Take baby steps and protect Titans: Legends on expansion debate

Baby steps should be taken with expansion, with one team added for 2023 and a second in 2028.

Do not foist a relocated team onto Brisbane or Perth, but they are the two cities where the next rugby league franchises should be planted.

Three former Test players who lived through the expansion and contraction that came around the Super League era – Mark Geyer (Western Reds), Ryan Girdler (Penrith Panthers) and Wendell Sailor (Brisbane Broncos) - felt there was enough player depth to sustain another one or two NRL teams.

All three want the Gold Coast Titans to stay and not be squeezed out to create a second Brisbane team.

"I know people say 'No. no, you've got the Titans there' but success will breed attendance and sponsors," Sailor told NRL.com at the recent Triple M season launch.

"I've got no doubt there's enough businesses and people in south-east Queensland to cover all three teams.

"I go up all the time to Brisbane to see my Mum and I can't believe the growth of that city.

"So for me they absolutely can support a second team there and leave the Titans to do their thing further south taking in northern NSW."

Geyer also doesn’t want the Titans to be touched.

"We need the Titans to be successful no matter which way they go. There's such a big catchment area up there straddling two league states," Geyer said.

"They've got a huge junior development up there – rivalling what Penrith and Parramatta are doing here in Sydney."

The differing opinions come when we talk numbers. Geyer and Girdler would like 18 – Geyer actually suggested 20 in two conferences.

"Twenty is too many. But I think an end goal of 18 is do-able," Girdler said.

"Baby steps though – add one for the new deal in 2023 and then another for the following deal in 2028."

All three players were against relocation, or promoting an Intrust Super Cup team like Redcliffe or Ipswich.

"You don't want a new franchise sitting at the bottom of the table, not attracting fans," Girdler said.

"The Melbourne Storm model has worked perfectly. Maybe we need to re-use that model because it certainly worked. You need to put the right resources around a club so they can be successful."

Sailor added: "I personally think if you start a new team you've got to let them have their own identity, let them build from scratch.

"People don't want a team plonked on top of them. The cry has gone up again 'Bring the Bears back' but you can't put a North Sydney team in a place like Brisbane – or Perth."

Geyer said: "I'm a fan of expansion. But I want to see a team in Perth. I want to see another team somewhere else.

"I actually want us to get to 20 teams and play just one round each season – you could probably do that with 18 teams as well, maybe two conferences.

"It will never happen but we're getting more like NFL every day. The game is slowing down like NFL and they only play 17 weeks a year and every game is an event.

"We don't have to do it all in this broadcast deal for 2023. We'll have another deal in just eight years time.

"We need to go to WA (Western Australia) because if we really want to be a national competition – and we say we are – then let's be national, because we're not at the moment.

"We should be called the Eastern Seaboard League – ESL not NRL."

The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of the NRL, ARLC, NRL clubs or state associations.