Central Queensland NRL bid finds support

[England 3 Lions]

Central Queensland NRL bid finds support
April 24, 2009 - 4:37PM

Source: LeagueHQ[/url]

Legendary former international Mark Graham has backed a central Queensland NRL bid amid fears AFL is making major inroads into one of rugby league's great nurseries.

And Gold Coast Titans boss Michael Searle has also thrown his support behind CQ's entry, saying a mooted plan to add another NRL team in south-east Queensland "isn't sustainable".

NRL boss David Gallop has had informal talks with a CQ consortium that officially launched their bid last week at Rockhampton amid speculation two teams could be added for the 2013 season.

Graham - New Zealand's player of the century - is officially on the CQ bid team as a supporter after moving to the region to take up a coaching role at Gladstone.

Two of the CQ's favourite sons - former internationals Gary Larson and Jason Hetherington - are also involved.

The bid is headed by one of Queensland's richest men, construction tycoon Geoff Murphy.

While receptive to the CQ push, Gallop has hinted that a fourth Queensland team could be situated in the Ipswich-Logan corridor outside Brisbane.

But former Kiwi skipper Graham said AFL would be the winner if the NRL did not recognise CQ.

"The AFL has six development officers for the area covering Rockhampton, Gladstone and Bundaberg - rugby league has one," Graham told AAP.

"I truly hope the NRL can see the benefits of a team in central Queensland.

"If the NRL doesn't do anything about it soon rugby league will cop a flogging in the juniors.

"AFL is gaining momentum here. It's going to get plenty of kids."

The CQ bid team has already picked the brain of the NRL's most recent addition - the Titans - as well as North Queensland, South Sydney and Sydney Roosters.

Searle preferred the introduction of a CQ team, saying south-east Queensland was already congested.

"There are four national teams on the Gold Coast, which isn't sustainable," he said.

"And Brisbane is four times bigger than the Gold Coast and they've got four teams and the (A-League soccer club Queensland) Roar is struggling.

"Central Queensland is a very strong rugby league community, and considering NSW currently houses 10 licenses and Queensland has three it certainly makes a lot of sense."

QRL boss Ross Livermore - who has also spoken with the CQ bid team - had reservations about a Logan-Ipswich outfit.

"I don't know where he (Gallop) gets that from. Down the track maybe," he told AAP.

"At the end of the day you have two very prominent teams in the south-east corner for the population (Titans-Broncos)."

While supportive of the CQ bid, Livermore added: "They (CQ) are very keen to make something happen in the area - but they have a big hurdle in front of them."

Livermore also countered Graham's claim, saying more AFL development officers didn't mean more juniors would be lost to the sport.

"The AFL certainly go overboard with development...but that doesn't mean anything - our junior numbers are up considerably," he said.

© 2009 AAP

[Druzik]

I think a Central coast, Perth and Central queensland are the priorities, Adelaide is a pipe dream for now.

This is where the juniors are at the moment.

Any PNG or Fiji based frnachise would also be a disaaster.

[jim]

Apr 25, 2009 1:33:43 GMT 10 Druzik said:

I think a Central coast, Perth and Central queensland are the priorities, Adelaide is a pipe dream for now.

This is where the juniors are at the moment.

Any PNG or Fiji based frnachise would also be a disaaster.

I think a second NZ side is alot more important than a CQ team tbh and I live in about 20 mintues drive from Rockhampton.

If we ever expand to 20 then CQ should get a look in but if it's 18 it has to be Perth and CC imo.

CQ would have to build a shiny new stadium which I beleive they applied for but got denied. Browne Park is simply not big enough and even if you stretched out every inch of the land then you'd probably only get a 12,000 seat stadium at maximum.

[Ryan N]

Well... try and put these "potential" teams in the U/20s comp. Give's it a way to I dunno, forsee the possibilities. Because next week, the focus will be back on Perth, then back to Central QLD, back to Central Coast and then back around.

Or we finally implement something of a sencond tier "national" competition. Like 10 teams. So say 3 from QLD, 3 NSW, 1 VIC, 1 SA, 1 WA and 1 NZ. I understand it isn't on the NRL's priority list, but it would probably be a good thing. Gives somewhere for players to go after U/20s and gives fringe first graders somewhere, and gives local stars a chance. And you'd have these teams in areas where you would believe an NRL team would work.

