BY ADAM JOE

Western Corridor NRL bid chairman Steve Johnson has likened the Western Corridor to rugby league heartland region Newcastle as expansion talk heats up.

“Back in 2016, Brisbane had 11,355 registered players and the Western Corridor 15,733 and the game’s planning is working on Brisbane having 13,054 registered players and the Western Corridor 19,075 by 2026,” Johnson told NRL.com.

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“Redcliffe had only 2840 registered players and was forecasted to have 3452 by 2026. The forecasted Western Corridor growth in registered players was 3342 so our projected growth is almost the same as the total number of players at Redcliffe.”

Western Corridor’s strong numbers come from the combined areas of Toowoomba, Ipswich and Logan.

“It (Western Corridor) is the biggest numbers in rugby league,” Johnson added.

“Ipswich itself is the megastar of growth in rugby league in Australia.”

Meanwhile RLNews.co.uk is reporting that English club Castleford is interested in the services of Eels prop Kane Evans.