Category: Rugby League

• Bears to enter competition before PNG expansion side
• Club will wear red and black and play home games at HBF Park

Peter V’landys insists the Perth Bears can be immediately competitive, adamant their link with North Sydney will set them up for success on entry to the NRL in 2027. The league confirmed on Thursday Perth would become the 18th franchise, joining the competition one year before Papua New Guinea’s 2028 admission.

The announcement ends a long push from Western Australia to have a team in the competition, after the Western Reds were killed off in the Super League war. The Bears link will also revive the moniker of one of the league’s foundation clubs, after North Sydney’s exit following the failed merger with Manly in 2000.

All 12 Super League clubs take the field at St James’ Park but away from the pitch the structure of the sport in England is under discussion

There are some weekends when Super League’s profile feels elevated and this is one of them. The 18th edition of Magic Weekend, with all 12 teams playing in the same venue over two days, returns to St James’ Park with the event being played out to a backdrop of excitement and uncertainty.

On the one hand, this has been an encouraging start to 2025. Attendances are up, viewing figures are trending the right way and there is the prospect of the best-attended Ashes series in a generation this autumn, with two of the three venues already sold out.

• Teenager stars in win over Cronulla on return to first grade
• ‘It’s been pretty difficult,’ says Wests playmaker of contract situation

Lachlan Galvin has described the last fortnight of his life as “difficult” and “tough” after the wantaway five-eighth made a triumphant return to Wests Tigers’ NRL side.

Galvin claimed he was undaunted by making his first grade comeback – after a six-day exile in NSW Cup – at a packed Leichhardt Oval as he starred in the Tigers’ 20-18 golden point win over Cronulla on Sunday.

• Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin was to perform before NRL Anzac Day clash
• Club say was ‘miscommunication’ over decision to call off ceremony

Melbourne Storm are under fire after being accused of cancelling a Welcome to Country at its Anzac Day NRL match at the last minute, leaving an Aboriginal elder “broken-hearted”.

Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin said she was informed by the club on Friday afternoon that she was no longer required to address the crowd before the match at AAMI Park.

• ARLC agrees in principle to Western Australian government proposal
• Clubs and Rugby League Players’ Association still to sign off deal

The NRL is set to expand into Perth after the Australian Rugby League Commission agreed in principle to a revised proposal from the Western Australia government for an NRL team.

The ARLC has signed off on an increased offer from WA Premier Roger Cook, which has salvaged plans for the Perth Bears concept to enter the competition in 2027.

• Australian powerbrokers ready to purchase 33% stake
• London club also favoured to play in a 10-team format

Any potential deal for the NRL to take control of Super League depends on the continued presence of French clubs in the British game, with Australian powerbrokers likely to abandon plans to purchase a stake if Catalans Dragons and Toulouse are ejected by clubs leading a review into the sport in the UK.

British rugby league is on the verge of a hugely critical period. There is an increasingly hostile power struggle developing, after a number of clubs – spearheaded by Leigh Leopards and Batley Bulldogs – successfully removed Simon Johnson as the the Rugby Football League chair, and installed as his replacement the governing body’s former chief executive Nigel Wood.