NRL CEO Andrew Abdo snubs Western Clydesdales, in favour of NRL Combine in USA

NRL CEO Andrew Abdo announced plans to hold an NFL-style Combine in the USA days after the discovery of a $700k shortfall in one of the strongest league regions in Queensland. It’s no wonder the Clydesdales are disappointed.

The Darling Downs and South West Queensland has produced some of rugby league’s greatest ever players.

Darren Lockyer, Johnathan Thurston, Arty Beetson and Shane Webcke hail from the beating heart of Queensland rugby league, however the NRL is looking elsewhere for its next generation of stars.

Just weeks after the ARLC sensationally snubbed the Western Clydesdales, leaving the QRL in a $700,000 shortfall, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo has announced plans for an NRL Combine to unearth potential rugby league talent from the United States.

Having only returned to the Hostplus Cup in 2023, the Clydesdales’ move has already paid dividends for several young players in Toowoomba and the South West, with Melino Fineanganofo and Bud Smith both signing for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs NRL side.

On top of this, three teenage rugby league players from the Garden City signed with the Canberra Raiders’ under-19 and under-21 sides for 2024.

Despite producing such talent after just one year back in the Queensland Cup, the ARLC has turned its back on the rugby league hotbed and is instead focused on luring American athletes to Australia, rather than building the game from a grassroots level, a move which has left Clydesdales CEO Shane Sullivan disappointed.

“It is certainly disappointing to hear that that’s the road they are going down,” he said.

“I understand there are some quality athletes right around the world and the US, there is no doubt with the size and population, it could unearth some athletes.

“But we have a homegrown talent pool sitting right here in Toowoomba and the South West that certainly needs some support as well.”

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo announced plans for an NRL Combine set to take place in America next year. Picture: Supplied.

In an email obtained by this masthead, Abdo sent shockwaves across the QRL, claiming the Clydesdales’ participation in the Hostplus Cup was not in the best interests of the sport.

“The ARLC, as you are aware, has not approved the participation of the Western Clydesdales in the QRL Hostplus Cup and does not consider that such participation is in the best interests of the game as a whole,” Abdo said.

However, while the NRL CEO has been campaigning around in the USA, the Clydesdales have been left in the dark from the ARLC since the initial email came to light.

“There is still no word out of the ARL commission, they have been very silent,” Sullivan said.

“So it is still the status quo, we are still in that fight but we are working out what our next move is at this stage with the QRL.

“We will take the lead from the QRL, certainly nothing is off the table, as we saw with the players’ fight at the start of the year.

“We are in for a long battle and we will take lead from the QRL and their lawyers.”