Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett throws his support behind Kangaroos-All Blacks clash
Wayne Bennett has thrown his support behind the proposed hybrid match between the Kangaroos and All Blacks, claiming it could give rugby league the same boost as Origin.
NRL
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Wayne Bennett says an All Blacks-Kangaroos blockbuster is the best idea since State of Origin and has appealed for ARLC boss Peter V’landys to “get the deal done” to take rugby league to the world.
Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga has held talks with All Blacks counterpart Ian Foster and wants Bennett to be part of his coaching team if the cross-code spectacular goes ahead on December 5 this year.
Speaking for the first time about the concept, Bennett told The Sunday Mail he wants to join forces with Meninga and says the NRL cannot ignore the benefits of reaching a global audience via the iconic All Blacks brand.
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“I would absolutely love to be involved in this,” Bennett said.
“An All Blacks-Kangaroos game is the best idea I’ve heard in so long - we would be foolish to say no to this opportunity.
“People bagged State of Origin when it started in 1980 and now look at the showpiece event it has become. We can’t be narrow-minded.
“The All Blacks are the kings of rugby. The Kangaroos are the kings of rugby league. The interest in this game would take our sport to the world.
“The NRL can’t turn their backs on this. This is a no-brainer.
“This concept is a stroke of genius. It would be one of the greatest sporting moments in trans-Tasman history.”
New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson has confirmed talks have taken place with match promoter Dean Lonergan, the former Kiwi Test forward who created the NRL Nines tournament.
The NZR board are mulling over the multimillion-dollar proposal and will have further talks this week.
Meninga is so keen for the event to take place he wants Bennett and Phil Gould involved with the Kangaroos and the South Sydney coach said he would relish a return to the green and gold.
“I’m in ... working with Mal would be fantastic,” Bennett said.
“No-one has been more linked to Mal’s career than I have.
“I knew him at 16 when he arrived at the Police Academy (in Brisbane) and I brought him through at Brisbane Souths. We have a long relationship. We had an issue with the Australian job (which they both coveted in 2016) but we have put that behind us and we would work great together.
“I have enormous respect for Dean Lonergan. He was the guy who came up with the NRL Nines concept so he has a proven track record of delivering credible events.
“I’ve coached Australia in the past, so it wouldn’t be foreign to me and I know what I can bring at that level.
“It would be an absolute pleasure to work with Mal and take on the All Blacks.”
The NRL is under pressure to deliver some content for their national team this year.
The Kangaroo tour to England has been scrapped because of the COVID-19 crisis, but an All Blacks-Kangaroos showdown can take Australia’s league team to more than 120 countries with just 80 minutes of football.
Bennett said the NRL should also consider the financial advantages of winning over rugby union’s elite brigade and cashed-up corporate base.
“I have faith in Peter V’landys to get the deal done here,” Bennett said.
“He wants the best for the code. Other administrators have gone on with crap like, ‘We can’t be seen jumping into bed with rugby’.
“Rugby league needs worldwide promotion. The All Blacks are a famous brand across the globe, they have just started to make in-roads to America, which has 300 million people, and we have a chance to enter these markets.
“As a code, we are seen as working-class people in overalls. But this game can help us reach the rugby suits and the corporates that can take the game to a new level.
“This is a new horizon for our sport. Rugby gets 80,000 to Twickenham for average contests. We have a better product. Imagine the TV rights if the Kangaroos-All Blacks goes around the world.
“The game will have its challenges, no doubt. It’s critical we get the rules right to ensure a fair contest, but the most important thing is we would see the best athletes from both codes playing each other.
“Suncorp would be a sellout tomorrow. We probably wouldn’t get an Aussie fan into the joint because every Kiwi will fill the ground.
“This is the best advertisement for our athletes and our code.
“The interest would be bloody huge. If rugby union can play rugby league in a hybrid game, let’s make this happen.”
NZR SEND OUT FEELERS FOR HISTORIC CLASH
Meanwhile, New Zealand Rugby has formally approached ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys in the strongest sign yet they are keen for an All Blacks-Kangaroos Christmas blockbuster.
The Sunday Mail can reveal NZR chairman Brent Impey contacted V’landys on Friday, representing the first official contact between the parties following revelations of a historic cross-code contest at Suncorp Stadium.
Impey’s phone call to V’landys came as All Blacks coach Ian Foster revealed he held discussions with Kangaroos counterpart Mal Meninga, who also met with NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo on Friday.
For the past three months, match promoter Dean Lonergan has been the conduit in talks between the NZR and the ARL Commission, but Impey’s approach to V’landys is evidence the ‘HISTORY’ concept is being given serious thought.
Lonergan, who delivered the NRL Nines in 2014 and the Jeff Horn-Manny Pacquiao fight at Suncorp three years later, has tabled the All Blacks-Kangaroos proposal to both the NZR and ARLC.
