NRL: Doubts over support for a new Wellington side

Fans cheer on the Warriors during the side's NRL match against the Bulldogs last year. Photo / Getty

Warriors chief says talent for Wellington side rich but capital’s fickle fans a concern.

Warriors chief executive Jim Doyle believes New Zealand has the playing talent to support a second NRL team but has doubts over whether Wellington could muster the required crowd support.

News broke over the weekend that an Australian-based consortium bid is in the early stages of lobbying the NRL for a Wellington-based NRL team to join the competition in 2018.

Doyle is confident New Zealand produces enough playing talent to sustain a rival team but says player recruitment is just one of numerous challenges a new club would need to overcome to ensure any long-term success.

"There's certainly the talent here," Doyle said. "If you look at Wellington, I'm not sure that they would have the support base.

"If you look at the Phoenix, they've got a relatively small crowd, and there's a lot more to running an NRL club than just having the talent.

"So it will be interesting to see if a bid comes together, could it justify the corporate support and the ownership structure and all those sorts of things."

Doyle acknowledged plans to play up to four games per year in other parts of the country could see the Wellington bid make up for potentially low crowd numbers in the capital and help make the new venture sustainable.

"That certainly could assist them. If you've got one base and then you generate quite a few members, if you move things around then you can generate potentially a wider base than that. But I think it is very early at this point in time.

"The NRL are considering the future of the competition in the next few years but I would think they would look at all areas there.

"They will look at whether it is better to expand the competition or whether it is better to relocate clubs, whether it is better to break it up into different conferences.

"I'm sure they will be looking at lots of different ideas."