Weekend Read: Why the NRL is now perfectly positioned to take on the AFL
After striking a landmark agreement with all 17 clubs, the NRL is set to usher in a decade of peace, perfectly positioning rugby league to take on its biggest rival, writes BRENT READ.
Rugby league is headed for a decade of peace. The NRL and its clubs will spend the next 10 years sitting around the campfire, roasting marshmallows and singing kumbaya.
Pull the other one I hear you say, it plays jingle bells.
Yes, the clubs and the NRL have struck a landmark agreement over license agreements which will form the bedrock of a new relationship for the next decade.
But 10 years of peace may be stretching it. The good news is clubs are about to be consulted like never before, resolving one of the major issues between them and Rugby League Central.
An advisory group of three chairs has been formed - the initial trio will be South Sydney’s Nick Pappas, North Queensland’s Lewis Ramsey and Manly’s Scott Penn - to communicate with the NRL on everything from naming rights to expansion to broadcast negotiations.
The clubs will finally get to peer behind the curtain.
ARL Commission Chairman Peter V’landys. Picture: Richard Dobson
ARL Commission Chairman Peter V’landys. Picture: Richard Dobson
They won’t have the right to veto agreements, but they will be taken on the journey and it shapes as a significant step forward in the relationship between the clubs and head office.
The last broadcast negotiations were conducted behind a veil of secrecy amid concerns that sensitive information could be leaked and scupper any agreement.
The clubs still don’t know exactly how much the broadcasters pay the NRL.
That’s about to change as the ARL Commission prepares to intensify its negotiations with broadcasters in an uncertain landscape.
The clubs won’t have a decisive say over where the deal lands, but they will be kept abreast of talks and have the right to convey their thoughts to the ultimate decision-makers.
Importantly, all 17 clubs have been guaranteed their place in the competition for the next decade provided they don’t go broke. Given they now receive more than $17 million in grant money from the NRL, there are no excuses.
The relationship between the NRL and its clubs has been fractious at times in recent years. There have been threats of breakaway competitions and the removal of commissioners.
Those days are over. Rugby league has had a habit of getting in its own way. Tripping over its own feet. Infighting has held the sport back but not any more. There will be the occasional spotfire but the days of the blazing rows have come to an end.
Rugby league has just about devoured rugby union. Next on the menu is the AFL and with peace now in our lifetime, the code is perfectly positioned to take on its biggest rival.
Things are about to get interesting.