Andrew Johns wants two more NRL teams in Queensland

Joshua Thomas

Andrew Johns wants two more NRL teams in Queensland image

Even New South Wales great Andrew Johns believes Queensland should be the focus of NRL expansion and has called for two new teams to be introduced in the state.

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The suggestion comes in the wake of incoming ARLC Chairman Peter Beattie stressing a need for rugby league to diversify in Australia saying the game must "expand or die".

Asked on Triple M Brisbane's Dead Set Legends, Johns conceded Queensland should be the focus of expansion with NSW boasting more than triple the sides of their State of Origin rivals.

"I think there needs to be another team in Brisbane and a team out of Central Queensland," Joey said. 

"I don't know where they play, out of Rocky... 

 

test test  Test Test 2 Test 3
Jan 123 15 32
Feb 564 16 23
Mar 687 17 14
Apr 1022 18 5
May 1304 19 -4
Jun 1586 20 -13
Jul 1868 21 -22
Aug 2150 22 -31
Sep 2432 23 -40
Oct 2714 24 -49
Nov 2996 25 -58
Dec 3278 26 -67

"But there needs to be a couple more teams in Queensland."

Though an advocate of expansion in the state, Johns still backs the Blues to take out Origin this year and believes Mitchell Pearce will be given another crack at number 7.

A recent report suggested Cairns and PNG were contemplating teaming up to launch an expansion bid with Beattie open to the idea.

“Don’t rule out PNG; you go to PNG and it’s the number one game; they’re folk heroes when they go there,” he said.

“And if they’ve got a link to Cairns, that’s possible.

“The real ingredient is they’ve got to be financially viable.

"At this stage, I don’t have a favourite — we’ve got to work it through."

Joshua Thomas

Joshua Thomas Photo

Josh has been covering sport for nearly a decade now having fallen in love with football at a young age. A UTS graduate, Josh has previously worked for GOAL and now covers football closely for The Sporting News.