http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,20797,26190354-5003409,00.html?from=public_rss
MICHAEL Searle is sipping Earl Grey tea as he gazes through square-rimmed designer glasses across Sydney Harbour and beyond.
We're sitting in the executive club suite of the Sheraton on the Park. Here, 21 floors up, horns blasting from CBD traffic snarls are reduced to a faraway murmur.
It's an image at odds with the burly forward who carted the pill up for Gold Coast during their first NRL incarnation in the late 1980s.
It's also at odds with the no-nonsense chief executive who butted heads with David Gallop until he got his way in 2005, realising a six-year dream to get the Coast back into the comp. And it's certainly at odds with the man charged with perhaps the toughest diplomatic mission since Cain and Abel parted ways - unifying rugby league under one, truly independent governing body.
But, as the front-rower said to the actress, looks can be deceiving.
Beneath the serene exterior purrs an engine that would rival any of
the V8s zooming round Mt Panorama this weekend.
How else could Michael Searle command a thriving accountancy firm, head an international talent management group that boasts some of the world's top surfers, run an
NRL franchise and be responsible for setting up the Indigenous-All Stars game next year? Oh, and there's that small matter of brokering a commission to take over the running of the game.
He may not just be the hardest worker in rugby league, Michael Searle could be the hardest working man in Australia. "I'm an 18-hour-a-day guy," he admits. "But I don't have any difficulty bouncing out of bed on a Monday. I really am living the dream. I was raised a Catholic but if I believed in reincarnation, I'd say
I must have had a really, really crappy life last time around because I've been blessed this time."
Searle can be found at his desk at Titans Marine Parade headquarters in Southport from 5am. The other night he text messaged a colleague at 11.41pm. He is Mr Perpetual Motion of rugby league administration.
MICHAEL Searle is sipping Earl Grey tea as he gazes through square-rimmed designer glasses across Sydney Harbour and beyond.
We're sitting in the executive club suite of the Sheraton on the Park. Here, 21 floors up, horns blasting from CBD traffic snarls are reduced to a faraway murmur.
It's an image at odds with the burly forward who carted the pill up for Gold Coast during their first NRL incarnation in the late 1980s.
It's also at odds with the no-nonsense chief executive who butted heads with David Gallop until he got his way in 2005, realising a six-year dream to get the Coast back into the comp. And it's certainly at odds with the man charged with perhaps the toughest diplomatic mission since Cain and Abel parted ways - unifying rugby league under one, truly independent governing body.
But, as the front-rower said to the actress, looks can be deceiving.
Beneath the serene exterior purrs an engine that would rival any of
the V8s zooming round Mt Panorama this weekend.
How else could Michael Searle command a thriving accountancy firm, head an international talent management group that boasts some of the world's top surfers, run an
NRL franchise and be responsible for setting up the Indigenous-All Stars game next year? Oh, and there's that small matter of brokering a commission to take over the running of the game.
He may not just be the hardest worker in rugby league, Michael Searle could be the hardest working man in Australia. "I'm an 18-hour-a-day guy," he admits. "But I don't have any difficulty bouncing out of bed on a Monday. I really am living the dream. I was raised a Catholic but if I believed in reincarnation, I'd say
I must have had a really, really crappy life last time around because I've been blessed this time."
Searle can be found at his desk at Titans Marine Parade headquarters in Southport from 5am. The other night he text messaged a colleague at 11.41pm. He is Mr Perpetual Motion of rugby league administration.