WA and North Sydney Bears partnership grows more likely by the day as deadline looms

Western Australia appears headed for a partnership with North Sydney Bears rather than as a stand-alone team as its bid to join the NRL ramps up.

Talks have escalated between a WA bid consortium and the Bears after the withdrawal of Newtown Jets from the race.

While a partnership is now seen as the most likely outcome, there is not expected to be an official announcement before the bid lodgement deadline on July 31.

The WA team is likely to play one home game at North Sydney Oval as a concession to the Bears’ history and strong NSW supporter base with the remainder at HBF Stadium in Perth.

It is understood the Bears have softened their demands on extra home games in Sydney and more positions on the board as they see Perth as their last chance to bring their colours and branding back to the elite competition.

The WA consortium remains strong in its stance that it will be a WA team based in Perth.

North Sydney was a foundation club in the NSW Rugby League in 1908 but left the top tier at the end of the 1999 season.

An Australian Rugby League Commission meeting in Melbourne before State of Origin II settled on a timeline to expand from the current 17 teams to 20 by 2030.

Perth is the front-runner to win the 18th licence and play its first game in 2027, with a team from Papua New Guinea to enter the competition in either 2028 or 2029.

Fiji, five New Zealand consortiums, and a number from southeast Queensland are also understood to be vying for the remaining licence.

The Bears bid is reported to have the backing of powerful ARLC chair Peter V’landys.

WA consortium bid chair Peter Cumins has been working closely with a WA Government working party, chaired by MP Peter Tinley, WA NRL CEO John Sackson and Peter Beattie, chairman of the NRL expansion committee.

Cumins wrote an open letter to WA rugby league stakeholders earlier this week, confirming talks were progressing with the Bears.

“Whatever the outcome of these discussions you can rest assured if our bid is successful, it will be a WA team that we can be proud of,” he wrote.

“The club needs to be well funded, professionally managed and successful on the field.

“The WA bid consortium will be required to raise $30 million to support the bid and to provide the NRL with a comprehensive plan which clearly outlines our organisational structure, our elite development programmes, how we will establish a player academy, expand the number of schools participating in the rugby league curriculum programmes, establish feeder club arrangements, and execute sponsor pre-commitments and a host of other arrangements.

“We have been working quietly away in the background to raise the funds and engage the professionals we need to help us complete the exhaustive bid document required to be lodged within four weeks of receiving the invitation to lodge a bid.”

WA premier Roger Cook on Thursday confirmed the government supported the bid but was “agnostic in terms of what form that being takes”.

“This will obviously be work which the NRL WA and their accredited bid company – Bidco - will undertake. We don’t have a role to play in deciding whether it’ll be a West Australian solely West Australian franchise or a hybrid with either the Jets or the Bears,” he said.

The WA government is expected to fund an upgrade to HBF Park, where home games will be played, and an elite high-performance facility and headquarters.