Premier Roger Cook vows to continue fight for WA NRL team after bid rejected

Premier Roger Cook insists WA’s play for an NRL club is not dead despite ARL Commission head Peter V’landys rejecting a bid by the Perth-based Western Bears to become the competition’s 18th team. Mr V’landys said the proposal put forward by a consortium that included the WA NRL and the North Sydney Bears was “significantly short” of what was required. A multimillion-dollar licensing fee is believed to be the main sticking point. The ARL board’s decision came days after the NRL grand final, despite expectations that the Western Bears could be announced as the newest team to join the competition in 2027 as early as this week. The Premier — an NRL fan and passionate supporter of establishing a WA team — confirmed Wednesday he had a “text exchange” with Mr V’Landys after the decision. “We continue to discuss aspects of the bid process. Obviously, the bids went in. I think ours was the strongest. But we need to address some of the issues the board had concerning that bid,” Mr Cook said. “There’s several aspects to the structure of the bid and the nature of the finances around it.” Mr Cook said he did not want to “go into the details” but admitted it was a personal passion project for him. “I’ve always been a backer of a league in WA. I remember when the Western Reds were in the competition. I still bear the scars of them being axed from the competition,” he said. “I think WA should come into the NRL, but we will continue to work with WA NRL and be advised by them about how we can support the bid process.” Asked if the deal was dead, Mr Cook warned against making such an “assumption” and vowed conversations between the Government and ARL would continue. Mr V’landys told News Corp the commission was still in talks with the Cook Government and left open the possibility the bid could be resuscitated. But he indicated he may no longer be willing to talk with the “current consortium”. “No bid team can take the expansion process for granted. I have made this clear from day one. We will only expand if there is a firm business case, and at the moment, Perth’s business case doesn’t stack up,” Mr V’landys said. “If we can’t stack it up, I can’t take it to the members for consideration. All I will say is their bid is extremely short. I will talk more with the WA Government, but not necessarily the current consortium.”