Melbourne Storm CEO Justin Rodski has re-affirmed the club’s commitment to south-east Queensland.

Speaking to Peter Psaltis on Wide World of Sports, he said the club relies heavily on the region with Melbourne lacking in a grassroots feeder and development programs.

He said they did take into account further expansion of the NRL in Queensland.

“There’s no doubt that crossed out minds, it’s healthy to have a little bit of competition up there, there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge yet in terms of expansion which of the clubs will be granted the 17th licence if in it does come in in 2023.

“All of that aside, the rationale behind it from our perspective stacked up regardless of whether there is an expansion or not.”

He said they were talking with the NRL in terms of how Victoria can invest in junior clubs and encourage more participation in rugby league.

“We just think it needs more investment, time, resources put into infrastructure to help develop the talent and bring the kids through and hopefully we can have more homegrown talent from Victoria and that could create a position of strength for us, and perhaps a strategic advantage moving forward.”

Press PLAY below to hear his strategy for developing Melbourne’s grassroots programs

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