NRL NRL Expansion

[mrblonde]

Pythons is too Phallic, we already have the Eels to fulfill that Freudian gap.

Chiefs is too common and tokenistic, and the yanks made it an offensive term by calling Native Americans Chief in the street.

Angels, no, too feminine.

Has to be Crocodiles.

A PNG word for Croc Pukpuk could go badly wrong in the call....and with so many languages spoken there - probably using the bastard language English is the solution.....even though it is a Greek word...sorry I went off on a tangent...what's in a name.....

Headhunters is the name that Is unfortunately too visceral to use, even though it is a mighty name.

Eels feel like the the more erectile disfunction-ish of the two phallic names, I'd observe. Especially given the board issues, team issues etc over the years.
Animal names in sports is often weird. It's obviously not "we're gonna take this local animal and show it to the world!" I mean, the Wests Tigers? Penrith Panthers? Someone please show me Australian tigers or panthers...The Cockroaches, Funnelwebs, Barking Spiders or Wombats would be more accurate if not less "exciting".
The PNG Compound? Okay non-PC etc but it has the advantage of accuracy of showing off where they live.
And could start a trend of renaming.
The South Sydney (or Wests?) Dumpheapers.
The New Zuland Freezers.
The North Queensland Melters.

 

[Teets]

Animal names in sports is often weird. It's obviously not "we're gonna take this local animal and show it to the world!" I mean, the Wests Tigers? Penrith Panthers? Someone please show me Australian tigers or panthers...

Feel like there's some unwritten rule that every RL comp has to have a Tigers team.

Wests, Castleford, Albi overseas. Moerewa, Nortcote, Hamilton City, Hauraki, Danniverke, Upper Hutt, Papanui here.

 

[El Chuckie]

Eels feel like the the more erectile disfunction-ish of the two phallic names, I'd observe. Especially given the board issues, team issues etc over the years.
Animal names in sports is often weird. It's obviously not "we're gonna take this local animal and show it to the world!" I mean, the Wests Tigers? Penrith Panthers? Someone please show me Australian tigers or panthers...The Cockroaches, Funnelwebs, Barking Spiders or Wombats would be more accurate if not less "exciting".
The PNG Compound? Okay non-PC etc but it has the advantage of accuracy of showing off where they live.
And could start a trend of renaming.
The South Sydney (or Wests?) Dumpheapers.
The New Zuland Freezers.
The North Queensland Melters.

The animal thing lacks imagination given in most cases it's just based on jersey colour: Wests (and Northcote) are orange and Penrith are black. According to Wikipedia, the Panthers' logo was the winner of a local competition in the 60s. Northcote were originally the Warriors, apparently.

 

[Worried2Death]

North Queensland Melters.

Townsville Melts, might call them that from now on

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Shortlist of names for the PNG team announced;
Pythons
Chiefs
Angels
Crocodiles

I had chatGPT rank the names:

1. Crocodiles
   • PNG has crocodiles in its rivers and they’re fierce, strong, and instantly recognizable.
   • Perfect for a rugby league team: intimidating, memorable, and culturally relevant.
   • Fans would likely embrace it immediately.
2. Pythons
   • Another strong animal symbol: flexible, deadly, and agile—qualities that fit rugby league.
   • Slightly less iconic than crocodiles in PNG, but still a solid, culturally relevant choice.
3. Chiefs
   • Nods to PNG’s tribal leadership and respect for elders.
   • Strong cultural symbolism, but less visually fierce, so it might not feel as intimidating on the field.
4. Angels
   • Symbolically positive and marketable internationally.
   • Weak connection to PNG culture and rugby’s physical, aggressive image.
   • Might appeal to some, but could feel out of place or soft to hardcore fans.

Bottom line: Crocodiles or Pythons are the “rugby-native” choices, Chiefs adds cultural depth, and Angels is the most abstract/outlier.

 

[Matiunz]

The animal thing lacks imagination given in most cases it's just based on jersey colour: Wests (and Northcote) are orange and Penrith are black. According to Wikipedia, the Panthers' logo was the winner of a local competition in the 60s. Northcote were originally the Warriors, apparently.

Originally Panthers were brown and white so it was probably more of an alliteration thing rather than colour scheme

 

[Horriors2013]

I had chatGPT rank the names:

1. Crocodiles
   • PNG has crocodiles in its rivers and they’re fierce, strong, and instantly recognizable.
   • Perfect for a rugby league team: intimidating, memorable, and culturally relevant.
   • Fans would likely embrace it immediately.
2. Pythons
   • Another strong animal symbol: flexible, deadly, and agile—qualities that fit rugby league.
   • Slightly less iconic than crocodiles in PNG, but still a solid, culturally relevant choice.
3. Chiefs
   • Nods to PNG’s tribal leadership and respect for elders.
   • Strong cultural symbolism, but less visually fierce, so it might not feel as intimidating on the field.
4. Angels
   • Symbolically positive and marketable internationally.
   • Weak connection to PNG culture and rugby’s physical, aggressive image.
   • Might appeal to some, but could feel out of place or soft to hardcore fans.

