The NRL is a couple of years away from becoming an 18-team competition, but why stop there?
With Andrew Abdo's comments last week leaving the door well and truly open for a Perth-based NRL team in the future, that would bring the competition up to 19 teams - an awkward number and one that could easily be fixed with the addition of a second expansion team at the same time.
But what will the league look like in 2032? Aside from South Sydney executives promising their fans that they're 'looking into' moving back from Homebush to Moore Park for the ninth consecutive year, not much else is certain.
Regardless of what you think about it, the Papua New Guinea bid is going full steam ahead and that team will join the competition in 2028. Given the massive investment from both the NRL and two separate federal governments, even the most cynical skeptic would be flabbergasted if that project was abandoned within five years.
So that takes us up to 18 teams. As I argued for last year, Perth seems like a slam dunk for expansion, and the various parties lobbying for a team on New Zealand's south island are each making compelling cases. A second Kiwi team feels inevitable to a degree. If you look at the A-League for comparison, the Phoenix have been a consistently positive presence in that league, while Auckland FC have been a breath of fresh air as a new expansion team in the way that others, shoehorned into markets that were already saturated, were not (Looking at you, Macarthur and Western United).
The magic number for the NRL feels like 20. It would enable a greater deal of flexibility in terms of accommodating the game at every level, would make the competition fairer, and would reduced the rigours of an already-bloated season. Let's dive into how great this could be if everything comes together.
A reduction in games
A conference system has some merits; who doesn't want more games between rivals like the Rabbitohs and Roosters, Broncos and Dolphins, or Eels and Bulldogs? But the idea of having more games between all the Sydney clubs, and more games between the non-Sydney clubs should remain a non-starter.
The travel time for the non-Sydney teams would be an extremely big disadvantage - in terms of tens of thousands of kilometres over the course of a season. But how else could you fix the current draw imbalance?
Twenty teams would enable everyone to play each other once each, with one extra game per year. This would give each team an even number of home games, and remove accusations of soft draws. You could arrange for the extra game to be the same every year so you do get a couple of extra rivalry games, or it could be randomised.
The other thing to note is that almost all sports, and particularly rugby league, are beholden to broadcasters for a gigantic portion of their revenue - and said broadcasters will never agree to a reduction in games (this is why finals series in sports are only getting more expanded as time goes on), which is why the NRL would need to be proactive here.
As it stands with the current 24-game season, the 17 teams play a combined 408 regular season games. A 20-team competition with 20 games apiece would total an even 400, plus a couple of extra finals, and more importantly, more internationals, making it a wash. Not having to reduce the number of broadcasts makes all of these ideas much easier to sell.
International and Origin windows
Which brings us to the biggest benefit of less NRL games - more room for internationals. It's all well and good to want to place more Test matches during the Origin windows, but that means Australia can't be involved. It also means that a bunch of players who represent say, New South Wales and Tonga, would be forced to choose which game they play in.
Origin is the biggest thing in the sport and likely always will be. But the Pacific Championships at the end of last year showed us what we could have in the international game if we really gave it a chance to shine, and that can't happen without Australia playing more regularly.
So in this hypothetical 20-game season, there could be two separate windows for international footy. An early season weekend which would include the Anzac Test (not on the ANZAC Day weekend as those NRL games are massive in their own right) and games between other countries.
State of Origin weeks are a bit trickier. Broadcasters are clearly against the idea of weekend Origin matches, so they'll have to remain on Wednesdays. The fairest solution is two have split rounds before each of the three Origins, with five games played in each of those six weekends. Every NRL team receives one bye before one of the Origin games, and another after one of the other two Origin games.
The Pacific Championships have been a huge success so far and should continue after the conclusion of the NRL finals.
More byes
Each team will receive two extra byes in addition to the Origin ones, for four in total. This would mean that a regular week would still feature eight NRL games, with four teams on byes.
Players have repeatedly complained about the sheer amount of games and wear and tear that the current system brings them, and this would bring some much-needed respite.
My proposed 25-round season
Twenty teams consisting of the current 17, PNG, Perth and a second New Zealand team.
Each team plays each other once, and is assigned one opponent to play twice for a total of 20 regular season games. Four byes, as well as a week off for the designated international window for a total of 25 rounds.
Early March: Season begins.
Mid April: After six rounds of the NRL season, a week off for an Anzac Test between Australia and New Zealand, as well as other nations facing off.
Early June: Origin period begins. Each NRL team receives one bye before either Origin 1, 2 or 3, and another bye after one of the remaining two Origins. Five games per weekend before and after each Origin match, which remain on Wednesdays.
Early September: NRL Finals begin.
Mid October: Pacific Championships.