "We cross-trained with the Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles and we knew (coaches) Gerard Neesham and Mick Malthouse. We went to the AFL games and became mates with the players. "It will be no different to what the Sydney Swans are here in Sydney in a league market or the Melbourne Storm in Melbourne where it is all AFL. "We are not trying to take over the west, we just want a piece of pie. An NRL team in WA immediately gives another time slot to broadcasters. Peter V'landys can go back to the table to them with nine games each week rather than eight. It's a win-win." The ex-Bears players AAP has spoken to are ecstatic after being in the wilderness for 26 years. Those that played in the Western Reds team are just as happy. "It justifies our decision back then to leave everything behind and go on a voyage. We would still be there if Super League didn't come along and we didn't have to play for the other clubs to travel," Geyer said.
West Australian
27-04-2025
- Business
- West Australian
First $2 million man set to strike NRL gold in Perth
The new Perth NRL side will present an opportunity for the first player in the history of the game to break the $2 million barrier due to likely increases to the salary cap. Western Reds great Mark Geyer and respected NRL player manager Simon Mammino agree players at the elite end of the spectrum now have the opportunity to maximise their earnings like never before with the introduction of the Perth-based Bears in 2027. That will only increase in 2028 with the NRL introduction of PNG. North Sydney Bears board member Billy Moore told AAP that the market for players would explode and that the $14 million dollar deal across 10 years for Dylan Brown to join Newcastle would be regarded as "benign" due to supply-and-demand pressures. Mammino brokered a $12 million decade-long contract for Gold Coast prop and captain Tino Fa'asuamaleaui that has ratchet clauses tied to the increases in the salary cap. NRL clubs will have $12.7 million to spend in 2027 which is the last year of the current broadcast rights deal, understood to be worth $2 billion. ARLC chairman Peter V'landys has said he is targeting $3 billion for 2028-2032. Mammino said a conservative estimate would place the salary cap at $15 million in 2028 if the game maximised broadcast revenues. "The $2 million contract is on the cards for an elite half or fullback," Mammino told AAP. "It may not happen in Perth's first year but it definitely could in the second year if they keep the same number of players in the rosters because you are probably looking at an extra $3 million to spend on 30 players. "If the minimum player wage of $150, 000 in 2027 doesn't rise too much you could have 10 players on $2 million in total, leaving you $13 million to spend on 20 players. "The introduction of Perth and PNG is going to push up the price of elite players and there will be more lower end players because a lot of them are not going to be up to NRL speed. "There are more clubs, less product. The price goes up." Geyer, who was the biggest rugby league name to play for Perth-based Western Reds (1995-97), said the new franchise would aim high. "Imagine getting a marquee player to Perth like a Lachie Galvin, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Sam Walker or a Jahrome Hughes," Geyer said. "I really think we could see the first $2 million dollar player once the new broadcast deal kicks in. "Perth is going to be a magnet. It was a fantastic voyage for me and I am sure modern NRL players will want to be a part of it. They will embrace it." Melbourne half Hughes and fullback Papenhuyzen are both off contract at the end of 2026 and right in Perth's target range. Papenhuyzen does have a mutual option for 2027 in his deal with the Storm but AAP understands the 2020 Clive Churchill Medal winner is a prime target for Perth given his elite talent and marketability. Wests Tigers prodigy Lachlan Galvin is also available for 2027 while Sydney Roosters playmaker Walker can join a new club from 2028. Canterbury boss Phil Gould said if there was a hypothetical NRL auction, he would pay Penrith captain Nathan Cleary "two and a half million dollars". "Players like Reece Walsh and Nathan Cleary, someone would pay extraordinary money for them," Gould said on the Six Tackles with Gus podcast. "At the moment, I think the quality playmakers are probably underpaid. "The problem is if Nathan Cleary is a $2 million player, then every halfback takes his rating off that. It raises the cost of the average emerging player."
Perth Now
27-04-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
First $2 million man set to strike NRL gold in Perth
The new Perth NRL side will present an opportunity for the first player in the history of the game to break the $2 million barrier due to likely increases to the salary cap. Western Reds great Mark Geyer and respected NRL player manager Simon Mammino agree players at the elite end of the spectrum now have the opportunity to maximise their earnings like never before with the introduction of the Perth-based Bears in 2027. That will only increase in 2028 with the NRL introduction of PNG. North Sydney Bears board member Billy Moore told AAP that the market for players would explode and that the $14 million dollar deal across 10 years for Dylan Brown to join Newcastle would be regarded as "benign" due to supply-and-demand pressures. Mammino brokered a $12 million decade-long contract for Gold Coast prop and captain Tino Fa'asuamaleaui that has ratchet clauses tied to the increases in the salary cap. NRL clubs will have $12.7 million to spend in 2027 which is the last year of the current broadcast rights deal, understood to be worth $2 billion. ARLC chairman Peter V'landys has said he is targeting $3 billion for 2028-2032. Mammino said a conservative estimate would place the salary cap at $15 million in 2028 if the game maximised broadcast revenues. "The $2 million contract is on the cards for an elite half or fullback," Mammino told AAP. "It may not happen in Perth's first year but it definitely could in the second year if they keep the same number of players in the rosters because you are probably looking at an extra $3 million to spend on 30 players. "If the minimum player wage of $150, 000 in 2027 doesn't rise too much you could have 10 players on $2 million in total, leaving you $13 million to spend on 20 players. "The introduction of Perth and PNG is going to push up the price of elite players and there will be more lower end players because a lot of them are not going to be up to NRL speed. "There are more clubs, less product. The price goes up." Geyer, who was the biggest rugby league name to play for Perth-based Western Reds (1995-97), said the new franchise would aim high. "Imagine getting a marquee player to Perth like a Lachie Galvin, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Sam Walker or a Jahrome Hughes," Geyer said. "I really think we could see the first $2 million dollar player once the new broadcast deal kicks in. "Perth is going to be a magnet. It was a fantastic voyage for me and I am sure modern NRL players will want to be a part of it. They will embrace it." Melbourne half Hughes and fullback Papenhuyzen are both off contract at the end of 2026 and right in Perth's target range. Papenhuyzen does have a mutual option for 2027 in his deal with the Storm but AAP understands the 2020 Clive Churchill Medal winner is a prime target for Perth given his elite talent and marketability. Wests Tigers prodigy Lachlan Galvin is also available for 2027 while Sydney Roosters playmaker Walker can join a new club from 2028. Canterbury boss Phil Gould said if there was a hypothetical NRL auction, he would pay Penrith captain Nathan Cleary "two and a half million dollars". "Players like Reece Walsh and Nathan Cleary, someone would pay extraordinary money for them," Gould said on the Six Tackles with Gus podcast. "At the moment, I think the quality playmakers are probably underpaid. "The problem is if Nathan Cleary is a $2 million player, then every halfback takes his rating off that. It raises the cost of the average emerging player."