The NZR board is mulling over the multimillion-dollar deal and will have further talks this week, with Impey having touched base with V’landys to gauge the NRL’s appetite for a trans-Tasman sporting spectacular.
Illustrating their interest in the concept, the NZR released an interview of Foster on their official website on Friday, with the All Blacks coach revealing the cross-code clash has huge appeal.
“I’ve had a couple of talks to Mal Meninga,” Foster said.
“It was great talking to him, top bloke, about what the game would look like if it did happen.
“There’s a lot of work to be done in that space. It’s a proposal on the table at the moment.
“There’s a concept of how you pitch two great teams against each other to see who’s the greatest.
“It’s one of those debates that will go on in New Zealand and Aussie pubs for a long time. The reality is even if we played each other we’d probably never know because there’ll be the debate about the rules and who it favoured.
“We are trying to generate as much money as we can to save the game in this country and if we can’t get the number of Test matches we want, then maybe it is an option.
“Our first priority is clearly to play All Blacks (rugby) Tests. We’re not going to say no to anything right now.”
Meninga met with Abdo on Friday to discuss the shape of the national team’s calendar this year following the COVID-related axing of the Kangaroo tour to England.
If the Kangaroos can only play one match this season, Meninga believes a history-making All Blacks blockbuster is the perfect way to maximise interest in Australia’s rugby league team.
Ultimate code war and a chance to end age old debate
The Kangaroos versus the All Blacks. Two codes. Two iconic football teams. Two great nations with pride on the line ... what a blockbuster it would be, writes DARREN LOCKYER.
During my playing career, I always pondered what it would be like if the Kangaroos played the Wallabies in a cross-code battle.
I would run through machinations in my head around the rules, how you officiate the games and whether the concept would be more suited to rugby league or rugby union players.
The notion of the All Blacks facing the Kangaroos, I’m sure, is an itch the players have wanted to scratch.
Down deep, you wonder if you are better than the Wallabies or the All Blacks and who would win the bragging rights for the code?
There has previously been talk of a Wallabies-Kangaroos contest but I believe involving another country in New Zealand, especially one so proud of their All Blacks brand, would make for a sensational match.
With New Zealand Rugby and the ARL Commission currently in negotiations with promoters, it would be great to finally put the debate to bed.
The most critical facet in this cross-code talk is getting the rules right.
I remember a Clash of the Codes contest in 1996 between English rugby league giants Wigan and rugby rivals Bath.
The first game, played under league rules, was won 82-6 by Wigan.
The second game, played under union rules, was won 44-19 by Bath.
That novel two-match series underlines the importance of striking the right balance for an All Blacks-Kangaroos match.
It would be a stretch to expect the Kangaroos players to scrummage like the All Blacks forwards, just as it would be an onerous ask for New Zealand’s rugby guys to get back 10 metres for every tackle.
The fairest way is to bed down rules that will cater for both sides to ensure the match is competitive with the key skill-sets prevailing.
The All Blacks have dominated most recent Rugby Union World Cups, as have the Kangaroos in their sport, so it would be a mouth-watering concept.
If the coronavirus pandemic has shown anything this year, it is that experimentation can deliver rewards. We have seen that this year in the NRL with the one-referee system and the six-again rule which has created a more fast-paced game.
This can be a southern-hemisphere version of the NFL’s Super Bowl.
The attraction for the Kangaroos is the shot-in-the-arm it could be for the brand. It would take rugby league’s green-and-gold tradition to millions of eyeballs around the world, and I hope it could be a springboard to other promotional endeavours.
But for now, let’s take the first step against the All Blacks and it has to be a close contest, otherwise people will write it off.
There’s no doubt the Kangaroos could leverage off the iconic All Blacks brand to enhance Australia’s rugby league brand globally.
I was approached by the Australian Rugby Union before the 2003 World Cup. They had signed Wendell Sailor, Mat Rogers and Lote Tuqiri and I was sounded out as well.
At the time, I had established myself as the Brisbane, Queensland and Australian fullback. We had won a premiership with the Broncos in 2000 so I was in a really happy place fulfilling a childhood dream and I didn’t feel like I needed another challenge.
I’ve always admired the skill of rugby players. They have beautiful passes and bring their backs onto the ball so well.
Hopefully the respective parties can get the deal done because it would be a massive stimulation for Kangaroos and All Blacks players to test each other. The fans would love it.
For now, the more immediate focus is the Broncos-Titans clash at Suncorp on Saturday night.
There is no doubt there’s more pressure on the Broncos going into this game so it will be interesting to see how they handle that pressure.
If the Broncos do the basics well, they give themselves their best chance, but the Titans have won their latest two derbies at Suncorp.
The start will be crucial. There is a lot of discussion around Anthony Milford, but as Broncos five-eighth, he should be more focused on his forwards creating a platform for him rather than demanding the football to run.
If he gets momentum through the middle, that will give Milford the platform he needs to show his talent.