Tina Turner’s partnership with rugby league to be honoured at NRL GF

The Queen of Rock‘n’Roll, who had a long-time history with the sport, will be honoured at the NRL’s Grand Final pre-match show.

The game-changing partnership of Tina Turner and Australian rugby league will be honoured at this year’s NRL Grand Final with a headlining set including her iconic theme song The Best.

It is believed Ruva Ngwenya, the star of the Australian production of Tina The Musical, will be the headliner for the pre-match entertainment in tribute to the late, great Queen of Rock‘n’Roll and the 30th anniversary of her performance of The Best at the 1993 NSWRL final between the St George Dragons and Brisbane Broncos.

It is believed Ruva Ngwenya, the star of the Australian production of Tina The Musical, will be the headliner for the NRL Grand Final pre-match entertainment in tribute to the late star. Picture: Daniel Boud

The big budget spectacular is likely to also feature What You See Is What You Get, which kicked off Turner‘s association with the game in 1989, a marketing masterstroke to bring families back to the sport.

The Best was then adopted as the league‘s anthem in 1990 with Turner travelling to Australia to shoot the wildly popular advertising campaign. She then linked with Australian rocker Jimmy Barnes in 1992 to refresh the anthem campaign.

‘DEAL’S DONE WITH KISS’: US ROCKERS TIPPED TO HEADLINE AFL GF

The battle of the footy codes for grand final entertainment supremacy has reached fever pitch as the AFL and NRL finalise their deals for this year’s pre-match and half time performers.

While rumours had the grand final organising teams pitching for Crowded House, there are a host of international and local artists with gaps in their tour schedules and strong Australian fanbases who could fit the bill.

Honorary Australian Ed Sheeran holds the MCG concert attendance record from his Mathematics shows in March. Picture: Zak Walters

The AFL reportedly has a $1 million cheque to dangle in front of a potential headliner for the pre-match entertainment at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 30.

They face the almost insurmountable task of securing an act who can match the perfect performance of Robbie Williams at last year’s grand final.

And the NRL also has heavy lifting to do to reach the benchmark set last year by footy fan favourite Jimmy Barnes.

Topping the wishlist would be Ed Sheeran who made history with new crowd records for his Mathematics concerts at the MCG in March and winds up his world tour in Los Angeles on September 23.

Sheeran is a de facto brother to Matt Gudinski, whose Mushroom Group books the AFL entertainment.

Kylie is a queen of the big gig having wowed World Pride in Sydney this year. Picture: Getty.

Kylie remains the elusive grand final unicorn for the AFL who have been chasing the pop queen to play the big gig for years.

But her schedule is jammed with promotional duties in the UK and US for the launch of her new record Tension on September 22. Her recent deal to open the Voltaire venue at the Venetian casino would likely have a non-compete clause ruling out any other major shows ahead of her Las Vegas run.

If they wanted to stay in the pop lane, Katy Perry is no stranger to the MCG having wowed the crowd when she performed at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final, complete with dancing cricket bats, in 2020.

Katy Perry played the MCG for the ICC Women's T20 Cricket World Cup Final in 2020. Picture: Getty.

He has already played a one-off gig at the hallowed ground in the past year but Billy Joel has a two-week gap in his American tour with Stevie Nicks and could make the trip down under.

Another AFL-friendly artist on Mushroom’s books is Vance Joy who joined The Living End for an all-Australian entertainment line-up in 2016.

Music industry sources said the speculation among Australian promoters last week was the deal had been done with American rockers KISS to bring their pyros and painted faces to the big dance.

KISS are short odds to the play AFL Grand Final. Picture Getty.

“It doesn’t look like the AFL is chasing anyone else and most of the promoters reckon the deal’s done with KISS,” said one insider.

As for the NRL, Keith Urban could be a strong candidate to reprise his 2016 star turn. And with a break in his Vegas schedule, Billy Idol deserves another shot at actually singing at the event after his 2002 appearance was canned due to a power outage.

It is believed the NRL are planning a tribute to the late Tina Turner to honour the 30th anniversary of her performance of Simply The Best at the 1993 Grand Final.

And it is also the 20th anniversary of the league’s other popular theme, That’s My Team by the Hoodoo Gurus.

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WORST GRAND FINAL GIGS

It’s the “sport” that rivals the game: the Grand Final entertainment pile-on.

And without fail, the late, great Meat Loaf is cited as the benchmark by which all pre-match and halftime performers are measured.

Meat Loaf’s 2011 performance at the Grand Final was widely panned.

Meat Loaf, 2011 AFL Grand final

Memorable for all the wrong reasons, the Bat Out Of Hell legend sounded like your drunk uncle hogging the karaoke mic at the family birthday gathering. It was revealed after his death last year by his close friend and promoter Harley Medcalf that Meat had valiantly gone on with the show despite coming down with a serious fever and coughing just hours before he was due on stage.

Former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora and Orianthi took to the stage at the 2016 NRL Grand Final. Photo: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Richie Sambora, 2016 NRL GF

If you are going to sing Bon Jovi songs, you need to sing them better than Jon, not worse than Meat Loaf. The former Bon Jovi guitarist boosted bar queues as he struggled through Livin’ On A Prayer. “It’s OK if people don’t dig where I’m going artistily (sic)” was his response to the social media sledges.

Australia’s biggest soap stars sung the national anthem at the AFL grand final in 1986.

Neighbours cast, 1986 NRL GF

The Aussie soap and its stars were the hottest celebrities in the land in 1986 but booking Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce, Annie Jones and Peter O’Brien to sing the national anthem was a head scratcher. Equally weird was Guy Sebastian, Nollsy and Australian Idol finalists singing One Day In September at the 2003 AFL Grand Final.

Ellie Goulding faced technical difficulties during her performance at the AFL Grand Final.

Ellie Goulding, 2015 AFL GF

This old technical difficulties reared their demon heads when the British chart-topper tried to belt out Love Me Like You Do, her Fifty Shades of Grey theme song. Someone prematurely pressed play on her backing track and those ignorant to these production fails accused her of lip syncing.

Billy Idol was due to perform at the 2022 Grand Final but didn't due to an electrical fault prior to the match. Pic Mark Evans. Rugby League

Billy Idol, 2002 NRL GF

The Rebel Yell rock star didn’t even get to sing. After a bizarre entry on a hovercraft and a sprint to the stage in the centre of the field, Idol was stranded on stage by a power black out to the platform with only the drummer audible to the crowd. Several awkward minutes later, Idol left the stage having not sung a note.