I refer, of course, to the North Sydney Bears and the Newtown Jets! True, neither one is still in the main comp, but they are both still in existence, both have beating hearts, an enduring following of ferociously devoted supporters and a history that would make a brown dog weep! Both were foundation clubs that didn't quite make it to the new Millennium, but both have aspirations to return to the big time!

In fact, there are two other teams, with an even greater history of hurt than Cronulla who – at least technically – could still come back, and could still win a premiership in a fashion that would make the Sharks' victory look like scattered peanuts on Cronulla Beach.

The Bears' former five-eighth, Greg Florimo, has been out there for years, planning the comeback to beat them all, with the most likely place for their rebirth being on the Central Coast. John Singleton is usually mentioned in dispatches as backing them and having a team based up Gosford way, with a fair share of games at North Sydney Oval.

As for the Newtown Jets – who nearly pulled off the WIN OF THE CENTURY against the Parramatta Eels in the 1981 grand final, before going broke a couple of years later – it is just that they never quite went away from their home base. At least, they didn't go away to die, they just dropped a division. All of their infrastructure is still in place, and certainly all of their history. Every second week, at least 500 people are turning up at the famed Henson Park. Not only that, but the once somewhat downtrodden suburb of Newtown has gained wealth and population in recent decades as never before. King Street is as vibrant and cosmopolitan as Oxford Street used to be, and would deliver a whole lot of grunt to an NRL that is looking for exactly the kind of demographic they deliver. Will St George be able to grow in Cronulla's shade? Are they the next club at risk, creating an opening?

No, I can't see anything happening for either Norths or the Jets in the next few years, either, but stranger things have happened. If Cronulla can come back from the nearly dead to win the comp in the space of just four years, why not Newtown after four decades? If South Sydney can come from the clinically dead in 1997, to triumph in 2014, couldn't North Sydney make their own way back from the wilderness?

I particularly cite Norths.

If you were starting up a new club from scratch, and you were able to place on the table that we have the most beautiful suburban oval in all of Australia, positioned in a central location right by massive public transport infrastructure, wouldn't you be off to a good start? Now add that the same field is right by hundreds of enormous skyscrapers filled with wealthy workers who would just love to build Friday nights around going to see the team play. Throw in that they are now also aligned with the fastest growing region in Australia, the Central Coast. And then add their history! Pretty good argument for re-admission, yes? Particularly, for an NRL trying to stop the AFL from turning into the juggernaut that ate NSW.