We keep hearing that an NRL team won’t be a success in Perth.

Won’t work. Too far. Costs too much.

Certainly those are the views of ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys.

V’landys’ opposition to a team in Perth centres around three arguments.

One, there are worries about the welfare of players due to five-hour flight times to Western Australia.

Of course, a trip from Sydney to Auckland when you throw in border control and baggage collection is about the same, but that’s by the by.

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Two, as V'landys said last year: “Perth does not have a huge [rugby] league audience.”

That’s despite the NRL taking the pre-season Nines to WA this weekend following a near sellout crowd for Origin II last year.

The axing of the Western Force from Super Rugby means there is already a, admittedly dormant, rugby (league or union) market there, it just needs to be revived and recaptured.

In fact, one could argue that the demise of the Force is why the NRL should actively seek to form a new club in Perth.

And thirdly, which was particularly striking was V’landys’ suggestion that the game should: “Forget wasting millions in rusted-on AFL states.”

Presumably then, V’landys wouldn’t have set up the Melbourne Storm, who in case we forgot, are based in a little place called Victoria, where folk are the most “rusted-on” of AFL types.

The Storm are also the second-most successful club in the NRL era. Yes, they might not have the biggest crowds or whatever barometer you want to measure them by, but they win and have a whole city to themselves to tap into corporates, state funding and whatever else Sydney’s club are left to fight over like a flock of pigeons.

Despite league not being native to them and without the natural player pool on offer in Brisbane or Sydney, they’ve done OK.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy is drenched with iced water after the 2017 NRL Grand Final Source: News Corp Australia

“We’ve always had a Queensland flavour, whether it was Billy Slater or Cameron Smith and guys like Cooper Cronk and Greg Inglis,” Craig Bellamy tells foxsports.com.au, explaining that the Storm have to fish elsewhere to get the right talent.

“We’d have loved to, and it would’ve been great for the game, for us to have some more Victorians in the side over the years but it takes time.

“So far we’ve had Mahe Fonua, Young Tonumaipea and Richie Kennar, and it would be great boost for the league fraternity, who are doing some great work down here, to have more Victorians.”

Mahe Fonua scores for the Storm Source: News Limited

We might get a sneak peak at one such player this weekend, with Dean Ieremia expected to play in the Nines.

Bellamy admits it is an organic process, and long after the establishment of the Storm, Victoria is some way behind Queensland and NSW.

It will be the same for Perth. But those that have seen how a league team operated in WA, however, believe that the introduction of a side would only be beneficial.

Mick Potter, the former captain for the Reds feels that, it would make the game truly national if WA were to be handed its own NRL outfit.

“Having a team there would only take the game forward,” Potter explains.

Mick Potter and Chris Ryan celebrate for the Reds Source: News Corp Australia

“We call it the National Rugby League and I think having a timeslot over there [would be good], and there’s definitely an audience in WA. I know they’re strengthening their local clubs all the time.

“The people there were great and we always had a reasonable crowd.”

The concern over lengthy flight times in his view, however, is somewhat of misnomer. He also explains that the success of Melbourne shows that league can thrive in those “rusted-on” AFL areas.

Mark Geyer fends off while playing for the Reds Source: News Corp Australia

Western Reds coach Peter Mulholland arrives at club's offices Source: News Corp Australia

“The travel is very manageable,” he says. “You see the Warriors and the Cowboys do it along with the AFL’s West Coast and Fremantle. I think if you see what they do, they’re meticulous with their travel and recovery, I think if it is managed right it’s very do-able.

“Of course, it depends on the cost, but I think the players and staff will be able to manage it.

“[Melbourne] have got a system in place which shows they can be successful around AFL, they have the right people in the coaching staff, as administrators and as players.”

THAT’S SO RUGBY LEAGUE

You may have heard of Garry Lo.

If you haven’t, then strap in for a ride.

Lo was hailed as the next big thing and his rise from rural football in his native Papua New Guinea coincided with the establishment of the Queensland Cup’s PNG Hunters.

Only 5’7 (170cm), but weighing close to 100kg, he was a winger made of granite with a knack for finding the try line. Naturally, he earned the nickname ‘The Tank on the Flank’. He had it all, and was earmarked as the first Hunters player to breakthrough into the NRL.

Garry Lo of Papua New Guinea is tackled by John Bateman (left) and Elliott Whitehead Source: AAP

Lo was travelling well for the Hunters, and could well have got a crack at an NRL gig.

But he bizarrely signed for Newcastle Thunder in England’s third tier along with three other players from PNG.

It was an example of why some players shouldn’t always follow the money, because what followed was even more odd.

Lo arrived in Newcastle in the middle of the English winter in 2015, but very quickly had seen enough. He packed his bags at 3am, jumped in the car the club provided him, drove the three hours from Newcastle to Manchester airport, left it in a restricted bay with its headlights still on, and hopped on the first plane back to PNG. It was not until Newcastle’s coach Stanley Gene reported him as a missing person, that the police made the club aware of what he had done with the car on his way out of the country.

Garry Lo fends off for PNG Source: Getty Images

Lo returned to England a year later, scoring 50 tries with Sheffield in 46 second division games before earning a shot with Castleford in Super League after impressing in the 2017 World Cup. He was sacked mid-season in 2018 for reasons that remain unclear.

He played in France with Carcassonne, before briefly returning to the Hunters for an unsuccessful spell.

This week Lo was unveiled as a player for Goondiwindi Boars in the Toowoomba competition.

With such an unorthodox journey, and for someone who had the world at his feet not so long ago, it’s a wonder where his crazy career will take him next.

TRIVIA TEASER

This weekend French Test international Laur’eane Biville will play for the Warriors in the NRLW Nines in Perth who has been playing with the Easts Tigers up in Brisbane.

As far as I can tell there are only three other French-born, French-developed players to have played in the regular season or in the Nines during the NRL era. All three are men. Can you name them?

Write in the comment section below.

IN THE SIN BIN

The phrase “eyes-up footy player” to describe a player’s style.

If a player didn’t have their eyes up they wouldn’t be able to see where they are going.

With the opposition trying to level them at every opportunity that would be truly remarkable.

Ergo, being an “eyes-up footy player” really isn’t that special, if anything it’s the norm.

STRAIGHT SEND OFF

Siosaia Vave.

The former NRL prop disappearing and then resurfacing after a report in The Daily Telegraph revealing he had vanished with $5000 of cash for signing on with the Blayney Bears.

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