The bid to add a Christchurch-based club to the NRL is facing strong competition from the Queensland city of Ipswich which has announced it is again seeking a licence to play in the league.

A decision on the NRL’s 20th team is expected by the end of the year. The Ipswich Jets bid will compete, among others, with the Southern Orcas from Christchurch, ABC News Australia reported.

Rugby League Ipswich chairman David Nugent told ABC News Ipswich residents are ready to fight for a place in the NRL after two previous failed bids.

Ipswich has produced a number of well-known players, including Dud Beattie, Allan ‘Alfie’ Langer and Brisbane Broncos women’s team captain Ali Brigginshaw.

Ipswich Jets chairman Steve Johnson told ABC News he believes the emergence of a NRL team will help the city develop more players. More than 4800 league players were registered in Ipswich this year, a 12% increase from 2025.

University of Technology Sydney sports economics professor Tim Harcourt told ABC News any new club will have to attract spectators and a television audience.

He said Ipswich was an attractive bid for the NRL. It has a strong rugby league history and the potential to be involved in NRL derbies with the Broncos and Dolphins.

But Harcourt also felt the Southern Orcas bid was stronger.

He told ABC News Christchurch’s new stadium is an attractive destination for travelling fans. And Ipswich currently has no venue suitable for NRL matches, so the Jets plan to play at Lang Park in Brisbane.

They also want to turn North Ipswich Reserve into a 12,000-seat rectangular stadium, but have not yet secured all the funding.

Earlier this month, the NZ Herald reported on documents that showed the group pushing for an NRL team in Christchurch told the Government its support was “vital” to securing the franchise – despite ministers insisting they were not involved.

Southern Sporting Limited (SSL) first approached South Island Minister James Meager about the NRL bid in September last year and met him in November, the Herald reported.

SSL representatives then met Meager and Sport and Recreation Minister Mark Mitchell on August 20.

The ministerial involvement came after Christchurch City Council started working on a potential NRL bid.

The council has been in talks with the NRL over a second New Zealand-based club as part of the competition's planned expansion, RNZ reported in June.

NRL officials want to expand the competition to 20 teams by 2030 and the council reportedly wanted to front-foot a bid by merging two competing Christchurch consortiums into one.

SSL, which included Christchurch resident and former Warriors coach Frank Endacott and former Christchurch East MP Poto Williams, first approached the council in 2024 to seek support for its bid to develop a Christchurch-based club, claiming it could provide a $50 million a season economic boost for the city.

Sir Graham Lowe also tried to get a proposal off the ground, while a separate 'South Island Kea' bid, led by former New Zealand Rugby and NRL boss David Moffett, had also been scrapped.

-Allied Media