The Dolphins are off to a flying 2-0 start in the NRL, and ARLC chairman Peter V'landys has seen enough to begin dreaming of a 20-team NRL competition.

It took the competition 15 years to expand from 16 teams to a 17th being included, however it appears the wait for an 18th NRL side may not have as much as a wait time on it.

The NRL are looking to add three NRL teams into the competition all within a decade potentially, expanding the competition into 20-teams across Australia and New Zealand, including a Pacifika team to be based up north.

Peter V'landys has already held talks over the mammoth extension of sides.

โ€œI am all for looking at a 20-team competition because you have to set yourself goals,โ€ he told News Corp.

There's been a host of landing spots touted for new teams in recent years, with Perth, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Adelaide, Toowoomba, North Sydney and the Central Coast all receiving their time in the sun.

News Corpย have revealed the blueprint behind the likely expansion:

  • $400 million allocated funding between three new teams over 20 years; new teams to split $20 million per season three ways over two decades
  • the 18th NRL team will likely be a Pasifika side based in Cairns
  • they'll play home games in Tonga, Samoa and Papua New Guinea throughout the season
  • the Australian government would throw in a large sum to help get a Pasifika team off the ground
  • the North Sydney Bears are open to merging with the Pasifika team

If the club did get off the ground, it would mean the first-ever Pasifika side in the competition.

The competition hasn't had 20 sides since 1995, when a host of teams were included for two seasons before the infamous Super League war broke out.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - 1993: Sean Hoppe and Mario Fenech of the North Sydney Bears celebrates after a NSWRL finals match at the Sydney Football Stadium 1993, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Getty Images)

Roosters supremo Nick Politis has played a key role alongside V'landys in the proposal to expand the competition, and become a 'truly national' code.

โ€œYes, I have suggested we go to 20 teams,โ€ Politis told News Corp.

โ€œIf we want to compete with the AFL, we have to be truly national and be representative in every state.

โ€œI'm not saying we expand right now.

โ€œBut over the next five, eight or 10 years, we should look to go to 20 teams.

โ€œWe had 20 teams in 1995. Unfortunately some teams got killed off because of Super League, so a few teams dropped off during the compromise. Adelaide and Perth were cut.

โ€œIt would be great to see North Sydney back in the NRL.

โ€œI strongly believe the Bears should be resurrected, possibly by going to Western Australia as the Perth Bears, and there's areas like PNG and the Pacific Islands that the game can explore.โ€

It's highly unlikely an 18th side enters the competition within the next couple seasons as V'landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo circle 2027 as the launch board for the new side.

South Sydney chief executive Blake Solly is staunchly against the idea, warning that a rapid inclusion of three new sides isn't sustainable, and will spread the talent too thin.

โ€œThe idea of 20 NRL teams, under the current operating model, is completely unsustainable,โ€ Solly told News Corp.

โ€œThere is not the playing, coaching or administrative talent to expand at that sort of rate.

โ€œAt the moment the NRL haven't confirmed an obvious candidate or location for an 18th team, let alone the 19th or 20th.

โ€œThe Dolphins have done a very good job building an NRL club in a short time frame. They've earned the right to stabilise and grow before another new team enters.

NRL Rd 1 - Dolphins v Roosters
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 05: Jamayne Isaako of the Dolphins is congratulated by team mates after scoring a try during the round one NRL match between the Dolphins and Sydney Roosters at Suncorp Stadium on March 05, 2023 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

โ€œAny decision to add an 18th team needs to be aligned to an NRL strategy to increase participation, properly fund the existing NRL clubs for the elite player development we all undertake, and be a guaranteed commercial success.โ€

However, V'landys is still eager to introduce the Pasifika team to the NRL.

โ€œWe will absolutely look at a PNG or Pacific bid,โ€ he said.

โ€œThe Pacific region is a huge potential pathway for the game. It's a very embryonic idea, so we have to do the research and the strategy.

โ€œThe Dolphins have been a wonderful addition, they have grown our Queensland audience, and it's just the beginning for the game.

โ€œEverything we do is fact-based. We would have to do the research (on a 20-team league) and look at it.

โ€œAt this stage, I haven't got that data, but the 20-team idea has been proposed and we will investigate it.โ€