The NRL is going to expand to 20 teams, a myriad of ideas have been suggested – NRL, here is the solution.

The NSW Country Bears, Queensland Country Firehawks and the Christchurch Kākāpōs (pending the name of the mascot).

The Papua New Guinea idea is ridiculous, they will struggle to sign a quality squad due to safety concerns, intense humidity, and quality of life.

If Canberra finds it challenging to recruit, a PNG team will find it impossible. The Melbourne Rebels have just reminded us, team’s that don’t win are financial time-bombs. Obviously, it would be great to take some of the Australian Government’s $600 million, and the NRL can. Use it to develop pathways in PNG and pay the NRL clubs to take on a couple of PNG juniors into their own pathways. It would be great to see more PNG players in the NRL, as this would be a massive boost to the Kumuls and those crucial diplomatic relations.

Secondly, there is a lot of support for a return of the North Sydney Bears, but Sydney does not need another team. My suggestion is to make them the Country New South Wales Bears. They could base themselves in Sydney for training while playing a couple of games in Sydney for financial reasons and then spread their games across NSW – Tamworth, Bathurst, Wagga Wagga, Mudgee, Dubbo and Gosford are just some of the possibilities.

This would give these towns guaranteed games every year which would have so many benefits:
1. Give people in country NSW a team of their own to support.
2. Bring in tourism dollars to these towns and the local area – so many fans would want to visit every NRL ground.
3. Allows these towns to spend money on improving their stadiums and infrastructure.
4. Pathways – so many of Rugby League’s greatest players have come from these areas, they can be developed in their local areas and then play for their local team in front of friends and family.
5. Most importantly, gives tomorrow’s fans (the young boys and girls) easy access to rugby leagues greatest athletes and allow the game to grow.

One team down, two to go. This one is obvious, the Queensland Country Firehawks. Like the North Sydney Bears, the Brisbane Easts Firehawks have great finances, a home ground for training and a supporter base, along with the points mentioned above.

They could play a couple of games at Suncorp Stadium and then spread their other home games across Queensland: Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Bundaberg, Mackay, Rockhampton, and Mount Isa just to name a few. Cairns? That might upset the Cowboys.

I was lucky enough to spend two years of my life in Mount Isa. There might be only 20,000 people in the Isa, but they would love it, if they had a twenty thousand capacity stadium, they would sell it out almost instantly. Plus, this would be the perfect team for Wayne Bennett to add to his resumé.

The final team is a competition between Christchurch and Perth. It would be great to see a team in Perth again, but they don’t have the pathways. Can anyone name a Western Australian NRL player?

The Wahs have massive support right now. It is the perfect time to add a second New Zealand team and Christchurch is currently building a new stadium with a roof and would benefit from another tenant. It is also the ideal location to take advantage of the talent in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the other Pacific Islands. Additionally, this instantly creates another event to look forward to on the rugby league calendar – Island of Origin – North versus South!

Peter V’Landys and Andrew Abdo, I’ve done the hard part, you can just decide the order they debut, you’re welcome.