As someone who has embraced their life in Western Australia and loves rugby league, I eagerly anticipate the arrival of the Perth Bears in the competition by 2027. To achieve the goal of creating a truly nationwide league, this step is essential. Reviving the North Sydney Bears by relocating them to Perth serves as an ideal connection between tradition and innovation.

This strategy provides the new team with an instant fan base in Sydney for their away games and offers them a sense of history and culture from the outset to boost their establishment in Perth.

Undoubtedly, competing with the AFL in one of its strongholds will be challenging, but Perth also hosts many expatriates from the east coast. Although the term ‘expats’ traditionally refers to people living in a new country, given Western Australia’s isolation, the term fittingly applies to those who have moved there from other parts of Australia.

It never happened, of course, but the separatist culture has continued, with popular polls on the issue continuing to reveal a sentiment of ‘us verses them’. It’s why voting patterns in WA regularly don’t follow what’s going on elsewhere around the country.

The choice of the inaugural CEO of the new franchise is another masterstroke by Australian Rugby League Commission boss Peter V’landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo.

Say what you like about this pair, they aren’t afraid to take it up to the AFL in the war of the codes, and in recent years the NRL is outperforming its rivals.

Who better to lead the NRL’s push into WA than a former boss of West Australian newspapers and the national head of Channel Seven’s news and current affairs, Anthony De Ceglie.

The West and Channel Seven are the biggest media players in WA and De Ceglie hails from across the Nullarbor, described as a ‘genuine Western Australian’ by V’landys when announcing his appointment.

While I can’t claim the same status, having only moved to WA as an adult, the AFL-mad state is desperate for more local sports and the Bears arrival in 2027 is a great opportunity to build the code as a truly national competition.

Australians living elsewhere find it hard to fully appreciate just how parochial WA can be. 

The state Premier is regarded as more of a PM than Premier, with state politics dominating coverage over national politics in the west, not something we see elsewhere. 

The isolation – Perth is the most isolated major city anywhere in the world – feeds such sentiments. Even those like myself who turned the state into their adopted home join in.

While I’ve seen concerns expressed that rugby league may struggle to find its feet on the other side of the country, crafting a management and pathways program that does more than insert east coast personnel into the west is a prerequisite for success. De Ceglie’s appointment sends an important message locally.

The recent decision by the local paper to use mock outrage to condemn the state government’s decision to invest in the Bears’ arrival, splashing with a derogatory front page when the formal announcement was made last week, was more a criticism of the state government spending money in support of the new team than an attack on the code itself. 

Premier Roger Cook’s decision to back the Bears only serves to increase the new franchise’s chances of success. It’s a net positive to be sure.

Much of the money is designed to help build the code from the grassroots up, which will be important to its capacity to compete with Aussie Rules and rugby union.

A Perth franchise came and went quickly during the Super League war of the 1990s. The amalgamation of the competition coupled with financial challenges associated with what was a hastily convened team contributed to its downfall.

But since that time Perth has grown as a market, as has the game. Those lessons have been important to getting the move right this time.

The opportunity to open WA up as a destination for east coast Australians to consider traveling to is another important reason why the state government backed the bid. A four hour flight between Sydney and Perth is seen by some as too far to make the trip, which wouldn’t represent a barrier to them if they gave the west a chance, even just once.

The city, the Swan River (which feels more like a harbour) and the ‘down south’ lifestyle make most other parts of the country look positively drab by comparison. Opening WA up to the rugby league community is only going to grow the state more, if current West Aussie can keep an open mind about letting others enjoy what their state has to offer.

In politics we often lament our leaders not thinking big, not taking the time to properly consider and craft what they want to do next. It’s a problem of short term thinking winning out over long term planning and foresight.

Perhaps we need the likes of the NRL management to try their hand at politics next, because at the national level the ability to ‘think big’ is sorely missing.