NOW that the NRL appears to have reached agreement with the government of Western Australia to bring back the North Sydney Bears, but in the guise of a club named the Bears playing out of Perth, it looks nailed on that Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur will be contracted as the inaugural coach of the club at its new home in 2027.
Brad has long signalled that he would like to coach in the NRL again, but he could hardly pick a tougher job than he will have in Perth, where he will have to put together a coaching team and a 30-man squad that will be able to compete at the highest level right from the kick-off in just less than two years’ time.
As we’ve seen with previous expansion clubs, failure won’t be an option. In order to win fans, the team will have to be successful from the start if it is to attract and retain the affection of a local population that is more attuned to watching their two AFL (Aussie Rules) teams.
Leeds Rhinos sporting director Ian Blease was disappointed last week to concede that his club would be losing Morgan Gannon to the NRL’s New Zealand Warriors at the end of this season and he will now be facing the prospect of finding a new coach for the Rhinos and saying goodbye to the best coach the club has had since Brian McDermott’s departure in 2018.
And the situation will be made far worse for Leeds if some Rhinos players decide they would like to follow him to Perth, which is an undeniably attractive coastal city with a Mediterranean climate. I can’t think of many places that would be more attractive venues to play Rugby League.
If we look at the Rhinos current squad, the majority of them appear to have contracts to the end of 2026, which would mean that they would be potential recruits for the new club.
Brodie Croft is one player who has made it clear in the past that he would like another crack at the NRL, while Harry Newman is another who might decide to take his chance if it’s offered to him.
And what about players at other Super League clubs?
Mikey Lewis made it clear recently that he fancies a crack at the NRL, but his contract runs to the end of 2028, as far as I am aware.
One player whose contract does expire at the end of 2026 is George Williams, but I would guess that George is on a marquee contract at Warrington that would probably deter him from heading to the NRL a second time, following his stint at Canberra in 2020 and 2021, and in any case he would be 32 years old by the time the 2027 season would begin.
Most of Wigan’s top players are tied up to the end of 2027 or beyond, while St Helens also have many players tied to contracts beyond 2026.
Looking elsewhere, however, another player who clearly has NRL ambitions is Lachlan Lam of Leigh, whose contract as far as I’m aware runs out this year.
Would Lachlan want to play in Perth, or would he prefer to wait for the new Papua New Guinea club to come into the NRL in 2028?
I’m sure that everyone involved with the Leopards would hope for the latter.
But in terms of putting a squad together in a relatively short space of time, I can do no better than quote North Sydney Bears legend Billy Moore, who will probably have some involvement with the club in its new guise.
“The first three players I would sign for the Bears would be Jahrome Hughes, Payne Haas and Selwyn Cobbo,” he said.
“I’d also go after Herbie Farnworth (aged 25), who is the best centre in the world for mine, and I love the idea of having Angus Crichton (29) on an edge.”
That’s the quality of player the Bears will need to go after if they are to succeed in a market that won’t necessarily welcome them with open arms.
Kevin Nicholas – the Batley Bulldog
LAST week the current CEO of the NRL club Wests Tigers, Shane Richardson, featured on James Graham’s Rugby League podcast.
Always outspoken, he criticised the state of the game in the northern hemisphere and for some reason he decided to make some disparaging comments about Batley Bulldogs, saying that if English Rugby League comes under the control of the NRL, the Bulldogs will never feature in Super League.
“It doesn’t matter what Batley do – they’re not getting in it,” said Richardson.
“If you come to England when the Aussies come over for the Ashes Series you are invited to Batley so I can get you a beer, some hospitality and a parking space, because you wouldn’t believe it, but we do have all that at Batley as well as a real passionate core of family value.
“Also, I can enlighten you in a few areas and maybe pass on a few tips about running a solvent RL Club so next time you feel the need to express a view in public you might have at least a little bit of knowledge of what you are talking about.”
I believe Shane has now flown to the United States for his niece’s wedding and I don’t know whether he has replied to Kevin.
Red cards sprouting
Two red cards were given out by referee Chris Kendall on Friday night in the clash between Leeds Rhinos and Hull KR.
Were they the right decisions?
I’m not sure.
The problem is that any contact with the head is now an automatic yellow card, but it becomes a red card if the contact is forceful and there are no mitigating circumstances.
However, there are so many fine margins in making that judgement that I am tempted to suggest that we should learn from rugby union and incorporate a system that gives a yellow card initially for all head contact while giving the video-referee the right to convert it into a red card on further analysis if he is convinced that is what it deserves.
To expect a referee to make such a fine judgement on the spot might be too demanding and could lead to errors – either too harsh or too lenient.
Paul Sykes
My congratulations to Paul Sykes, who turned out for Dewsbury on Sunday at the age of 43, becoming the first man in the history of the game to play professionally in 27 successive seasons.
What an achievement!
Mike Latham
Finally, my sympathy to Leigh Chairman Mike Latham, who used to write for this publication.
Leigh played in black armbands at Salford on Saturday because Mike’s mum Mona died earlier in the afternoon at the age of 99.
She lived to a marvellous age, but the pain of loss is always just as great when it’s finally time to say goodbye.
My condolences to Mike and his family.
