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Inside the Chairman’s Room, V’landys was thrilled with the result but, as the last alcoholic ginger beer slid down an hour after full-time, he was spoiling for a fight.
“Tomorrow will make or break the PNG deal,” he admitted.
It wasn’t hyperbole. In September last year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told him he was prepared to cough up a staggering $600 million over 10 years to fund a PNG team.
In simple terms, the Pacific has become a geopolitical battleground with China and rugby league, oddly, has become a secret weapon.
In August 2022, the Solomon Islands government accepted a US$66 million loan from China to allow telecommunications giant Huawei to construct 161 mobile phone towers.
“If not for those towers, we’re probably not having this discussion,” one media boss mused.
Rugby league diplomacy: Pacific Minister Pat Conroy presents PNG Prime Minister James Marape with a Queensland Maroons jersey in Canberra earlier this year..CREDIT: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN
When Albanese asked PNG Prime Minister James Marape what it would take to secure his country’s loyalty to Australia, the response was clear: an NRL team for his rugby league-obsessed people to be announced before the country’s 50-year independence celebrations in 2025.
V’landys’ eyes widened when Albanese mentioned the enormous sum on the table, but he’s become increasingly annoyed in recent months as bureaucrats squabble about how it will be spent.
Essentially, the NRL wants a large chunk of the funds allocated to schools, community programs and junior development to make the PNG team brd out of Port Moresby the “Penrith of the Pacific”.
Otherwise, it’s just a shiny new toy easily discarded when the money dries up or the government changes.
Clearly fed up, V’landys used a Friday morning media conference to lash the government for its dithering — “This is D-Day!” he declared — while Conroy wasn’t in the mood to be bullied.
“When I negotiate with people, I do it behind closed doors,” he said, before announcing the Queensland Reds rugby union side would play matches in Tonga under the PacificAus Sports program. “I’m announcing a deepening of our partnership with rugby union, so it’s self-evident that the Australian government has a number of options about who we partner with.”
According to sources familiar with negotiations, the rugby union reference infuriated V’landys, who strongly considered walking away from the negotiations later that day.
As the opening match of Magic Round between Canberra and Canterbury kicked off on Friday night, V’landys, Conroy and their respective entourages were going head-to-head in the boardroom on level two.
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At 6.40pm, V’landys emerged from the lifts on level five with NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo, commissioner and former Queensland sports minister Kate Jones and corporate affairs boss Misha Zelinsky in tow.
The quartet made a beeline for the Chairman’s Room, but a handful of reporters quickly collared V’landys, who explained how the game wanted to expand to 20 teams but that business cases for any new franchise — including PNG, the Perth Bears, Christchurch and Brisbane Easts — had to be established before any decisions were made.
Not everyone in rugby league is convinced about the merits of a PNG team.
The suggestion that those who sign with the new franchise will be exempt from paying tax has gone down like a bad corporate box prawn with clubs, who operate under a strict salary cap.
Then there’s the Forbidden City, an extravagant $100 million compound to be constructed in Port Moresby for players and coaching staff to shield them from the violence and crime for which the sprawling PNG capital is notorious.
As V’landys and his cohort disappeared into their suite, Channel Nine expert Paul Vautin was walking by.
Would he have considered, during his illustrious playing career, gobbling up tax-free dollars to play in PNG?
“Nnnnnnnnever!” he said. “Not a chance.”
Living in a house on a the beach and being treated like a rock star wouldn’t hurt either
Brisbane Tigers have the strongest business case out of those bids.
Depends on what pvl has to offer them eg raised nrl grant to other clubs ?
They have a say on which clubs enter
They have a stake in the ARLC. One thing they won't want is a club that has the potential to lure their players away with tax exemptions.
They don't get a higher cap! everyone gets the same amount, they all just get taxed differently, so if you want a tax free contract, sign up to png
