{"id":398041,"date":"2024-05-29T00:45:16","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T00:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=398041"},"modified":"2024-05-29T02:04:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T02:04:31","slug":"why-done-600m-expansion-deal-is-about-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=398041","title":{"rendered":"Why 'done' $600m expansion deal is 'about China'"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRL<\/a> is poised to announce Papua New Guinea as the location for the league's 18th team\ufeff.<\/p>\n

2GB radio host Ben Fordham on Wednesday morning revealed a deal has been struck with the game's governing body and the governments of both nations.<\/p>\n

It's said to be worth $600 million over 10 years.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Bennett on cusp of luring 'in demand' figure to Rabbitohs<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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"The deal is done. The deal has been done," Fordham told Ben Fordham Live<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"Now it's all coming down to timing of when Anthony Albanese takes it to cabinet, and I don't think that's going to be too far away."<\/p>\n

The official announcement of the agreement \ufeffis believed to have been put on hold.<\/p>\n

\"Papua<\/p>\n

Papua New Guinea is grappling with a devastating and deadly landslide in recent days, while Prime Minister James Marape may also be facing a vote of no confidence in parliament.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Fordham is confident Australia's own leader Albanese is poised to announce the deal in federal parliament, before the NRL also confirms it.\ufeff<\/p>\n

And Fordham explained why the expansion decision is as much a political one as a football one.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 State of Origin series exclusively live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"This whole NRL-PNG thing is going to cop some heat," he said.<\/p>\n

"Rugby league fans are cynical about expansion, AFL states will be seeing it as an unnecessary gift to a rival code, and if you put the whole thing to a pub test… we would question the spending.<\/p>\n

"But this is more than a footy team in PNG. This is about China.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/ben-fordham-full-show\/exclusive-date-set-for-historic-nrl-announcement-o\/embed<\/a><\/p>\n

"Australia and China have spent the past few years in a battle stance. There's an intense struggle for influence playing out in the region.<\/p>\n

"China wants a security footing in the Pacific, that's what this is about.<\/p>\n

"This is why PNG matters so much to Australia. We want to keep them close to us.<\/p>\n

"That's why I believe the $600m investment is strategically wise.<\/p>\n

"James Marape wanted a rugby league team – we had the one thing he really wanted and he couldn't get from anywhere else or from anyone else.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffWhen you view it as a China issue, and not a rugby league one, the $600m doesn't seem so much."<\/p>\n

The 17th team to enter the NRL was the Dolphins last year.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NRL is poised to announce Papua New Guinea as the location for the league's 18th team\ufeff. 2GB radio host Ben Fordham on Wednesday morning […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":398043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=398041"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398044,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398041\/revisions\/398044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/398043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=398041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=398041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=398041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}