I think there’s a real risk that the city council is drunk on the Kool Aid with its ongoing involvement in this bid for a second NRL rugby league team, based in Christchurch.

Because, if it’s such a good idea, shouldn’t the people campaigning for a team front-up with the money to see if it’s even possible?

You would think so. But no, it’s ratepayers, paying for a consultant to do the leg work.

Yesterday, it was announced that the group behind the Southern Orcas proposal have got their eyes on former Crusaders and All Blacks coach Scott “Razor” Robertson to be coach.

League legend Sir Graham Lowe and former rugby league administrator Andrew Chalmers have offered him a four-year contract, apparently.

Today, we’re finding out that the city council has hired and paid for a consultant to work through the nuts and bolts with league bosses on establishing a Christchurch-based team.

Our newsroom has asked the council for details of this consultant’s work. How much, how far down the track things are.

So far, no response.

And I know why that is. Because the council knows, like me, that hiring a consultant to do this donkey work with the NRL won’t go down well with ratepayers.

Because it is not the council’s job.

More to the point, does the council really know all the ins-and-outs?

For example, does the council know that the NRL is desperate to get another team in the competition?

There’s one starting in Perth next year and one in Papua New Guinea the year after that. Which will take them to 19 teams.

But the Sydney Morning Herald says they have to have a 20th team up and running by 2029, or they will start losing $20 million a year from the big $5.3 billion broadcasting deal signed earlier this year.

Sir Graham Lowe, when he was on Newstalk ZB this morning, was full of gusto about what a great meeting they had with NRL bosses when they were in Christchurch earlier this year for the Warriors game.

He went on about the Warriors match against the Panthers at the weekend showing why another NRL team in New Zealand would work. But, with respect to Sir Graham, it was an unconvincing sell job. Which the city council seems to have fallen for.

Because, if a second team here in Christchurch is such a great idea, the people behind it should be fronting up with the money to see if it’s even possible. Not ratepayers.

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