With reports surfacing that the deal has been done, people are starting to question the decision to add a team based in Papua New Guinea to the NRL. More precisely, a lot of people, particularly those from the non-rugby league states, are furious about the suggestion that the Australian Government will cough up $600m to help make it happen.
The NRL has been searching for an 18th team in its next expansion move, with several contenders putting forward compelling cases. There is a bid from Western Australia, another for a second New Zealand team, suggestions that Queensland needs another team and the seemingly endless efforts to resurrect the North Sydney Bears in various locations. It now appears that the biggest thing those other bids lack is a geopolitical agenda.
The Australian Government apparently sees the inclusion of a PNG team in the NRL as an important step towards staving off China's advances in the region. Not only have China been making overt moves in the South China Sea, which, it has been alleged, threaten the sovereignty of its neighbours and the safe and free passage of international shipping, they have been gaining influence in a number of South Pacific countries. China has poured millions of dollars into island economies financing civil projects. Fears have been raised about some of these projects being turned into Chinese military bases, something all parties have vehemently denied. The Australian Government reportedly sees the $600m spread over 10 years to be a sound investment in regional security.
Unfortunately for Anthony Albanese's Government, spending that much tax-payer money to finance a PNG rugby league team simply does not pass the pub test, not even in Queensland and New South Wales where rugby league is by far the No. 1 winter sport. With families battling an inflation rate which sits above the level predicted by the Government, with essential services crying out for additional funding, with more people now worried about being completely homeless than those concerned about home ownership, people just can't see the sense in it.
How many extra nurses could be funded by $600m? What could be done about the housing crisis? Who cares what influence China has on our neighbours, when the perception is that the economic powerhouse already has too much influence over and within Australia itself?
Sports loving people want their favourite codes to thrive, they may or may not agree that expansion is a necessary part of success. Rugby League fans may not agree that a team from PNG is a good idea, believing there are more logical and more deserving locations. There are doubts over whether an NRL team in PNG is even viable. The travel time required of teams to visit Port Moresby, coupled with security concerns add an onerous and expensive burden to existing clubs. The flight from Sydney to Port Moresby is around four hours, from Melbourne it is approximately six hours, and from Auckland it tops eight hours. By comparison, from Auckland to Perth is around seven-and-a-half hours and Perth has often had travel times raised as an impediment to hosting a team there.
The question of playing talent is also interesting. Will the new club rely mostly on locals, the players who have been competing at Queensland Cup level for several years now or will they need to chase talent from elsewhere and at what cost? If the Raiders have to pay overs to convince players to move to Canberra, what will it take to relocate someone to Port Moresby? The bottom-line question is will the inclusion of a PNG team strengthen or drain the NRL in the long run. If the plan initially requires such substantial Australian Government funding, just how financially viable is it?
There are so many questions that need to be answered, but one thing you would find almost unanimous consensus on is that the new club should be able to stand on its own two feet, from the start, and certainly not be propped up by our tax dollars. Australians with absolutely no interest in rugby league or sport for that matter, can easily come up with better ways to spend the $600m, whether it be locally or in assisting PNG in more substantial ways.
The NRL is yet to make a formal announcement on the decision and understandably the Australian Government is keeping its cards close to its chest as well. With a federal election on the horizon next year, it might pay to re-consider any decision it might have already made.