RUGBY league would leave regional Queensland exposed for a takeover by Australian football if an NRL premiership team is not put into Rockhampton.

That’s the warning to the ARL Commission from Central Queensland bid team chief executive Denis Keeffe as they consider the NRL expansion question.

The decision on whether to have the current 16 teams or 18 in the future intersects with upcoming talks about the next NRL broadcast rights deal from 2018.

media_camera NRL CEO Dave Smith speaks to media at Jupiters regarding the Gold Coast Titans new move to Evandale. Picture Glenn Hampson

Keeffe said league bosses must heed comments from former AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou last week that he could see “the potential … a long way away’’ for an AFL team servicing northern Queensland because the game had become stronger in Townsville and Cairns.

The comments by Demetriou came at a Local Government Association of Queensland conference in Mackay.

NRL CEO Dave Smith visited Rockhampton last month, meeting league stakeholders and having talks with CQ bid team bosses Geoff Murphy and Keeffe about any likely process set down by the ARLC in deciding the future of the NRL competition.

“Dave was a bit guarded on the process but he said he would be able to announce something about the process involved early next year,’’ Keeffe said.

“He has some serious issues in Sydney to solve and he needed time.

“I said to the NRL recently if they think they can walk away from this part of the world and come back in five or 10 years and say `now what about an NRL program’, it will be gone.

“The AFL spends more on its academy in Mackay than all of the QRL development programs put together, it’s absolutely massive.’’

The Brisbane Bombers and Western Corridor bid team both want to bring another team into southeast Queensland, with the CQ planning to play all home games in a 20,000 stadium on Rockhampton and a Brothers bid intent on taking some premiership matches to regional centres.

Keeffe said that while he understood Smith favoured retention of a 16-team competition, he personally believed television requirements for extra games as part of increased value in a broadcast rights deal from 2018 meant expansion to 18 was likely.

media_camera Denis Keeffe says Central Queensland is under threat by the AFL.

“What he’s saying in a bit of a riddle, is it 16 teams with some relocation or amalgamation or a combination there of. He said it’s not a simple matter of getting two (new) regions.

“If I was sitting in a seat in Sydney looking at the future of the League in 20 years, I’d be terrified of the (future of the) Titans.

“In the end, I really do think it will be a ninth game (every round).’’

Smith said in August that the NRL would continue to back the future of the Titans.