One of the key figures in the Western Australian Rugby League's bid for a Perth-based NRL franchise remains confident the competition will expand in 2015.
The WARL is fronting one of many bids to enter the NRL, with groups from the Central Coast, Brisbane, Ipswich, Central Queensland, Papua New Guinea and a rival Perth-based consortium led by businessman Tony Sage also trying to gain entry.
The original timeframe for expansion was a 2013 start before that was pushed back to 2015 and recent media reports suggested it could even be delayed until as late as 2017.
But WARL chief executive John Sackson, who has orchestrated the original Perth bid over more than two years, said he expected the NRL to be an 18-team competition in 2015.
"That [delaying expansion] would be extremely disappointing," he said.
"It would be extremely frustrating and the challenge for us would be to keep the momentum rolling. We've made very good headway with rugby league here in the past few years."
"But personally, I can't see that happening. I feel very very confident that 2015 is the year that expansion will take place. That's my view on it and that's what I've been hearing consistently over the past six to eight months."
"My understanding is that by the end of this year we would pretty well know where the successful franchises would be located and any new franchise will need every day of those two years to build a very successful franchise both on the field and off the field."
"We can live with 2015 and I'd be very surprised if it goes beyond that."
Meanwhile, Perth will get another chance to highlight its credentials for an expansion team when South Sydney faces Brisbane on March 23.
Retired Rabbitohs fullback Rhys Wesser was in Perth on Tuesday to promote the game - although his appearance was overshadowed by the emergence of Sage's bid - and said the club he spent three seasons with was excited about coming back to Perth once again.
Wesser, who is still involved with Souths in a community role, said he was having no second thoughts about ending his playing career.
"I'm pretty much happy to hang out the boots. I had 15 years in the game and I'm happy to hand over the baton," he said.