Code’s potential saviour Hamish McLennan will act locally to make his mark

New Rugby Australia chairman has the nous to pull off something extremely difficult: shrinking rugby to greatness.

Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan Picture: John Feder

Hamish McLennan walks into the toughest role in Australian sport, but he has the nous to pull off something extremely difficult in either the sports or business world: shrinking to greatness.

And potentially saving a moribund sport in the process.

The new Rugby Australia chairman made clear with his first public comments on Friday that he was already drawing on the mixture of skills he has gained in the corporate world, namely that of creating interesting and exciting content that people will actually want to watch and pay for.

Which hasn’t been the case for rugby for some time.

In his first interview with The Australian published on Friday afternoon, McLennan talked about State of Origin matches, a Big Bash-style Super Rugby and endorsed the idea of law changes designed to reinvigorate the sport.

They are all marketing terms in a way too, but also potentially music to the ears of the most important groups in sport: the fans, the broadcasters, the sponsors and corporate supporters.

State of Origin or Big Bash may sound like rugby pilfering ideas from other sports, but they provide an insight into McLennan’s way of thinking that focusing on the local is a much better idea for rugby right now, and into the future, than going global.

Shrinking away from Super Rugby’s cumbersome and costly structure across four continents and numerous time zones — and those 2am games from South Africa which appeal to no one and instead focusing on a local competition was always going to happen with COVID-19.

But the tribal nature of a State of Origin or a state-based series with rules designed to make it more watchable sure sounds more appealing to a broadcast partner — maybe even to Foxtel which has said it is out — than rugby’s current structure.

They draw on McLennan’s strengths in knowing what consumers want, and also his intimate knowledge of the media industry forged over three decades.

Rugby insiders describe him as sensible and pragmatic, and say he will take a considered approach. He comes in as a highly experienced operator with good connections in Australian and overseas boardrooms.

He will know the state of the advertising industry, a barometer of the wider economy and people’s spending habits, through his chairman roles at REA Group and radio and advertising company HT&E.

McLennan also has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and other media. He has worked as an executive at News Corp (the publisher of this newspaper) and once ran Network Ten.

Through his work in the investment markets he rubs shoulders with the likes of billionaire Hamish Douglass as deputy chairman of Magellan Financial Group.

All of which is going to be vital for rugby in the months and years ahead.

The sport is on its knees with a 2019 financial report still to be signed off by its auditors, although a $14.2m loan from World Rugby will help. It also needs a broadcast deal beyond 2020 and to rebuild its executive team.

But there is hope on the horizon with a British and Irish Lions tour planned for 2025 and almost certainly the hosting of a Rugby World Cup in 2027. Both will be extremely lucrative.

McLennan and interim chief executive Rob Clarke will need to move quickly to strike deals to bridge the gap to those better days.

But there is goodwill towards McLennan in both business circles and within rugby.

The hope is that the goodwill lasts and he and his executive team are allowed to get on with the job of rebuilding a sport McLennan has a passion for but is not beholden to.

Because rugby has no other option now.