The path to top-level Australian rugby league can take myriad forms. Clubs may win promotion from a second division (Cronulla and Penrith in 1967), command franchises with huge heartland support (Brisbane and Newcastle in 1988), get shoe-horned into an ill-fated rebel competition (Adelaide Rams and Hunter Mariners in 1997) or arrive fully formed to satiate a growing local demand (the Dolphins in 2023).
The NRL’s 18th and 19th teams are taking different routes. The Perth Bears will enter in 2027 as a revamped foundation club (North Sydney) sent west to conquer an AFL territory. The PNG Chiefs land in 2028 as a $600m Trojan horse from Australian taxpayers to curb China’s influence in the South Pacific – a ploy Papua New Guinea prime minister James Marape calls “a unification strategy deployed under the flag of rugby league”.
