Is it time for England and Pasifika teams to join the NRL Samoa's strong performances in the Four Nations is an opportunity to put rugby union in the shade. As NRL bosses begin work on a blueprint for expanding the competition to 18 teams, they should look beyond Brisbane and Perth and consider sides from the Pacific nations and England - possibly to be based in those cities. The NRL is due to make a decision within the next 12 months on whether to expand the premiership in 2017 and Fairfax Media understands officials are currently looking at the structures of existing clubs to devise an ideal model for any new team. A list of requirements will be drawn up for bid teams to meet and the NRL is expected to decide where it wants clubs to be based before inviting applications. George and Thomas Burgess's stint at South Sydney has help lift the standard of the English national team. Many believe Brisbane deserves a second NRL team and the 47,000 crowd for the doubleheader in the opening weekend of the Four Nations again demonstrated the level of support for the game there, while television broadcasters are keen on Perth because of its time zone. With the success of the Four Nations - following on from last year's World Cup - having highlighted how much the quality of international teams can be improved with the exposure of their players to the NRL, why not kill two birds with one stone and bring in an England and Pasifika side. In doing so, the game would eclipse rugby union in the Pacific and generate massive interest in Britain, where Super League struggles for media recognition compared to the rival code. It is no coincidence that New Zealand has become so competitive at international level since the Warriors joined the Australian competition in 1995 and England's improvement in recent years follows the influx of players such as James Graham, Sam Tomkins, Gareth Widdop, the Burgess brothers and others to the NRL. Hooker Josh Hodgson has signed with Canberra and other members of the current England squad, Joe Burgess (Sydney Roosters) and Josh Charnley (South Sydney) have been linked with NRL clubs but if there was an England team in the NRL they could fulfil their ambitions of playing in the best competition in the world without leaving home. The England team could play all of their away games in Perth, which has a large ex-pat community, and spread home matches across the UK as famous clubs such as the Rabbitohs, Broncos, Bulldogs, Eels and Dragons would be huge drawcards. It is not difficult to imagine the atmosphere at games in the UK, which could be played in blocks of three weeks or a month to reduce the impact of travel, being like State of Origin A Pasifika team could be based in Brisbane, which has a large Polynesian population, and also play some games in Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and Papua New Guinea. These are not new ideas, as colleague Steve Mascord and former Great Britain coach Brian Noble - now a commentator for the BBC - have been advocating an England team joining the NRL for some time. Former Warriors chief executive Mick Watson also previously investigated establishing a Pasifika teaPasifiPasifikalub Pasifikald play in the Super Rugby competition and share players as well as resources. Despite talks with International Rugby Board officials, the move never got off the ground and rugby league now has that opportunity as the game is growing in interest in the Pacific following Fiji's success in reaching the semi-final of last year's World Cup and the competitiveness of Samoa in the Four Nations. PNG already have a team in the Queensland Cup, Fiji is set to join the NSW Cup in 2016 and there is talk of Samoa playing New Zealand in an annual series to coincide with State of Origin, while some have suggested a combined Pacific team play in the Four Nations whenever it is in the southern hemisphere and Celtic team comprising players from Scotland, Wales and Ireland play when the tournament is in the northern hemisphere. While an England team playing in the NRL may not seem feasible to some, the Canadian Rugby League has submitted a bid to enter a Toronto based team in Britain's Championship division two competition. Other sports are also starting to seek growth opportunities and England's Football Association, which runs the Premier League, is bidding for the licence to have an NFL team based at Wembley Stadium, while the All Blacks played before a sellout crowd of 62,000 at Soldier Field in Chicago on the weekend. Jarryd Hayne's desire to play in the NFL and the departure of Sonny Bill Williams and Sam Burgess to rugby union ahead of next year's World Cup show that players are no longer constrained by the traditional career paths of athletes and there should be no reason the game couldn't be as ambitious.