UNLIKE the AFL, the NRL does almost nothing to help its expansion teams.

There are no cost of living allowances. Little to help players with relocation costs. Certainly, the NRL doesn't sign the likes of Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau and then giftwrap them for new teams with a nice card attached.

There are a few reasons for this.

Firstly, rugby league is inherently selfish, short sighted and parochial. The established clubs in NSW would never deliberately give an interstate rival an advantage, regardless of how important that club was for the future of the sport.

Thankfully, such decisions are being taken out of the hands of clubs and given to an independent commission (or so we keep being told).

But the other reason why rugby league in Australia does little for its outpost clubs is: the Melbourne Storm.

If a side can win a comp in its second season and qualify for four consecutive grand finals, why should they get any help from the teams they are beating?

We now know why the Melbourne Storm were able to qualify for those consecutive grand finals - by cheating. It therefore follows that had they not been paying players under the counter, they would not have been as successful - and they may have needed the NRL's help.

So it's time to figure out if the new commission should adopt some of the AFL's policies in giving far-flung franchises a few sets of training wheels.

All the innuendo directed at Brisbane since their signing of Greg Inglis this week has been driven by the fact the Broncos now have their own Fab Four - Darren Lockyer, Sam Thaiday, Justin Hodges and Inglis.

But as things stand, it SHOULD be easier for a team in rugby league's world capital to recruit and retain rugby league players than it is for a team in Melbourne.

The Storm should, by rights, be strugglers with cast-offs, misfits and veterans. Maybe that's what they will become if their cheating is not replaced by charity.

In England, Harlequins - and before them London Broncos - have been given massive concessions including unlimited overseas quota spots for a couple of decades - and still haven't won a major trophy while playing front of home crowds of a couple of thousand.

Every second week there is a new rumour about Quins closing down or moving to Milton Keynes.

Yet they have produced many, many more local first-graders than the Storm - whose total currently sits on zero.

There are dozens of Sally Robinsons (Greg Inglis' partner, who took on a job in Brisbane - a factor in Inglis' decision to leave the Storm). Melbourne recruits have to move away from their families and friends interstate to play for the Storm - and their support networks are not just three hours up the road like they are in London.

By comparison, few players and coaches from rugby league country would move TO Victoria because of family.

Just giving the Storm cash, as News Limited does, is not enough if they are not allowed to give any more of it to the players than other clubs do.

The NRL needs to give expansion teams - particularly those in non-rugby league areas (ie, Melbourne and Perth) - an open, transparent, significant leg-up that everyone in the game signs off on as important in the fight against the other codes.

I only hope Melbourne don't have to sink as low as Harlequins for everyone to realise it.