ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys says the game is set to emerge from Covid in good shape

ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys says the game is set to emerge from Covid in better financial shape than they ever thought possible

Peter V'landys during the 2020 Dally M Awards last month Picture: Brett Costello

Chair Peter V’landys has marked a fresh three-year term on the ARL Commission by revealing the game is set to emerge from the COVID crisis in a far better financial state than many had initially expected – including the game’s hierarchy.

“That is one of the reasons we haven’t finalised things with the clubs and the players because every day that goes by, we improve,” V’landys said.

“We are in a much better position than we ever thought possible. We’re going through the budgets at the moment but we want to do it with confidence.

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“You have to have a little bit of flexibility in case COVID hits (again). You don’t want to leave yourself short. We are taking our time with the finances because that is the most important element at the moment.

“We’re going to be a lot better than we expected. If we get two 40,000 (crowds) in the next two weeks (at State of Origin), that is an important factor because we wouldn’t have got that mid-season.

“When we did the budgets mid-season, we did the budgets with no crowds. So everything that goes by at the moment we are picking up.

“We’re a bit like Pennsylvania – we are behind but we are picking up very quickly.”

The NRL has a line of credit at their disposal but they remain confident they won’t need it. Private equity also remains on the table, although again there is a confidence that the game can thrive and survive without selling off a stake.

“We won’t need it,” V’landys said of the line of credit.

“We certainly have looked into it and that is basically as a complete and utter worst-case scenario. We have already been given an undertaking that we will be given a line of credit if we need it.

“You never know what is around the corner so I can’t say categorically we are out of the woods. Tomorrow there could be a community explosion of infection.

“What COVID has proven to me is you can never be 100 per cent confident because it can happen at any time.”

V’landys admits there have been times when he has pondered his future on the commission. At the same time, he has been largely praised for the way he has led the club through COVID, the financial figures reinforcing the quality of his work.

“At the end of it you have to understand we are all human,” he said.

“It is like anything else – it is like a rollercoaster ride. I wear my heart on my sleeve a bit and that doesn’t help. I think that goes with any walk in life, it is not just me.

“I am not going to shirk it at any stage, don’t worry.”

Once the NRL resolves talks with the players and clubs over their share of the finances moving forward, V’landys’ next major assignment will be expansion.

He and the commission will ramp up their plans to expand the competition next month when they meet with potential candidates, with a view to determining whether to add another team in southeast Queensland by 2022 at the earliest.

“In December we will have a look at it,” V’landys said.

“We will talk to a few parties. I know the interest – they certainly haven’t been backward in coming forward. I know who is interested, don’t worry about that.

“We have to do our own independent analysis to make sure we don’t cannibalise and that the business case stacks up.

“The reason we want to do it is to strengthen the Queensland market and take hold of the Queensland market from any competition. But it still has to pay for itself.”