Eg: NSW- Central Coast, Coffs Harbour, South Coast
QLD- Sunshine Coast, Central QLD, South East QLD
Other states are self explanatory...

[Druzik]

Well the U20 is an NRL comp.

I think the way the reds have been doing it is the way to go, have teams in the BRC comps, that is probably would be the best way, then have them step upto to NSW and QLD cups, either I think is as good as each other, and then when finally ready for NRL can make the step up.

When in the NSW/QLD Cup they can still field a team in the BRC at the U20s level.

Once the transition is made to NRL then both sets of teams can make the whitch over to NRL and Toyota cup.

[arh21980]

Central Coast already has a side in the NSW Cup in the Storm (Melbourne's feeder) have had sides in the Bundy Red Cup(the Entrance won two) but because of the current climate with the pokie machines pulled out so I think they will right some wrongs with bringing back the bears.

[England 3 Lions]

If I was in charge of the NRL, then I'd introduce a NFL-style conference system. Splitting the competition into two conferences would shorten the NRL season. A shorter NRL season would open up the window for more representative matches and allow the NRL to add more clubs to the competition.

Queensland should be fielding 5 or 6 clubs in the NRL. The largest LGA's from south-east Queensland are more than big enough to field their own NRL clubs: Logan's population is just under 270,000 (making it almost twice as large as Parramatta); Moreton has even more people than Logan; Ipswich is around the same size as Parramatta; the Sunshine Coast is much larger than Ipswich and Parramatta.

[England 3 Lions]

Central Qld NRL bid eyes 2013 kick-off
By Maria Hatzakis

Posted Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:30pm AEDT

ABC.net.au

A group pushing to establish a central Queensland-based National Rugby League club says it hopes to have a team in the 2013 season.

The CQ NRL Bid Team has enlisted the former chief executive of the North Queensland Cowboys to bolster its campaign.

Denis Keeffe, who led the Cowboys to the NRL grand final in 2005, has been appointed chief executive officer of the group.

Mr Keeffe says central Queensland has a strong case.

"It's a natural progression for the National Rugby League to move into its heartland," he said.

"This is an area where if rugby league doesn't step into, someone else will move into it.

"It's vibrant, it's resourced and it is passionate about rugby league. It's an obvious target for expansion."

Mr Keeffe says the task will not be easy but he is prepared for the challenge.

"It's going to be difficult, we have stakeholders who some of them will be reluctant to change," he said.

"Some that will need convincing that this is the right move for them and for their affiliates so we aren't expecting an easy ride at all but we are very confident that we'll come through.

"To get this project up and running, you need the vision and then you need commitment and I see those two ingredients in large quantities and that gives me a lot of hope a lot of faith.

"The demographic of this region and the fact that the team will truly represent the region Mackay through Bundaberg and out to the west gives us a lot of tools here."

Bid team chairman Geoff Murphy says the appointment is a boost for the group.

"A person of Dennis' ability and knowledge of the industry, his knowledge of working with News Limited for example and the NRL in the past it's just invaluable and I think it's a real coup for the CQ NRL bid team to be able to employ Dennis," he said.

"The whole of central Queensland can really see something tangible, something on the ground, something that's going to continue on a day to day basis with full time staff now allocated to it."

[England 3 Lions]

CQ NRL bid still rolling
29th October 2009

News-Mail.com.au[/b]

Rugby League: It will cost $20 million a year to run a Central Queensland NRL team, but the man driving the region's bid for a franchise is not worried about money.

Bid chairman Geoff Murphy said last week he had no doubt Central Queensland's booming economy would comfortably finance a Rockhampton-based club.

“There are companies out there that are coming to us to ask what they can do to help. And once we get a franchise it's going to be much easier,” he said.

“This is the heartland of rugby league and it is also the heartland of the Queensland economy and, although I can't go into details at this stage, there are many companies who will want to back us financially.”

The Rockhampton businessman unveiled his latest signing last week - new bid chief executive Denis Keeffe.

Mr Keeffe was in charge of the North Queensland Cowboys from 2001 to 2005 and brings a wealth of NRL experience to the team.

And he says he has no doubt that Central Queensland can make a viable and winning case to the NRL hierarchy that it should be a part of any future expansion of the game's elite competition.

“We have the vision and we have the commitment. All we need is to channel the support of the public, corporate Central Queensland, media and politicians at all three levels and we will have an NRL side based in Central Queensland,” he said.