Part I: Peter V’landys state of the NRL special investigation into rugby league’s biggest issues
Rugby league supremo Peter V’landys weighs in on the NRL’s biggest issues including a growing push for a return to an afternoon grand final.
ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys insists the NRL is not gripped by a player-behaviour crisis following recent off-field scandals that have tainted the code’s stars as lawless louts.
In the first of a two-part series addressing the state of the NRL, V’landys — rugby league’s most powerful administrator — opened up about the key issues facing the code as the dust settles on the 2022 season in Australia.
The ARLC chairman spoke about the push for a refereeing overhaul, vowed to put the NRL Bunker under review, declared there will be no return to daytime grand finals and hit back at critics of new expansion franchise the Dolphins.
V’landys will spend the coming weeks undertaking a forensic review of the code at a time when rugby league was rocked by two off-season incidents within days of the completion of this year’s NRL grand final.
“We do not have an image problem,” V’landys said. “The good in our game far outweighs the negative indiscretions people want to focus on.”
GRAND HEADACHE
The NRL’s grand-final kick-off time has become one of the sport’s most contentious topics.
Generations of league fans grew up relishing afternoon grand finals. The 1989 decider between Canberra and Balmain – widely regarded as the greatest grand final in rugby league history – had a 3pm kick-off.
The first night grand final was played between Parramatta and Newcastle in 2001. From 2008-12, the decider was a twilight affair with a 5pm start before the NRL reverted to night grand finals in 2013.
PART 2: V’Landys to reveal record profits
This year’s Eels-Panthers decider started at 7.35pm. In the previous seven years, the NRL decider has kicked off at 7.15pm, 7.30pm, 7.35pm and 7.40pm, with free-to-air broadcast partner Channel 9 said to prefer night grand finals to boost ratings and advertising revenue.
In a recent News Corp poll, more than 80 per cent of respondents wanted a return to afternoon grand finals but V’landys says that won’t happen.
“It’s a thing of the past, the 3pm grand-final kick-off,” he said.
“It will not go back to that timeslot.
“I find it ironic that people want us to change the kick-off time. If I consider the fans, we will keep the grand final exactly where it is because our figures show the current timeslot is when the majority of fans watch it.
“The 7.30pm timeslot works because it’s a public holiday the next day in NSW, so kids can stay up later to watch a night grand final.
“There’s no doubt we could consider tweaking the time slightly but, if we put the grand final on in the afternoon, for argument’s sake, the majority of fans can’t watch it.
“They have other things to do during their day on a Sunday.
“Why would you want to lose 50 per cent of your audience going to an afternoon kick-off?”
NRL THUGGERY
In the past 74 days, the NRL has confronted four serious off-field problems.
In August, Manly hooker Manase Fainu was found guilty of stabbing a church youth leader in 2019. A fortnight later, Panthers rookie Taylan May was also found guilty of assaulting a young fan during Penrith’s first premiership win last year.
In the past two weeks, the drama continued. Cowboys forward Luciano Leilua was arrested for alleged domestic violence – a charge he is contesting – in an incident that led to the NRL standing him down from World Cup duties with Samoa.
Within days of the Leilua saga, Warriors forward Josh Curran found himself under police investigation for allegedly bashing a 16-year-old boy, who had his front teeth knocked out.
It is yet another off-season in which the NRL has been forced into damage control following Melbourne Storm’s white-powder scandal involving Cameron Munster, Brandon Smith and Chris Lewis just 12 months ago.
The incidents have painted NRL stars as misbehaving mugs but V’landys insists law-breaking thuggery is not endemic in the sport, saying many of the code’s 480 contracted full-time players are good citizens.
“I’m not concerned one bit about our players,” V’landys said.
“Naturally I am disappointed at what has occurred. Let me say this – as a game we do not tolerate violence, particularly towards women and children and we will come down hard on any player involved in that type of transgression.
“But I maintain these recent incidents are in the minority.
“You have to understand our players live in general society and we are representative of that.
“If you have 1000 people anywhere, one or two are going to misbehave.
“You can never have a perfect 100 per cent record, no matter how hard you try. But in my eyes our NRL players, for the majority, have been, and are, fantastic ambassadors for the sport.”
IMAGE MAKEOVER
V’landys, raised by working-class Greek migrants, has made it his mission to drive higher standards in the NRL on and off the field.
