they are never getting in the NRL. No stadium, no chance in hell of raising $10million in revenue, no value to the NRL media deal, no chance of strengthening squad with overseas players, at least 4 more lucrative expansion cities to go to first.

I'd love to see them in NRL but won't happen in next 25 years barring a miracle.

Only Perth, Brisbane II/Sth Queensland, and Wellington are needed before PNG.

They don't need overseas players.

Why no value to the NRL media deal?

If they are located in Port Moresby, playing out of a modern stadium whose construction is paid for by the PNG government or multinational corporations, couldn't they raise revenue?

1. That is 20 years of expansion plus to bring those four teams that are more likely. We MAY see two teams brought in 2018, it is unlikely we will see more teams for another ten years after that, then it is highly unlikely they will ever want to go to more than twenty teams in the NRL.
2. Because the TV deal in png would be worth peanuts due to the avg income of the population.
3. Australia has more kids playing the game than png and better systems yet many teams have international players in the team. NZ has a whole country of RL players to choose from yet requires Australian players. Png would not be contenders without being able to sign top talent players from overseas. There is not, and unlikely ever will be enough money in the game to see jnr development in png produce a full team of png players that could win the NRL.
4. No, there will not be a stadium big enough in port moresby to produce gate and corporate facilities that would raise huge revenue, mix that with very limited corporate opportunities and a population with virtually no disposable income for merchandise, membership etc and the chances of them raising $10mill a year to just keep pace with rest of NRL is highly unlikely.

Sorry to burst your bubble!

The way they are going developing better jnr programmes and exposing their very best via nsw cup to be snapped up by NRL clubs is the way to go for them.

But it makes sense to have 20 teams because you could have each team play each other once (19 rounds), then have State of Origin on stand alone weekends for a total of 22 weeks (4 weeks less than present) thereby eliminating the problem of player burnout.




We could carry the PNG TV rights without losing too much. After all what kind of value would a Central Queensland franchise bring to the TV deal?.



PNG would depend on corporate sponsors funding junior rugby league development. There are many very wealthy multinational corporations in PNG who would like to see the social integration and diminishing of crime that would accompany junior development. The same corporate backers would fund the club's purchase of a few overseas players.




I have read that the plan is to build a modern stadium in Port Moresby, one that has separate corporate facilities. The corporates would provide most of the 10 million a year. Don't underestimate how boring life is in PNG for westerners, and how attractive it would be having a stadium with good facilities to watch the local professional rugby league team playing teams from Australia and NZ every other week. It would be attractive to both the corporate executives, and to their foreign workers. You would probably have a three class stadium

So far it is the Queensland Cup, not the NSW Cup, which is hosting a PNG team. It can continue to so so even if there is a PNG team in the NRL. In fact having a team in the Qld Cup would be important as a feeder for the NRL club.

No need to apologise to me. You haven't burst my bubble.

Can't wait for this year's NRL Grand Final.

For the first time, the winners of the NSW Cup will play the winners of the QLD Cup as the first game that day.




FYI. Hunters lost yesterday.

There is a lot of pure racism in the thinking of people who refuse to even consider the PNG NRL bid.
PNG has made it clear that they can and will meet any criteria set by the NRL, and because they have government backing they have the dollars to build a stadium, to pay for out of pocket expenses by clubs, to adequately fund the team, and no other side in the NRL or bidding to enter the NRL has an absolute government guarantee for their funding.
People say they shouldn't be spending their money in this way, and we should deny them the right to apply because we know better than them how they should be using their money, and of course, we have zero right to say that.
The questions surrounding their bid are simple.
1/ Do they have the desire to play?
2/ Do they have the money to meet any reasonable criteria we set.
If the answer to both questions is yes, they have to be considered along with any other bids, and if they bring more to the comp than the others, they should be in.

Nothing else, like what we think of their public health system or system of government, is any of the concern of the NRL.

No one would dream of saying a poor African country should be excluded from the soccer world cup because they should be spending their money on public health - that would be pure racism - and saying PNG shouldn't aspire to play RL at the highest level is exactly the same thing.

Lol, they do not have govt guarantee of funding, and without going into the ethical discussion on if a developing nation with massive health, education, crime and infrastructure problems should be spending oz aid on a professional sports team, they do not have the money to guarantee the $5-7million a year they would need to cover the revenue shortfall they would face.

They are refurbing a 15,000 athletic stadium, if they wanted to be in the NRL they would need a 30-40k rectangular stadium and they can not afford to build one.

They have been told they will not be considered, hence why they have stopped calling themselves the png NRL bid!

NRL is a billion $ business, they can aspire all they like but it won't get them a team in the next two decades if ever, IMO.

Why would PNG need the kind of revenue an Australian club needs?

People like to talk about how poor the country is and how little fans can afford to pay to attend, but then claim the club would cost the same as other NRL clubs to run. It's quite a contradiction.

Because it would lol. The wages would need to be the same otherwise the best players, coaches and management would get signed up by other non png teams. Sure some back room staff like shop assistants, receptionists, admin staff etc would be cheaper but the majority of NRL revenue is spent on players and player related staff.

By the time a png club is admitted, if ever, most clubs are going to be operating on $18-25mill revenue. Around $9mill of that will come from the NRL grant. The rest is made up of membership, stadium deals or gate takings, corporate sponsorship, merchandise sales and league clubs grants for some.

IF a png team could get $4mill of corporate support, IF they could get govt to annually chip in $3mill, IF they could get a 30-40,000 stadium and fill it with the png middle class then they would be a sustainable club.

Still wouldn't tick the value to NRL box but at least they would have a shot.

I'd love to see it, I'd love to see the NRL be committed to make that level of investment in png, I'd love to see the Kumuls win a RLWC but sadly it is highly unlikely to happen.

I agree with you on pretty well every point JB.
There is another factor that is never brought up.
The NRL is spread over a massive area, who is paying for the cost of Clubs to travel to Port Moresby for away games?

You see some comment on the crowd figures at games in the NRL but many Clubs only have home support with a handful of expats or neutrals.
That would include.
Brisbane Broncos
Nth Qld Cowboys
Gold Coast Titans
Newcastle Knights
Melbourne Storm
NZ Warriors
Canberra Raiders

That's 7 from 16 teams that are unlikely to get many travelling fans unlike the Super League where only two Clubs are outside of a reasonable travelling distance and one has a potential Country behind it, the other is a basket case in the Capital city that get a handful of people to most games.

How far apart are most Super League Clubs 100 miles at the most?

Their bid did have government funding guarantees, and all the 'ethical issues' are not your business or the NRL's business.

A 30-40k all seated stadium up to Australian standards would never work in PNG. The vast majority of the population can only afford to sit on a grassed hill, which would be cheap to build. The grandstand would only need to sit 5k tops.

Are the PNG covering the visiting teams costs?
Who is guaranteeing safety and providing security to visiting teams.
PNG is one level better than a war zone by western standards,
Many Australian companies will not send their staff there because of the state of the place and lack of security.

As an Australian whose taxes contribute to the $500million our country gives PNG to improve the life of its citizens I beg to differ.

Link? Re ongoing govt financial support?

Problem is it is very very hard to build a safe hill that holds 30k! Short of turning an open mine into a ground Ala odsal style. Why 30k? Well at 50c entry they are going to need huge crowds to make enough money