Cook Government to spend $13 million on temporary training space for Perth Bears NRL team for one season

The Cook Government will spend millions of taxpayers’ dollars on a “world class” gym, admin buildings and to convert land earmarked for housing into a training field for WA’s new NRL team to be used for just one season. Treasurer Rita Saffioti on Sunday announced the $12.9M splurge to upgrade the WACA’s Lillee Marsh grandstand into a high-performance training centre and turn the neighbouring Waterbank site into a training pitch for the Perth Bears. The massive sum is on top of the $65 million the WA Government has already committed over the next seven years to revive the North Sydney Bears as Perth’s own NRL team. Roger Cook — who declared in February no taxpayers money would go towards the league — also hasn’t ruled out further upgrades to HBF Park, with the NRL reportedly lobbying for hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to improve the playing ground. Ms Saffioti said the government had worked close with the club to ensure access to “quality” venues to support training. “We also continue to work with Trinity (College) about sharing those grounds over the future years, as we know that Trinity in particular, is very excited to be partnering with an NRL team right on its doorstep.” The 40-hectare patch of land between the school and the WACA ground was once touted to become a booming housing and business development with hotels, apartments and office buildings to be constructed on the site. Those dreams were dashed in 2022 when the proponent, Lendlease, announced that it was exiting from the $1 billion project leaving its future in the hands of government-owned DevelopmentWA. “They (DevelopmentWA) did further investigation in relation to the soil, the amount of surcharge that was required, and found that it wasn’t suitable for high density housing,” Ms Saffioti said. “So we grabbed an existing process, which was to create playing fields in that in that area, and then we’ve worked across government to now make sure those playing fields are of the quality to host an NRL team.” Perth Bears’ inaugural chief executive Anthony DeCeglie said the new facilities will only be used by the team as a training space for its first season as the Cook Government forks-out another $20 million for the club’s permanent home in Malaga. What will happen with the multi-million dollar spend after the Bears 12-month tenure comes to an end is unclear. The Treasurer says there’s “always demand” for sporting facilities from athletes and other teams but she couldn’t say exactly what sporting codes didn’t already have access to the same facilities already and would require the East Perth site. “There’s a whole range of different athletes, whether across a lot of different sports,” Mrs Saffioti said. “The other point is, sometimes it’s about having a second location to make it more proximate to their players. “Another part of the strategy is in relation to Brisbane 2032, is looking at how we can further develop our facilities to ensure that athletes have a pathway.” As part of the $65 million deal announced in May, WA will provide $60 million in direct assistance to the club over seven years, with $35 million set aside to promote grassroots rugby league.