QUESTION marks still remain whether the Mid North Coast will be able to field a team in the New South Wales Rugby League second-tier competition in coming years.
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The Mid North Coast had hoped to forge a partnership with the Sydney Roosters, but the team from Bondi have now partnered with the North Sydney Bears.
Port Macquarie Sharks president Jamie Dowse was leading the way for the Mid North Coast proposal, but it has hit some stumbling blocks.
“It’s still feasible, but we’re still crawling at the moment whereas North Sydney are already set up,” Dowse said.
The president admitted the Mid North Coast proposal still needed to finalise a working committee to gain momentum.
A potential proposal would need to then have written support from the Country Rugby League.
There also needed to be a visible pathway from under-16s all the way through to National Rugby League level, which would be made easier through forming a partnership with an existing club.
A team from Fiji also have ambitions of joining the competition, but they – like a team from the Mid North Coast – were required to be financially viable.
Dowse added the NSWRL needed to do more to help proposals outside the Sydney-metropolitan basin.
Nine of the 12 current Intrust Super Premiership clubs are located in Sydney, while Wyong is a short one-hour drive north of the Harbour Bridge.
There is no team north of Newcastle up to the Queensland border.
“The Queensland Cup isn’t just about Brisbane – it’s about all of Queensland,” Dowse said.
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