THE DAILY TELEGRAPH - 27/2/2004

Coast with the most... John Singleton is hoping to take the 16th team to the Central Coast and Gosford's Express Advocate Stadium (inset)

John Singleton and his high-powered Central Coast consortium will meet NRL officials this morning with the high-profile businessman saying: "I just hope we get entry while I'm still interested.

"Singleton is pushing for a Gosford-based club called Central Coast Bears to become the NRL's 16th club. And today he will offer compelling reasons to NRL chief executive David Gallop.

Can you please give me a reason why we are not in?" Singleton asked The Daily Telegraph last night.

"There is a high desire to have a club on the Central Coast."

Singleton said his consortium had the ground (Express Advocate Stadium), cash, corporate support and players.

"And we have money in the bank for the next five years. We will pay everything up front," Singleton said. "(But) I'm philosophical. If commonsense prevailed it would have already happened."

The NRL is likely to decide this year whether it will accept a 16th club into the competition. The Central Coast and Gold Coast are the two major consortiums bidding for entry.

Singleton said that he had been involved in discussions with the NRL for three years.

"I really hope it happens," he said.

A spokesman for the consortium said that the exact details of the Central Coast proposal would only be made public after today's meeting.

Gallop said: "The Central Coast keep us updated about their bid. That is what the meeting is about.

"We will probably decide within the first half of this year whether we have another club in the competition."

Central Coast officials point to the 11,000 crowd that attended last week's trial match between Souths and Wests Tigers in Gosford.

It has already been agreed that a team base there would be called the Central Coast Bears.

The now-defunct Northern Eagles tried to split home matches between Gosford and Brookvale Oval.

Local fans were urged to stay away from the 20,000 seat Express Advocate Stadium at the time, pushing the Northern Eagles away from Gosford and back to Brookvale full-time.

"We would be among the top franchises in the competition if we were granted entry," Singleton said.

Singleton said it was "likely" he would attend today's meeting but several advisers will certainly be at the NRL's Fox Studios headquarters.

The Gold Coast also claim to have an impressive proposal.

Known at different times as the Seagulls, Giants and Chargers, Gold Coast came into the Sydney competition in 1988 but were dumped after the 1998 season.