The Perth Bears are to enter the NRL in 2927 and with less than a year left before entry, the countries 18th franchise have not finalised their squad.
Last year in October, the PNG Chiefs became the NRLS 19th Franchise and revealed to the worlds press that they will be approaching players with a tax free, Multi-Million dollar war chest.
And over the weekend, PNG Chiefs announced the 2 year signing of Jahrome Luai worth about $2million dollars per season.
The new franchise will be in part underwritten by the Australian government and is a move that will largely impact other NRL clubs.
While the Perth Bears have yet to build a roster for their 2027 entry, they have yet to land marquee player like Jahrome Luai just yet. .
Speaking on NRL 360 on Monday night, Perth Bears CEO Anthony De Ceglie stated that the club has “A few players up their sleeve”.
“I think PNG is a comparison but it’s not an apples for apples comparison and for us, we’re sticking to our mantra to sign the right players for the right reasons”, De Ceglie Said.
Some of those signings include the Melbourne Storm duo of Tyran Wishart and Nick Meaney. Not bad proposals to get the Bears off the ground.
One possible solution for the Perth side, is to offer UK based players in Super League direc pathways to the Bears. While the competition is not as strong, the current UK compeititon has seen a flurry of English players head south to Perth.
Current players include:
- Oledski
- Harry Newman who played in the Ashes series against Australia recently.