IPSWICH Jets chairman Steven Johnson has urged the NRL to look beyond simply expanding into new markets when considering its next franchise, warning rugby league risks losing ground to the AFL across the booming Western Corridor.
“When you’re looking at expansion, you’ve got places like New Zealand where you’ve got geographical expansion, but then you’ve got our corridor, which is a compelling game investment strategy,” Mr Johnson said.
“It’s one thing to try to get new eyeballs into the game, but you can’t afford to lose your heartland.”
Mr Johnson said Ipswich’s youthful population growth made the region particularly important to the long-term health of rugby league.
“By 2040, our Ipswich corridor will have 440,000 people aged under 40,” he said.
“There’s the future of your game.
“If you lose that future to the AFL, you lose hearts and minds, you lose the volunteers, you lose the future coaches and future administrators.”
New figures reveal rugby league participation is growing at more than twice the rate of the region’s booming population, with Rugby League Ipswich recording 13 per cent growth this year to reach 4795 registered players, compared with regional population growth of about six per cent.
Mr Johnson said the AFL was already targeting schools in the corridor, and he expected that push to intensify in the lead-up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
He confirmed the Jets’ long-standing NRL ambitions remained centred on a Western Corridor franchise rather than an Ipswich-only team.
The Jets have already formed a strategic partnership with the Newtown Jets in Sydney, which he said would give a future western corridor franchise an immediate connection to an established New South Wales supporter base.
Under the concept, the franchise would be headquartered in Ipswich, initially playing home games at Suncorp Stadium, while also taking matches to Toowoomba once a suitable stadium was developed.
Mr Johnson said the western corridor’s strongest argument went beyond population and television audiences – it was that it was already producing elite rugby league players.
“What separates the Jets from Christchurch, Perth and even PNG is that we aren’t asking the NRL to create a new market,” he said.
“We’re asking the NRL to secure one it already owns and turn its growth into a value proposition for the whole competition.
“Give us a licence and we’ll deliver.”
