NRL 2020: Ben Ikin on why Rugby league is the greatest soap opera

The NRL 360 co-host is ready for football to get back underway and reveals the day he made his partner in crime Paul Kent finally crack.

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Rugby league is about to emerge from its enforced winter hibernation and so will some of the game's major shows such as Fox League's flagship league NRL 360.

Co-host Ben Ikin, one of the game's most respected voices, today talks about why rugby league is the greatest soap opera of all, how he once flirted with the idea of becoming a coach, why the cull on assistant coaches could affect the game's tapestry and why he hasn't joined the chorus for a second Brisbane team in the NRL.

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NRL 360 co-host Ben Ikin playing at Indooroopilly Golf Course. Picture: Peter Wallis.

I heard a rumour you might be moving in with Paul Kent when NRL 360 comes back on air. True or false?

I can confirm the rumour is true. I was flattered he would make such an offer but I have to consider our friendship because we are most definitely the odd couple. To be in the same house and work on the same show could break us both and I don't want to see that happen because we are such good mates.

I can just picture a massive barney erupting over what's better - Cornflakes or Coco Pops. Can you?

He would eat that stuff. I wouldn't. But I can only remember us having one big blue. His desk at Fox Sports is right beside mine and it got to a (messy) state that I just couldn't handle. I get to work earlier than him and I cleaned it up thinking he would he happy with it but he was furious.

NRL’s odd couple: Ben Ikin and Paul Kent.

One of your pet sayings is that rugby league is a soap opera that just keeps delivering and now it's doing so even when no-one is playing. Why is that?

Because the people on the field are the best at what they do in the world the expectation is that those standards will be matched off the field but that has never been the case. We get these genius' who do amazing things on Friday yet can fall apart Saturday or Sunday so there is this great contrast in which we constantly have heroes and villains at every level of the game. Ninety per cent of the game actually sits in the middle but in the news cycle we look at the 10 per cent who sit on the edge. It's fun. It's what we talk about when we see our mates at the coffee shop.

Rugby league administrators have been labelled everything from cavaliers to cowboys in pushing for the May 28 return. Your thoughts?

I think it was brave and certainly Peter V'landys has had his critics but we were lucky enough to have someone who fought hard for our industry. He was brutally honest in his assessment if we did not get the game back on the field we would face financial catastrophe. There would be a lot of people out of work in other industries to have leaders fighting for them in the same way.

Do you think the million dollar players will become a rarity as a result of the pay cuts?

Well to quote V'Landys there will be a resetting to our cost base so everyone who gets an earning from the game will get less. It just makes sense. The same as million dollar coaches. The one thing is there is always going to be a premium on the game's best players. The cap could go down by 10 per cent but rugby league does not think logically. The clubs have been arguing against the NRL mismanaging their finances yet most of the franchises struggle to manage their own finances.

It was interesting that Todd Greenberg basically got frogmarched out the door but the clubs got out of it pretty lightly, didn't they?

They did but it is kind of like the loudest voice wins in rugby league. It is not so much about what you do but how well connected you are and how well you argue your point. We are like the European Union. We like to think we all want the same thing but deep down we don't.

There is talk assistant coaches will be cut back at every club. Are players overcoached?

It depends what players get used to. At the Melbourne Storm Craig Bellamy has produced so many coaches who have gone on elsewhere - like Kev Walters, Steve Kearney, Michael Maguire, Anthony Seibold, Brad Arthur - and those coaches were a big part of the program. They watched a stack of tape, they looked at the opposition, ran training sessions and players get hooked on that. You might argue that some players get too much information but it has not hurt the Storm. They've been the benchmark for 15 years.

Did you ever consider becoming a coach?

Absolutely. I consider most things. I did one year at Wynnum-Manly when Paul Green was head coach in 2011 when I called myself the assistant to the assistant. We won the premiership and I was out there one night a weekend and for game day. At the time I was doing corporate work and with Channel 9 and so I either had to work full-time in the real world and coach an Intrust Super Cup team or the coach full time, starting as an assistant … I just decided I did not want it badly enough.

Ben Ikin debuted for the Gold Coast Seagulls as an 18-year-old in 1995.

You had an unusual career didn't you, starting young and finishing young, yet you played for a decade?

I retired at 26. I had three major knee surgeries in two years and I was nowhere near the same player. Because I was easily distracted I got a glimpse of what life would be like in retirement and that started to excite me more than the footy.

Do you think we will ever see a second Brisbane team?

It makes sense in some ways but in other ways I would not want to diminish what the Broncos have built. If I am being brutally honest I would rather see any investment in strengthening the Sydney component of what we do. It is the heartbeat of our game. It is where the game started and it is the biggest commercial centre in the country. We need to get that absolutely humming, run well and financially stable.

It's 25 years since you famously turned up for your first State of Origin game and Fatty Vautin thought you were looking for an autograph. What is your main memory of that series in which Queensland defied the odds to win 3-0?

Outside the coach not knowing who I was on day one my head just spun for eight weeks. I was 18 and immature. The quirkiest thing for me is that in 1995 Fatty did not know who I was. Twenty five years later he is one of my closest mates. We play golf. We talk on the phone.

Ben Ikin played State of Origin in his debut year, with Queensland winning the series 3-0.

You come from an interesting family which includes Sean, a recording artist, and Anthony, a five-time Australian aerobics champion.

We all did everything. We all played rugby league and did gymnastics. Anthony went gymnastics, sports aerobics, professional dancer. Mum and dad just did whatever they could to give us the support to pursue our dreams. They were so positive.

Given your time in isolation your golf handicap should surely be down to plus two?

It is going the other way. But I'm not too worried about it. I got down to one and found you need to do a lot of things right to play to it, stay sharp and practice. I think I am off three. I reckon the secret to a happy life is finding a way to enjoy bad golf. If you can do that you can enjoy anything.