NRL in Perth takes a beating
The WA Rugby League was misled into believing it was in line for a side in an expanded National Rugby League competition when it launched West Coast Pirates two year ago.
Australian Rugby League Commission chairman John Grant said the then rugby league administration handled the expansion issue badly.
Grant, in Perth to watch the Bulldogs' 40-12 win over Melbourne Storm in front of 12,000 supporters at nib Stadium on Saturday night, stressed there were still no plans for an expansion.
"We didn't even architect the process out of which came the Pirates. We as an administration, and it was pre-commission, didn't handle that well," Grant said.
"We gave people the oppor- tunity to build expectations that they should not have had.
"I think we misled them and that's inappropriate so we've tried to correct that. Good rugby league people spent a lot of time and energy pursuing something that wasn't even on the table and I think that's very disappointing.
"There has been a lot of disappointment in that process, however you've got to be true with people, you've got to tell them exactly what's going on, which is what we've tried to do.
"We've put this whole issue for NRL expansion off the agenda to post-2014. At the end of the season we'll do the right work to understand what makes sense.
"If we are going to expand at the NRL level, and there's no commitment that we will, we would look at all the areas. We would need to find out where the WARL would stand if an NRL expansion was on.
"There's a whole matrix of things that have to be made to work to even justify one more side in the NRL competition.
"We want sustainable, profitable clubs with the ability to keep doing the same thing for a long time irrespective of how club fortunes go on the field.
"It's a big deal trying to build clubs that are sustainable and we haven't got that in the NRL at the moment.
"Any new franchise would have to understand it takes about $19-20 million to run an NRL footy team. That's not small bikkies and you've got to be able to do that year after year after year."
The Bulldogs conceded the game's first 10 points before blitzing the Storm, running in seven unanswered tries.
The Storm suffered a blow before the match when captain Cameron Smith (back spasms) was unable to complete the warm-up and had to be replaced.
The victory continued the Bulldogs' rollercoaster start to the season, their 42-4 round-two romp over Cronulla followed by a two-point loss to Penrith.
It's a big deal trying to build clubs that are sustainable …" *John Grant *