Between 2015 and 2019, the NRL was buffeted by a staggering 66 separate cases of rugby league players behaving badly — an indiscretion every 22 days.
During that period, there were six cases of drink-driving, 17 drug-related offences and 21 allegations of assault, 11 of which where the victim was a woman.
But, under the leadership of V’landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo, the duo have made a concerted effort to ensure the code is cleaning up its act.
“The players have been largely exemplary over the last three years,” V’landys said.
“In reality, we’ve had nowhere near the number of dramas as compared to previous periods.
“What upsets me is the constant focus of indiscretions off the field but, being involved in the game, I see the many good things the players do.
“Our NRL players help kids with cancer, help kids with disabilities.
“What Indigenous guys like Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr do for their people and the juniors, leading the way for the next generation, is truly inspiring.
“NRL players do a lot to help the wider community and one of the things I see is how they give their time to less fortunate people.
“So many of our players are selfless, so when the average Australian starts thinking about rugby league players and thinks all they do is play up off the field, stop for a minute and consider the positive things they do in society.”
BLOW UP THE BUNKER
The Bunker was originally introduced to eliminate the “howlers” from referee decisions but there is a view the NRL’s technological Big Brother is now meddling with almost every key decision during a match.
V’landys revealed he is putting the operation of the Bunker under review in a bid to speed up the 2023 NRL premiership.
“We want fewer stoppages next season,” he said.
“We won’t get rid of the Captain’s Challenge. The fans love that concept. The Captain’s Challenge saved a number of games this year. We don’t want fans to walk away ripped off, so it’s here to stay.
“Every sport in the world is using technology because it’s available and it’s largely beneficial. But I agree we need to find the right balance.
“This year we probably had too many stoppages and one of the things we will look at is how we reduce the amount of stoppages. One of the things we will definitely look at is having less stoppages and how the Bunker is used, yes.”
TWO REFEREES
Several NRL coaches, including Craig Bellamy, Ricky Stuart and Todd Payten, want the code to return to two referees next season.
V’landys scrapped the dual-officiating model to save money during the NRL’s Covid crisis in 2020 and is leaning towards retaining one referee in 2023.
“This same issue rears its head every year,” he said. “Every 12 months this issue comes up. One thing I have learnt in this game is that people have terrible short memories.
“It’s a dog-eat-dog world in the NRL, but the debate about two refs goes around in circles.
“If we go to two refs, they will be screaming to go back to one ref in a few years.
“There isn’t a unanimous push from the coaches to go back to two referees.
“Look, we will sit down and look at all the feedback and consultation. Anybody with sound corporate governance will assess the feedback and make appropriate decisions, but this (two referees) was raised last year and nothing has changed.
“All we are interested in is making the game more entertaining for the fans.
“Like it or not, we are in the entertainment business and fans want to be entertained. They switch off from the world to watch rugby league for an hour or two to be entertained. They don’t watch rugby league to walk away depressed.
“They walk away wanting to feel good and it’s my duty to give them the best possible product. If that means keeping one referee, we’ll do that.”
DOLPHIN DILEMMA
The NRL’s newest franchise, the Dolphins, will begin their first pre-season next month.
The NRL’s 17th team has come under fire for failing to sign a marquee player but V’landys hit out at critics of expansion and backed super coach Wayne Bennett to bring instant credibility to Queensland’s fourth club.
“I have zero concerns about the Dolphins,” he said.
“There seems to be a new sport in Australia and it’s called Dolphin Bashing.
“It’s typical that everybody wants to bring a new concept down.
“The Dolphins haven’t even been given a chance, they haven’t played a single game, and the critics just want to bash them. I have the utmost confidence in Wayne Bennett, who I think is one of the greatest assets the game has.
“If any man can bring success to the Dolphins, it’s him, and I also have confidence in the management of the club.
“They will surprise a lot of people next year. They haven’t got a marquee player, but they have signed some premiership winners from the Storm in the Bromwich boys (Kenny and Jesse) and Felise Kaufusi.
“Bennett is mixing experienced players with some upcoming juniors from the region and that was the whole point of expansion, to take advantage of that pathway and the nursery they have established.
“You will see players you have never heard of before coming through and to have the experience of being mentored by those older players is invaluable.
“Wayne Bennett is a genius. We made the right call on expansion and he will prove everyone wrong … the Dolphins will shock a lot of people next year.”
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