Pressure continues to mount on the country’s top rugby league executives after the AFL was able to secure a $4.5 billion broadcast rights deal, raising questions about a large financial gap developing between Australia’s two football codes.

The Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’Landys, along with NRL executives, took the decision to extend the broadcast rights deal with Nine Entertainment and Foxtel at the end of 2021 – in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.