Prominent rugby league personalities who have publicly backed the club include Phil Gould, Andrew Johns and Peter Sterling while support has also come from as high up as former M.H.R.

In 2018, Rugby League Commission chairman Peter Beattie declared that expansion was back on the NRL's agenda with Central Coast one of the teams mentioned.

Perry went on to say: "You need 12 and 12, so 24 key markets, and stricter criteria about those clubs around their funding model which means all of the 24 may not fit the top tier criteria, it may only be 16-18 franchises that make the cut, their catchment areas, their population, and their commercial growth, because currently I believe a lot of clubs haven’t been accountable as much as they should have.

[7] However, by October 2021, the franchise had ended their campaign in gaining admission as a stand-alone club, as the North Sydney Bears revealed their intention to return to the NRL, coinciding with a new logo.

The proposed franchise, to be known simply as The Bears,[8] would split home matches between various regional centres including Wagga Wagga, Dubbo, Tamworth, Coffs Harbour and Central Coast, along with major cities Perth, Adelaide Hobart and Darwin that are otherwise currently without NRL representation.

Many famous NRL players started out playing at the junior level within this catchment, including Matt Orford, Akuila Uate, Chris Heighington, Mitchell Pearce, Kieran Foran and Nicho Hynes.

This goal was reached in December 2010, three months early, and as of November 2011[update], the Central Coast Bears had over 7,600 financial members.