Support Grows for Mana Pasifika NRL Team Bid
Backers for a proposed Pacific Islander focused team in the NRL - Mana Pasifika - are optimistic they'll see the team accepted into the NRL Premiership.
Paepaetele Geoff Brown, who is leading the drive for a second Auckland-based team, says they alerted the NRL's powerbrokers nine months ago that the bid was coming.
Since then, the team behind the plan have been making sure that everything is in place. Mr Brown states they have been talking to financial backers and equity partners, and have even secured the backing of prime ministers and rugby league governing bodies across Polynesia.