same same bit of a recap really
‘Got them rattled’: Code wars erupt as NRL and AFL bosses take vicious swipes at rival codes
Rugby league boss Peter V’landys has hit back at AFL CEO Andrew Dillon, sensationally accusing the rival code of copying them.
Ben Talintyre
5 min read
March 25, 2025 - 1:08PM
https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/g...ory/fa0dbf0543b381c8efd495db48b46d94#comments
The 2025 footy code wars are taking no prisoners, with NRL and AFL bosses taking vicious swipes at one another, all while trying to claim they are the best sport in the country.
This year’s code wars kicked off when the NRL launched an assault on the AFL by claiming to be Australia’s “biggest sport” in advertising material for the game’s foray into the USA.
While on the other side of the equation, the AFL has continued to take potshots at its rival code as it ramps up efforts to keep rugby league out of Western Australia.
Last month the NRL released data that showed they have dethroned the AFL as the most-watched code in Australian sport.
But last week AFL CEO Andrew Dillon rubbished the claims made by the NRL, saying on Melbourne radio: “We only really worry about ourselves and we measure ourselves on traditional metrics like people turning up to games, people watching, how long they watch for, how many people play … I call them traditional metrics.”
In response to Dillon’s remarks, on Sunday NRL boss Peter V’landys doubled down that the NRL has overtaken the AFL.
“The AFL has always looked down their nose at rugby league. They treat us as second-class citizens,” V’landys said on Triple M’s Sunday Sin Bin.
“It’s obvious we have got them rattled and the figures and the facts speak for themselves.
“Last year just the premiership matches, NRL had 154 million viewers compared to the AFL’s 140 million viewers. When you add State of Origin and international games we had 187 million viewers to the AFL’s 149 million viewers.
Peter V’landys (L) and Andrew Abdo (R) have taken the NRL to new heights in recent years. Picture: NRL Photos
“The NRLW, which I am so proud of, averaged 166,000 per game, the AFL averaged 70,000 per game. On social media, the NRL has 6.8 million, and the AFL has 4.6 million. So what metrics do they actually want?
“What are the traditional metrics? The ones that you make up? I don’t understand what the traditional ones are.”
But V’landys didn’t stop there, going on to claim the rival code is so desperate to stay in touch with rugby league that they are “copying” their ideas.
“We have a thing called a Magic Round and suddenly they hold a Gather Round. What are they gathering sticks and stones?” V’landys said.
“I read in the paper they have this new investment policy, it’s the NRL’s investment policy.
“So keep copying us. You won’t beat us but you can keep copying us that’s fine.”
NRL games in Perth have been a huge success in the past. Picture Dolphins NRL
Dirty ploy to keep the NRL out of Western Australia
A large part of the current tit-for-tat between the rival codes boils down to the feeling that the AFL are employing dirty tactics in a bid to keep rugby league from becoming a national sport by entering the Western Australian market.
The Western Bears would deliver a $500 million economic boost over 10 years, however, all the talk coming out of local WA news outlets is how the public is against it.
The NRL is understood to have waited until after the WA state election on March 8 before resuming talks with WA Premier Roger Cook.
However, time is not on the NRL’s side.
With the league needing to lock in Perth in the coming weeks or move on, there is a view AFL officials are playing dirty games in the background in a bid to keep WA as an AFL stronghold.
The NRL is set to table its long-term vision to prospective broadcasters in the coming weeks for 2028 and beyond.
However, that means they have just a few weeks to either confirm Perth as the NRL’s 19th team or move on.
“Western Australia is an important part of our strategy and if it comes off it comes off and if it doesn’t we just move forward and continue what we do,” V’landys said on Triple M’s Sunday Sin Bin.
“The information is that there is concern from the AFL about our ambition to get into Western Australia and I don’t know why.
“Because competition lifts all ships. We don’t object to the Swans here in Sydney and GWS in Western Sydney. “
But Western Australia has long been regarded as an AFL stronghold, with two major sports teams in the state, the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle.
It has been suggested local media have been anything but impartial in covering the NRL’s expansion plans.
Fremantle and West Coast have a monopoly in Western Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
The West Australian newspaper on Monday claimed no one except the Premier wants an NRL club in WA and went as far as to say rugby league has “no hope” of succeeding in the state.
“Premier Roger Cook is a self-confessed rugby league nuffy, we know that. If he were not, this ridiculous conversation about the North Sydney Bears — a dud, third-grade club, based over the other side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, yes, in Sydney in case you’re confused — being revived into the big leagues as Perth’s Western Bears would have ended long ago,” The West Australian claimed.
“The problem for NRL boss Peter V’landys, determined to extend the reach of his broadcast rights to another time zone, is that no one is buying it. And no one with any pull in WA, except Mr Cook and his Sports Minister and Treasurer Rita Saffioti, are willing to reach into their pockets to pay for something that has no popular local support, no grassroots presence and no hope.”
Western Australian Premier Roger Cook (pictured) is reportedly keen on seeing a Perth NRL team. Picture: NewsWire/Philip Gostelow
But
Code Sports reports, the noise from media in WA is solely an attempt to try and stop the NRL from taking a slice of the AFL’s pie.
“There are dirty tactics to shut the NRL out of Perth,” one industry source told Code Sports.
“The AFL is no longer the No. 1 code with viewers. By expanding to Perth and Papua New Guinea, the NRL will not only have a national reach, but tentacles globally in the Pacific via PNG.”
Interestingly, The West Australian is owned by Seven West Media, which has control of the Seven Network, the free-to-air AFL broadcaster, that inked a $1.5 billion deal with the league in 2022.
Billionaire Kerry Stokes is chairman of the Seven West Media empire.
But the reality is the NRL’s Western Bears would be bad news for the AFL in the sense their complete control of the WA market would cease to exist.
So safe to say the AFL is under threat like never before and for the first time in a long time, the NRL is in the driving seat.
