Scheduling for Queensland clubs is one of the biggest issues facing new NRL boss Todd Greenberg

MIKE COLMAN: The question the three Queensland clubs should be asking new NRL boss Todd Greenberg is: where do we fit into all this?

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 18: Todd Greenberg speaks to the media during a NRL press conference at NRL Headquarters on March 18, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

• Bennett’s challenge to new CEO
• Roberts makes plea to Broncos fans
• Cowboys v Sydney Roosters: Five things we learned

THERE are only two occasions when I recall hearing journalists applaud at a media conference.

The first was when Michael Jordan led the US Dream Team onto the stage at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. The second was Friday when John Grant announced that Todd Greenberg had been appointed new boss of the National Rugby League.

It was interesting that the Sky News reporter covering the event said the applause had come from “the Sydney media”.

Interesting too, that the same reporter said a key factor in Greenberg winning the plum job had been his close links to “the Sydney clubs”.

Which makes sense. Grant and his management team conducted a six month-long, worldwide search for a successor to David Smith – and found him down the hallway at NRL HQ.

So it is great that the Sydney media and Sydney clubs are excited about the former Sydney club executive taking on the role of running the game from his office in Sydney, but maybe the question asked by the three Queensland clubs should be: where do we fit into all this?

Greenberg said his main priority would be to get more people playing the game, and more people watching the game.

To which the North Queensland Cowboys might offer: well, we can help you out with the second one. Stop giving us games on Thursday nights.

The timing of Grant’s announcement could have been more prescient. Just hours before Greenberg was presented to his adoring followers in the Sydney media, the reigning premiers were running out to play one of the oldest and strongest clubs in the game in front of a paltry home crowd of 8000.

And that is one of the big issues facing Queensland clubs: scheduling.

John Grant, left, announces that Todd Greenberg had been appointed new boss of the National Rugby League. Picture: Getty Images

The Cowboys’ supporters travel long distances to cheer on their team. They need time to get to the games and time to get back home again. As in days, not minutes.

Likewise the players. Unlike for Greenberg’s old club, the Bulldogs, there are no bus trips to away games for the Cowboys. The Broncos and Titans have one each – between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Other than that, it’s plane flights and hotel rooms.

Every year the Queensland clubs prepare for battle with the NRL over the draw, and every year it is the NRL – with the broadcasters pulling the strings - who win.

Likewise with calls for a Brisbane grand final and the long-running saga over what time it should kick off.

The balance between the demands of the TV execs who stump up the money, the requirements of the clubs who provide the product and the desires of the fans on either side of the Tweed, is one that the game’s administrators have been trying to get right since Rex Mossop called his first televised match back in the 60s.

It is one that no-one has been entirely happy with since. His years as a Sydney CEO might have helped Greenberg at the selection table recently, but experience as a tightrope walker and juggler would be more useful.

Even so, the feeling amongst club executives in Queensland is generally positive. As one said, “it’s like we’ve got one of our own in charge.

“He knows the game, and he knows the issues, because he’s had to face them himself.”

And as for the fact that he earned his stripes at Belmore and not Bundaberg?

“Well, everyone’s got to come from somewhere, haven’t they?”

Originally published as Scheduling for Queensland clubs is one of the biggest issues facing new NRL boss Todd Greenberg