ARL Commission head Peter V’landys says Roger Cook’s WA Government is key to Western Bears success

A day after saying the Western Bears bid to be the NRL’s 18th team based in Perth had been formally rejected ARL Commission head Peter V’landys says the project is not dead and buried.

The promise to keep working with the WA Government on resurrecting the North Sydney Bears on the other side of the country came as WA Premier Roger Cook said the Western Bears’ bid — compromised of the North Sydney Bears and a Perth Consortium headed by Cash Converters Executive Deputy Chairman Peter Cumins — was the “strongest” of ventures bidding to join the NRL, which included one for a team in Papua New Guinea.

V’landy’s said on Tuesday the Bears’ bid was not financially sound and it was revealed today the sticking point was the cost of the licence fee — $10 million a year —was not included in the Bears’ bid. If the bid is not amended the NRL will look to work directly with the WA Government to get a team in Perth for the 2027 season.

“The Bears will be there,” V’landys told News Corp.

“We are trying to do a deal with the WA Government which includes the Bears.

“So the Bears are not affected by this. That is a fallacy that is going around that the Bears are dead. No they are not. It is far from it.

“I called (Bears chairman) Daniel Dickson and explained that to him - that if we do a deal directly with government, it will include the Bears.”

Cook confirmed he had a “text exchange” with Mr V’andys on Tuesday.

“We continue to discuss aspects of the bid process. Obviously the bids went in. I think ours was the strongest. But we need to obviously address some of the issues that the board had in relation to that bid,” Mr Cook said.

“There’s a number of aspects to the structure of the bid and the nature of the finances around it.”

Mr Cook, an avid rugby league fan who played the sport as a young man, said he did not want “go into the details” but admitted it was a personal passion project for him.

“I’ve always been a backer of a league in WA. I remember when the Western Reds were in the competition. I still bear the scars of them being axed from the competition,” he said.

“I think WA should come into the NRL, but we will continue to work with WA NRL and be advised by them about how we can support the bid process.”

A Western Bears team would revive the North Sydney Bears, who have been desperate to get back into the NRL after being axed form the league in 1999, and would give Perth its first top flight rugby league team since the Western Reds in the 1990s before it fell victim to the Super League war.