The ARLC on Monday handed down its strategic plan for the next five years, which included a new logo, a commitment to a $200 million investment into grassroots development and a goal of doubling club membership to 400,000 by 2017.
But those targets will have to be achieved without any new clubs, expansion taken off the agenda for the next two years - which in reality means no new teams for at least five years.
It's a blow for the seven organisations - including groups from Brisbane, Ipswich, Perth and the NSW Central Coast - that have already invested substantial money in battling for a berth.
But news of the extended time frame did not deter some.
"We've done a lot of homework and we're ready to go now. But if we have to wait until 2017, so be it," said Craig Davison, head of the Brisbane Bombers bid.
"Having a team in the NRL is a 100-year exercise so what's another few years when it comes to getting it right."
Disappointed Central Coast Bears bid chief Greg Florimo said while he would not let his dream die, he wasn't sure whether the would-be club's investors would be as keen.
"We'll have to assess whether we can fund another two or three years in the wilderness, sitting around not operating," Florimo said.
"That's going to be the biggest issue for us, whether the stakeholders want to sit around that long.
"We have to have to sit down with the members and the board to decide where we go from here. I feel we've put in too much hard work to this point just to let it drift away."
Florimo admitted that when he first started the push in 2009 he envisaged it becoming reality in 2013 to the point they even had t-shirts made up with the branding 'Here come the Bears in 2013'.
That target was based on the new broadcast rights taking effect in 2013, but in truth it was the negotiation of those rights - during which Nine Network boss David Gyngell stated there was not an appetite for more games - that the chances of expansion nosedived.
ARLC chairman John Grant said it was vital that the league not only ensure the existing 16 clubs were on a strong financial footing first, but also that the game expanded for the right reasons.
"That's the purpose of doing a full review, which has not been done," Grant said.
"We have not undertaken as an administration a review of what does expansion mean for us, where should we expand, on what basis should we expand, what are the criteria for our footy clubs?
"There's a whole bunch of questions that remain unanswered."
First the ARLC wants to get its own house in order, as they take on greater control over clubs with payment to each franchise to be performance-based from 2014 onwards.
Clubs will find out on Wednesday just how much they will have to spend in 2013 but beyond that they will need to prove their growth as an entity to ensure their funding.
Chief executive of the newly united Central Queensland NRL bid group and Central Queensland Capras, Dennis Keeffe, said the expansion announcement had been flagged.
"It was expected," Keeffe told AAP.
"Some projects take a long time to come out of the ground, this one is a bit longer than we would have liked. "I still think there may be a twist and turn or two yet but if that's the case, we're happy do to that."
All the nRL flogs have been telling me that the new teams would be announced at the end of this year and introduced by 2014 or 2015? What happened? Does it have something to do with the league not having a CEO for over 4 months and not appearing any closer to getting one?
