Brothers NRL bid

**DIEHARD** · 22-03-14, 12:59 PM

Former Brisbane Broncos hooker John Driscoll has joined the Brothers NRL bid team

Former Bronco John Driscoll has joined the Brothers NRL bid team. Photo: Josh Woning

TWO decades ago, Brothers helped launch his NRL career.

Now, former Brisbane Bronco John Driscoll is repaying the favour after he was last week revealed as one of three directors of the Brothers NRL bid team.

For the past year, Driscoll has been working in secret alongside bid chief Justin Barlow and fellow director Byron Cannon on the audacious plan for the Brethren to enter the NRL, with the ARL Commission expected to hand out two new licenses for the 2018 season.

The franchise would draw on the network of more than 40 Brothers clubs across Queensland and NSW, including Stafford-based Brothers Juniors, and base its administration and training headquarters at Brothers Grange Community Sports Club.

The team would play majority of its games at Suncorp Stadium, but take at least four home matches to regional areas boasting Brothers clubs.

Driscoll, a partner at accounting firm Altezza Partners in the city, played all his junior football with Brothers Rockhampton before joining the Broncos and playing 32 NRL games between 1994 and 1999.

Driscoll playing for Brothers in the Queensland Cup in 1998.

With his passion for the famous butcher stripes burning as strong as ever, he felt drawn to the “concept of the bid”.

“My attraction to this wasn’t throwing money at something so the fans would come; the way that it had been positioned and packaged was that all that you were doing was trying to unite existing infrastructure. That concept, I felt it had immediate legs,” Driscoll said.

“I know Justin and I know he has the ability to bring this together so I had faith in him being the right person to control it and guide it. I just reached out to Justin and asked him if I could be involved, if I could assist purely from an interest point of view.

“I’ve never really had an inclination to be a coach or a trainer however I’ve always had a corporate interest and seeing that as somewhere I could help. The underlying concept around the brand, the fan base, the feeder clubs being all the football clubs, it just makes perfect sense.”

Barlow, who helped build the Gold Coast Suns, said the bid team was currently seeking investors as it liaises with NRL powerbrokers on how best to shape its submission.

“(Having the Confraternity of Brothers Club) means we can immediately establish the fan base. They’re waiting to be mobilised, this is the opportunity to mobilise them,” Barlow said.

“We’re not bound by geography, we’re not just going to be relevant to one area. From a business perspective, we can grow those commercial opportunities continuously.”

The ARL Commission is expected to announce expansion plans before the 2015 season.

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