Perth is the most isolated capital city in the world. 

Its closest counterpart is a whopping 2692km away, nearly three hours by plane or more than a day on the road if you are willing to drive that far. 

That kind of isolation breeds a unique brand of parochialism where they cast a wary eye over anyone or anything that is brought from “over east”.  

Western Australia has consistently punched above its weight on the national sporting front. 

In the AFL, cricket and basketball in particular, the Perth teams have taken great delight in defying the huge travel burden they face to enjoy various eras of stunning success. 

Rugby league tried and failed to establish a foothold in the 1990s when the Western Reds joined the premiership before deciding to run off with the rebel league just a few weeks after their first game. 

The Reds had the building blocks to be a long-term success but the sport’s civil war made that mission impossible and they were an easy kill for warring administrators trying to cut teams at the end of their third season, which was thankfully the only one where rugby league in Australia was split into two watered-down competitions. 

Rugby union’s Western Force has had a similarly bumpy existence in more recent times and has proved harder to exterminate, mainly thanks to the support of mining magnate Andrew Forrest, when officials put them in the too-hard basket. 

The NRL is all but certain to revive a franchise in Perth within the next few years, perhaps as early as 2027, and possibly ahead of the flawed but federally-funded Papua New Guinea expansion plan. 

This is a smart move by the ARL Commission to help put the National into the NRL. 

A Perth team gives the competition a prosperous new market to grow the game while solving scheduling problems with the addition of a new time zone and adding overall value to the product when the bigwigs next bargain with broadcasters over rights deals. 

But in pure rugby league fashion, a good idea is being compromised as the Commission tries to solve two problems with one move. 

Shotgun marriages between clubs have an extremely rocky history in rugby league yet the ARL Commission thinks Perth should get into bed with the North Sydney Bears or Newtown Jets as part of their bid submission. 

Why? Nostalgia is nice but it doesn’t pay the bills. 

Newtown have their niche in Sydney’s inner-west as the rugby league hipster’s preferred team to watch on a Saturday afternoon as the sun sets at Henson Park. 

They have not been in the premiership since 1983. 

North Sydney last played in the big league as the Bears a quarter of a century ago and after a few forgettable and regrettable years being forced to be the junior partner to their enemies Manly, they have survived at NSW Cup level. 

They’ve been the feeder club to a host of NRL outfits and their logo, colours and North Sydney Oval home ground are iconic. 

But how many potential rugby league fans in Perth will care about that? They will just see it for what it is – the NRL trying to foist the carcass of a club which went bust decades ago onto them. 

Perth wants a team to call their own. With a WA identity. Not one from “over east”, no matter how noble the intentions are to get the Bears out of hibernation or the Jets from their aircraft museum. 

The expansion  team will have a much better chance of succeeding where the Reds failed if the WA people get to choose their team name, colours and identity, 

And why not revive the Reds anyway? That would be the best way to right the wrongs of the past. 

If a poll was held in Perth to gauge the most popular option, it would win in a landslide ahead of whatever other pseudo-American name like Spartans, Thunder or Cavaliers that usually get tossed up by overpaid suits with all the gear but no idea.

The Bears have offered themselves around to any potential suitor when it comes to expansion and it would make more sense for them to partner with the PNG bid. 

Their red and black colours are close to PNG’s national colours and the NRL team shouldn’t be identical to the Kumuls. 

And for a nation where rugby league is a religion, their fanaticism means they won’t be as fussy as Perth’s sporting public if a team from yesteryear is attached to their team. 

From all the various leaks to the media to fly the expansion kites in the public domain, it appears all but certain that the NRL will be a 20-team competition within a decade, perhaps sooner with the likely scenario that Perth, PNG and a second team from New Zealand entering the big league. 

The unexpected success of the Dolphins in winning nine games in their first season and now being in the top four after Round 15 shouldn’t fool the NRL decision makers into thinking that the next few expansion sides will be able to be competitive from the get-go. 

An already stretched talent pool will be diluted even further and the salary cap alone is not enough to create a level playing field. 

The Titans have won a solitary playoff game since their admission to the premiership in 2007 and the last thing the NRL needs is three more sides with little to no chance of sustained success.