Bears’ huge task revealed as coach announcement looms

Jasper Bruce and Joel Gould | June 5, 2025

Mal Meninga has a mighty task to make the Perth Bears competitive from the outset as history paints a bleak picture of the NRL’s expansion teams in their early years.

The NRL is poised to unveil Meninga as the Bears’ head coach this week, with the rugby league legend expected to relinquish his post in charge of the Australian national team to take the helm in 2027.

The nine-time State of Origin series-winning coach is understood to have beaten South Sydney great Sam Burgess and former Parramatta boss Brad Arthur to the role, his first in charge of a club since 2001.

The appointment of household name Meninga is expected to help generate big interest in the AFL-mad city, which has not had a team since the Western Reds folded in 1997.

But a tough task looms for Meninga amid the excitement of the Bears’ return to the NRL, 25 years after their Northern Eagles merger with Manly collapsed.

Some 14 expansion teams have joined the NRL and its predecessors since 1982, when the league first began to expand out of Sydney.

Only two of those teams, the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm, played finals in their first two seasons.

Even then, the Broncos only made it to a play-off game to reach the official post-season in 1989, losing that match to Cronulla.

Among the 12 remaining teams, only one – the Auckland Warriors of 1995 – had a winning record in either of their first two seasons, while three picked up the wooden spoon in the same time-frame.

Only six of the 12 remaining are still in the league in their current format, the vast majority of others folding in the aftermath of the 1997 Super League War.

The last Perth expansion team, the Reds, did not play finals in any of their three seasons, the best of those an 11th-placed finish in 1995 that ended with a respectable 50 per cent winning record.

The statistics come after Wayne Bennett told AAP last month coaching an expansion team was one of rugby league’s bigger challenges.

NRL HQ considers the Dolphins expansion project a big success for its nationwide fan community and ability to challenge the Broncos for airtime in rugby league heartland Brisbane.

But even then, master coach Bennett did not lead the team to finals in their first two years, and the team sits outside the top eight at the halfway mark of their third campaign.

“(Coaching an expansion team) sounds like a lot of fun but it can be a journey to nowhere,” South Sydney coach Bennett told AAP last month.

“It’s an extremely tough gig and it’s not something I would recommend for anyone to take up.”

EXPANSION TEAMS THAT PLAYED FINALS IN THEIR FIRST TWO SEASONS:-

Brisbane Broncos: 7th (1988), 6th^ (1989)

Melbourne Storm: 3rd^ (1998), 3rd^ (1999)

EXPANSION TEAMS THAT MISSED FINALS IN THEIR FIRST TWO SEASONS

Canberra Raiders: 14th* (1982), 10th (1983)

Illawarra Steelers: 13th (1982), 12th (1983)

Newcastle Knights: 14th (1988), 7th (1989)

Gold Coast/Tweed Heads Giants: 15th (1988), 13th (1989)

South Queensland Crushers: 16th (1995), 20th* (1996)

Western Reds: 11th (1995), 16th (1996)

North Queensland Cowboys: 20th* (1995), 17th (1996)

The Warriors: 10th (1995), 11th (1996)

Adelaide Rams: 9th (1997, Super League), 17th (1998)

Hunter Mariners: 6th (1997, Super League), N/A (1998)

Gold Coast Titans: 12th (2007), 13th (2008)

The Dolphins: 13th (2023), 10th (2024)

^denotes the team played finals

*denotes the team finished last