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.
“I am all for looking at a 20-team competition because you have to set yourself goals,” 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 Corp have revealed the blueprint behind the likely expansion:
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.
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.
“Yes, I have suggested we go to 20 teams,” Politis told News Corp.
“If we want to compete with the AFL, we have to be truly national and be representative in every state.
“I'm not saying we expand right now.
“But over the next five, eight or 10 years, we should look to go to 20 teams.
“We 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.
“It would be great to see North Sydney back in the NRL.
“I 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.”
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.
“The idea of 20 NRL teams, under the current operating model, is completely unsustainable,” Solly told News Corp.
“There is not the playing, coaching or administrative talent to expand at that sort of rate.
“At the moment the NRL haven't confirmed an obvious candidate or location for an 18th team, let alone the 19th or 20th.
“The 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.
“Any 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.”
However, V'landys is still eager to introduce the Pasifika team to the NRL.
“We will absolutely look at a PNG or Pacific bid,” he said.
“The 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.
“The Dolphins have been a wonderful addition, they have grown our Queensland audience, and it's just the beginning for the game.
“Everything we do is fact-based. We would have to do the research (on a 20-team league) and look at it.
“At this stage, I haven't got that data, but the 20-team idea has been proposed and we will investigate it.”