More NRL teams are an option but further expansion comes with associated risks | Nick Tedeschi

The Dolphins have shown the way so far this season but there are no guaranteed rewards for adding an 18th, 19th and 20th team

Two weeks into the 2023 NRL season and the story that has captured the imagination like no other has been that of the remarkable early success of the Dolphins. The expansion team sit top of the ladder, having become just the third new outfit in 113 years – after the Brisbane Broncos and the Melbourne Storm – to win their opening two games.

So followed calls to further expand the competition, according to the Daily Telegraph, which reported that the ARL Commission is planning an expansion to 20 teams by 2032. ARLC chair Peter V’landys has never been backwards in shaking up the status quo and is driven by a desire to dominate.