G'day Dan,
Mate don't get me wrong, i don't think we will get a team in the nrl, i think the central coast will get the nod. Â There are a couple of points to consider however about the CQ bid.
The biggest distance a fan would have to travel to a home game would be from Mackay to Rockhampton. Â That's about 3.5hrs one way.
Emerald to Rockhampton is about 2.5 hrs one way.
Gladstone to Rockhampton is about 1.5 hrs one way.
Central queensland is a sparse environment to live in and getting anywhere is a journey. Â These are not considered long journeys by any means. Â There are a lot of small townships between the four above mentioned and it is not unusual for country people to travel up to 5 hrs for groceries once per week. Â It's all part and parcel of living in the region and is accepted as common place by all.
Mining and mining related industries are the key employers in the areas mentioned, add to this the cattle industry and you can see money for travel is not that big of a deal to most football fans.
Lastly, i use the term \"fans\" very loosely. Â They are actually fanatics and get worse the further west you go. Â We drive up to Townsville for the cowboys - Manly games (thats about a fourteen hour round trip) and love every minute of it. Â We consider ourselves sane but some would beg to differ given the team we support
 The only thing that would cruel a team in this region is on field failure.  Any team in any region would suffer that though i guess.
Cheers mate.