Bottom line: Crocodiles or Pythons are the “rugby-native” choices, Chiefs adds cultural depth, and Angels is the most abstract/outlier.

Is Pygmies politically not allowed?
Bowmen?
Archers?

 

[Worried2Death]

Is Pygmies politically not allowed

Don't see why not, unless they prefer PNG Little People?

 

[Worried2Death]

PNG Blowdarts

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Don't see why not, unless they prefer PNG Little People?

Papua New Guinea Pigs?

 

[Falcon]

Pythons is too Phallic, we already have the Eels to fulfill that Freudian gap.

Chiefs is too common and tokenistic, and the yanks made it an offensive term by calling Native Americans Chief in the street.

Angels, no, too feminine.

Has to be Crocodiles.

A PNG word for Croc Pukpuk could go badly wrong in the call....and with so many languages spoken there - probably using the bastard language English is the solution.....even though it is a Greek word...sorry I went off on a tangent...what's in a name.....

Headhunters is the name that Is unfortunately too visceral to use, even though it is a mighty name.

I entered the name comp for the team and suggested Chieftans - a rift on Chiefs but with a touch of ‘pizazz’

 

[Matiunz]

Is Pygmies politically not allowed?
Bowmen?
Archers?

Probably not as it’s not on the shortlist

 

[mrblonde]

I had chatGPT rank the names:

1. Crocodiles
   • PNG has crocodiles in its rivers and they’re fierce, strong, and instantly recognizable.
   • Perfect for a rugby league team: intimidating, memorable, and culturally relevant.
   • Fans would likely embrace it immediately.
2. Pythons
   • Another strong animal symbol: flexible, deadly, and agile—qualities that fit rugby league.
   • Slightly less iconic than crocodiles in PNG, but still a solid, culturally relevant choice.
3. Chiefs
   • Nods to PNG’s tribal leadership and respect for elders.
   • Strong cultural symbolism, but less visually fierce, so it might not feel as intimidating on the field.
4. Angels
   • Symbolically positive and marketable internationally.
   • Weak connection to PNG culture and rugby’s physical, aggressive image.
   • Might appeal to some, but could feel out of place or soft to hardcore fans.

Bottom line: Crocodiles or Pythons are the “rugby-native” choices, Chiefs adds cultural depth, and Angels is the most abstract/outlier.

And what if the Aussie band The Angels throw a fit?
On the other hand, if any member of the band has a strong enough connection to PNG, there's your home entertainment sorted!
Crocodiles gets my vote.
Chiefs might work. The Waikato Super Rugby team (okay, yeah, the ENEMY!)have made it strong: Finals every year since 2 finals appearance from 1996 to 2012 okay not great, but finals every year since 2012 and Champions in 2012 and 2013. However, obviously not particularly unique as a Team Name. Lots of other Chiefs in the Professional Sports Teams World.
Pythons issue. Yes, they will kill you. But slowly. Not sure which existing NRL Thing it could kill - most could out-run it, Sea Eagles could fly, Dolphins, Sharks and Eels could swim...Need to pick a venemous PNG snake. Taipans or Blacksnakes?

 

[Matiunz]

‘Angels’ it turns out has a pretty cool story behind it with WW2 connections to PNG locals that aided the Brits and Aussies, but doesn’t particularly have an intimidating feel to it though

 

[Ref]

They worship pigs there.
Mother in law lived there as a teenager.
Woman would suckle the piglets.
PNG Pigs.

 

[Playdaball]

Some of the Warriors reserve grade players should be scooped up by Perth or PNG

 

[Shogun]

Some of the Warriors reserve grade players should be scooped up by Perth or PNG

Can the Bears go after unsigned players before Nov 1?

 

[Matiunz]

Aaaand it’s official- Welcome to the NRL PNG Chiefs

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

Aaaand it’s official- Welcome to the NRL PNG Chiefs

Appreciate the name and the relevance to PNG but with the Waikato Chiefs, could be confusing when they play here.

 

[Matiunz]

Appreciate the name and the relevance to PNG but with the Waikato Chiefs, could be confusing when they play here.

Have heard people say that but it’s not as if there’s not other teams called chiefs, Warriors,Broncos and so on and it works out fine. Be interesting to see what their colour scheme is though considering Chiefs have the same colours as PNG traditionally use