BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

‘Turtling’ is a strategy used in war that requires ‘heavy defense, with little or no offence’. According to the old Google machine, ‘turtling’ is the “continuous reinforcement of the military front until it has reached its full strength, then an attack with the now-superior force”.

This can be the only explanation for Lord Peter V’landys of Kythira going on Channel Nine the other night and being so adamant that Brisbane will have their second, and the NRL’s 17^th club.

Fortify what you have.

Unleash hell… later… we guess?

For this writer, a second team plonked down in the middle of Brisbane makes little sense. Those fans not aligned to the Broncos already have an NRL club they support.

Some of these people are second and third generation Dragons, Rabbitohs or Bulldogs supporters and so on.

Are they just going to burn all their jerseys and start going for the new Brisbane side?

Come on.

And if they do, how does that bring NEW fans to the game?

“If there is a 17th team, it will be in Brisbane, no doubt about that,” V’landys told Channel Nine’s 100% Footy the other night.

“That’s where the market is, that’s where we are strong. No good spending a lot of money in rusted on AFL states in my view.

“You want to go to the states where you have the nurseries and have the population that loves the game.

“But before we do that, it’s got to be a pretty strong business case. You just can’t go there without making sure both the Broncos are not affected, and the Titans are not affected.”

If that’s the case than the only expansion club viable enough is in Ipswich.

Ipswich equals nursery.

And it just so happens that the AFL’s Brisbane Lions are currently building a $70 million facility out there with the help of the local council.

Ipswich and surrounds are growing exponentially.

The AFL can see it.

But yet the NRL appears happy to parachute a new logo into Brisbane and hope for the best.

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“We don’t want to cannibalise them [Broncos and Titans] at all. So, there’s a long way to go because it needs to really stack up commercially,” V’landys continued.

“I like the fact that players can get a bye. That helps their mental well-being, they can always look forward to having that weekend off during the year, so there’s that benefit.”

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A bye?

How does that help the game financially?

Why aren’t we talking 18 teams and reducing the amount of fixtures… that looks after “well-being” too.

Extra game every weekend, anybody?

TV money?

If V’landys wants to keep the code in NSW and QLD where people “love the game” than what are we saying to those people that went to Perth Stadium last year to watch Origin?

What about those in Adelaide that have bought tickets for the match this year?

Or the kids playing in the strong WA junior league or the West Coast Pirates?

Rugby league will never be strong in any market it doesn’t have a crack at.

Didn’t the boss of the GWS Giants once say that they didn’t want to take over Sydney but they just wanted their market share?

Why wouldn’t V’landys want to tap into the Perth market which so obviously is willing to open itself – ever so slightly – to rugby or rugby league or whatever they want to call it?

We might as well put a bullet in the Melbourne Storm right now too.

After all, not everyone in Melbourne loves rugby league.

Not really a big nursery either is it?

Brisbane is the Broncos.

The Broncos are Brisbane.

That’s the winter market up there.

The Brisbane Broncos.

Put a team in Ipswich or forget about it.

V’landys has a lot of admirers but his opinion on expansion is dim and amateurish at best.

If this is some kind of war strategy, rugby league is already just like a turtle on its back.

@woodward_curtis