The jury remains out on the Brisbane Bombers nickname unveiled on Thursday but bid director Nicholas Livermore has revealed the alternative was the River City Kookaburras.

Livermore and Brisbane Bombers co-directors Craig Davison and Bill Rae hope the controversial brand name will help push their team all the way into an expanded NRL competition as early as 2013.

While it's infuriated AFL heavyweights Essendon, who are looking at their legal options, Livermore said the name had been cleared by three different legal experts.

"We short listed about 15 names and selected what would work corporately and commercially and what kids would enjoy," he said after the Bombers official unveiling at Albion Park Raceway on Thursday morning.

"The other choice (for a name) was the River City Kookaburras.

"I can understand (the name Bombers) may raise some eyebrows from a rival code because they have an attachment to it and they've been around for a very long time.

"When the Brisbane Broncos name came along people said it was too Americanised and wouldn't work but now they're an iconic brand in this country.

"If you do your research there's no less than five crossovers between the NRL and AFL in the brands."

Essendon chief executive Ian Robson said the AFL club would consult lawyers and be "fiercely protective" of their identity.

But prominent Melbourne sports lawyer Paul Ehrlich rubbished suggestions Essendon would have a case to argue for infringement of trademark or intellectual property rights.

"You've got to show that somebody's been misled or deceived, that's the cause of action, that's the thing you're complaining about," Ehrlich told Melbourne's SEN radio.

"Does anybody seriously think they're going to show up (to see the Brisbane Bombers) thinking they've turned up at an AFL match?"

"It's just nonsense really. No one's going to be confused, the trademarks are wholly dissimilar, there's no need for lawyers to step in because there's nothing to step into."

Davison, the former chairman of the Thoroughbreds, a group of wealthy businessmen who backed the Broncos, said the group wanted to get its brand name out into the public arena to build some momentum and support with establishment of a new commission to run the game not too far off.

"We know it is not far away until the commission is announced and we know they'll make some pretty strong decisions regarding the television rights and who comes into the competition and when," he said.

Davison dismissed concerns the NRL's current flagship, the Brisbane Broncos, would suffer from crowd splitting if the Bombers were to become the city's second side.

"I think that's a very weak argument," he said.

"We're talking Brisbane versus Brisbane. With no disrespect to the Cowboys or Titans when there's a local derby it has to be between two teams who are 100 metres apart down the road.

"The Broncos are at the top and our goal would be to climb the ladder and be as good as the Brisbane Broncos."

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