Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Kenty was talkin him up on 360 last year
Yep. The key difference is:
I believe the move was given the all clear - there were just some councillors who apparently didn’t get a say and wanted a vote.
People gushing in the SMH comments obviously didn't read the part where the Storm were offered the Tigers ground, between the CBD and the river.
Gillon Mclachlan always reminds me of a mix of Nick Cave and the Clown from the IT movie.Long before the coronavirus pandemic swung like a wrecking ball through sport, GWS Giants chairman Tony Shepherd warned AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan about another force of nature demolishing everything in its path.
"Don't underestimate Peter V'landys," Shepherd advised. "Rugby league will become a serious competitor with him in charge."
Now, Shepherd is watching V'landys become rugby league's imperial leader during the COVID-19 crisis and sees history repeating.
"Cometh the hour, cometh the man," Shepherd said of the pugnacious ARL Commission chairman.
V'landys thrives on being told he can't do something and then pulling it off. Even better if he can get up Melbourne's nose at the same time.
He's becoming a nasal swab for the AFL, jammed so far up its left nostril it feels like an eyeball is about to pop out as rugby league inches closer to the impossible dream of a May 28 restart.
The AFL chitterati scoffed when V'landys flagged a resumption so soon. Plenty in the NRL thought the same thing, this column included. Even members of Project Apollo argued it would be "better optics" to start in June.
In Melbourne, where newsreaders seemingly mispronounce V'landys' name on purpose, he was slammed for being "premature", "arrogant" and "disrespectful". Club chairmen like Hawthorn's Jeff Kennett lined him up as "totally irresponsible, absolutely irresponsible!"
Now some in the AFL are breaking ranks.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick applauded the NRL for "aspirational-type leadership", earning a rebuke from Collingwood president Eddie McGuire and Bombers legend Matthew Lloyd.
Others are following.
"So how can we be critical of the NRL for setting a date now in a month's time for wanting to come back and be aspirational?" asked Kane Cornes on Footy Classified.
Regardless of where you stand on the May 28 restart, of this you can be assured: V'landys doesn't care what anyone says.
Peter V'landys and Gillon McLachlan.CREDITIGITAL IMAGE
Last week, he declared publicly not once but twice that the Australian Border Force had granted the New Zealand Warriors an exemption to enter the country.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison denied this was the case. Not once but twice. "No amount of reporting it will change that decision," Morrison said at his Friday morning media conference.
On Saturday morning, the Warriors were granted the exemption, just as V'landys had promised. On Sunday, they locked down in quarantine in Tamworth. And on Monday, they and the rest of the NRL's 480 players underwent an "education day" about the strict biosecurity protocols they must adhere to if the season is to rebooted.
Meanwhile, in the AFL, it's still in the "bubbles and hubs" stage. Rugby league binned the "bubbles and hubs" idea weeks ago.
The NRL should resist cranking up the victory march quite yet.
For starters, V'landys had an easier task. The AFL is a bigger monster, with teams in every state. Most of them are based in Victoria, where Premier Daniel Andrews has been more cautious than other states in loosening coronavirus restrictions.
It's also been so prudent with its finances over the years, having secured a $600m line of credit against more than $1bn in assets, that it can survive until March next year without playing a minute of footy.
The NRL does not have that luxury. Its mad rush to May 28 is about one thing: money. There wasn't enough put away for a rainy day and when it started pouring in late March it turned out only $120m had been tucked away.
From that moment, V'landys put a flag in the sand and has been bending everything and everyone around it, including prime ministers and premiers.
As he does so, it places increasing pressure on the AFL to get its show started.
Asked if there was some personal satisfaction in getting the jump on the AFL, V'landys told Sports Sunday: "Not all. I haven't even looked at the AFL. Their challenge is greater than us, they've got teams throughout Australia. They have geographical challenges. We just set ourselves our own target date."
Nobody who knows V'landys was buying it.
"Stuff beating the AFL," offered one long-time racing official. "He'd be more worried about beating the rest of the world."
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/pe...-as-a-nasal-swab-for-afl-20200504-p54po2.html
Or written by parasites who work for the media organisation that wants to drive down the broadcast costs.
