Ipswich Jets push hard for NRL's coveted 20th team licence

The race for the NRL's 20th licence is heating up west of Brisbane, with the Ipswich Jets mounting a compelling case that their region's raw rugby league numbers may be impossible for the game's administrators to ignore.

Jets chairman Steve Johnson sat down with 4BC's From the Stands this week to lay out why Ipswich deserves the nod — and the argument goes well beyond sentiment.

"We currently have together roughly 12,000 players across Ipswich and Toowoomba," Johnson said. "That's more than the Penrith district, and Penrith is currently a benchmark of development in New South Wales."

The broader South East Queensland region is one of the fastest-growing in Australia. Australian Bureau of Statistics projections show Ipswich alone will have 440,000 residents aged under 40 by 2040 — a figure Johnson describes as a ready-made pool of future players, fans and administrators. Participation rates in the city already dwarf the rest of Queensland: 2.29 in every 10,000 Ipswich residents play rugby league, compared with just 0.7 in Logan and Brisbane.

"We're going to finish up with over 20,000 regional rugby league players, which would be roughly one-third of everyone playing in Queensland right now," Johnson said. "The numbers are real, they're backed by the ABS, and they make a very strong case."

Infrastructure is keeping pace. Some $40 million has been committed to rebuilding North Ipswich Reserve, and the club has formalised a partnership with the Newtown Jets to carry the legacy brand forward — a model similar to the arrangement the Perth Bears have used in Western Australia.

The Jets were passed over in the previous expansion round when the NRL opted for the Perth Bears and a Papua New Guinea franchise, choosing to break new ground geographically rather than reinforce a traditional heartland. Johnson acknowledged the logic at the time but argued the conversation has now shifted.

"When Perth and PNG came in, they came in for different game-strategy reasons — a new international market and a new major Australian city," he said. "We respect that. But rugby league heartland? Ipswich is arguably the first name that comes to mind."

That view is shared by Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis, who publicly declared last week that Ipswich simply had to be the 20th team. Johnson called Politis's endorsement more than a goodwill gesture.

"Nick has the ability to see the future and then make it real," Johnson said. "Having him believe in our heartland is very reassuring, but there's also serious logic behind his position."

Part of that logic is a talent-pipeline argument. In 2022 an Ipswich school side — drawn from Ipswich Grammar and Ipswich State High — won the national schoolboys competition undefeated, yet almost none of the players held contracts with Queensland clubs. Development deals had sent them to the Roosters, the Warriors and other NRL clubs far from home.

Johnson pointed to players such as Kulie Kufuyaki, who had to relocate to Townsville to get an NRL pathway. "If the Jets had existed, he stays home and develops here," Johnson said. "We've been in this game since 1991 and we've produced some of the greatest players ever to play it — seven of the 17 players in Queensland's team of the century came from our region, plus Wayne Bennett as coach. We're not asking the NRL to take a leap of faith. We're asking them to look at the numbers."