The NRL has announced that the iconic Adelaide Oval will host a match between the Sydney Roosters and the Melbourne Storm in June next year.

It’s fantastic news for League fans in South Australia and has even sparked talks of Adelaide Oval hosting an Origin game. But is it time for the NRL to take a more radical approach and give Adelaide it’s own NRL team?

It’s been done before of course back in the 90’s with the Adelaide Rams. The Rams were part of the first (and only) Super League season in 1997 and then in the first ever season of the NRL in 1998.

These were turbulent times for Rugby League in Australia and for various reasons (including problems finding a stable home venue) the Rams first season in the NRL would prove to be their last.

I still think the Adelaide Rams deserve a chance to play in the NRL. — Therbs (@Therbs3) October 2, 2016

Whilst the Rams days are well and truly over, the time has surely come to at least think about giving Adelaide an NRL team. As it stands, the National Rugby League has teams in only three states- Queensland, New South Wales, and one in Victoria. Oh! and of course NZ.

The NRL cannot seriously consider itself a national competition when only three states are represented. The reality is the NRL will continue to languish behind the AFL in crowd figures and popularity until it brings more teams to the Southern cities.

The pillars for a successful Adelaide-based NRL team are there. Adelaide is a sports-mad city. Yes they love their AFL but like Melburnians they crave a good contest and will turn up in droves to support their team if the product is a quality one.

NEWS | The Roosters will be playing a game in Adelaide in 2017. Read about today’s announcement here: https://t.co/CmU1ZdsmcJ pic.twitter.com/Cm4E0sHwq5 — Sydney Roosters (@sydneyroosters) November 20, 2016

Last year Adelaide fans smashed crowd records with almost 53,000 turning up to see the Strikers play the Sixers in the T20 Big Bash. The sports-mad fan base is there, as is the perfect sporting venue.

Since the renovations, the Adelaide Oval has become one of the best places to watch sport in Australia. Its capacity of almost 54,000 means it is big but not too big.

Obviously bringing an NRL team to Adelaide is not without it’s challenges. Make no mistake Adelaide is an AFL city. Like Victorians, the vast majority of South Australians love AFL. Drive around the state and you will see AFL goal posts almost everywhere. It is very difficult to find the two NRL posts.

The challenge for the NRL is attracting the attention of a slice of these AFL fans. It’s difficult but far from impossible. They don’t have to win them over completely, they just have to convince them to turn up to something new and different. Plenty of Melbourne Storm fans are AFL fans too. The huge attendances at the Adelaide Striker’s matches have shown the sporting public in the city of churches are more than happy to get behind a new sporting concept.

On the flip side the average NRL attendance in 2016 was a little over 16,000- hardly an overwhelming figure. It’s not hard to imagine an Adelaide NRL team drawing regular crowds of above 16,000.

As much as it seems like a good idea it would appear that at this stage any kind of expansion is not part of the NRL’s plans. NRL head of football Brian Canavan told SBS that any NRL expansion will be happening at lower levels.

“Expansion at the NRL level is off the table. That’s not to say it won’t come back onto the table at some stage into the distant future,” he said.

“But expansion is on the table at the second-tier, state cup levels, and if we can accommodate affiliate states … that widens our base. Then, if we wanted to expand way down the track, we’ve got a bigger base, a bigger pool of players to call upon to advance the competition.”

What do you think? Is it time for the NRL to give Adelaide another crack at having its own NRL team? Or should expansion to Adelaide remain in the “too hard” basket?

by Michael T. Lynch – contributor