A cashed up NRL and its ambitious leader represents a dangerous challenge for New Zealand Rugby; could Auckland boast two league franchises by 2030?; And how Wayne Bennett ‘blew’ the Kiwi coaching job.

Former All
Blacks coach Steve Hansen has a reputation for calling it bluntly.

And, last year, at the height of the public debate over rugby’s growing challenges as a spectator spectacle, Hansen did exactly that. He told TVNZ that Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) was superior viewing to his increasingly micro-managed code.

Then he cautioned his former employers at New Zealand Rugby (NZR) to under-estimate the NRL’s Sydney-based powerbroker Peter V’Landys at their peril.

I was reminded of Hansen’s warning last week when the NRL posted the biggest financial result in the Australian league’s 116-year history.

Revenue alone topped A$700 million for the last financial year.

To give that some perspective in terms of financial grunt, it means the Australian (plus the Warriors) franchise competition generates more than three times the annual revenue the All Blacks create for NZR.

Let that sink in for a moment … more than three times.

For the first time, the NRL has also eclipsed bitter rivals, the Australian Football League (AFL), as the most-watched television sport across the Ditch.

Name me another southern hemisphere league or sport which has so emphatically bounced back from Covid-19.

It is a remarkable result for a competition (still) largely restricted to two eastern seaboard states of Australia, Canberra and a single team in New Zealand.

It also begs the question of what the NRL might do over the next few years with its increasingly bulging war-chest of money as it targets expansion franchises to further inflate its broadcasting and other commercial riches.

So back to Hansen’s warning about V’Landys …

As many of us know, Sir Steve dabbles a bit in the horses. He’s a thoroughbred owner, knows the industry and has witnessed firsthand the transformation that V’Landys has brought to New South Wales Racing in his role as CEO, including the introduction of new events like the Everest.

Under the helm of a self-made son of Greek immigrants, Sydney is now challenging Melbourne’s long-held grip on major money-spinning racing carnivals.

More importantly, the sport itself is booming. Across the Ditch, racing is winning.

You would think that looking after the gee-gees would be more than enough to keep 62-year-old V’Landys busy.

But he also chairs the Australian Rugby League Commission which owns the National Rugby League (NRL).

“It’s the same guy … Peter V’Landys has been instrumental in making both these sports very popular,” Hansen told OneNews.

Hansen said the Australian’s formula was “very simple”: “Find out what the fans want, find out what the participants want – and give it to them.”

‘Rugbah league’ and the Great Las Vegas Experiment

Fast forward now to this coming weekend where the 2024 NRL season will kick off in, of all places, Las Vegas at the same venue where Taylor Swift cheered home beau Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs at Super Bowl 58.

The Sin City double-header, featuring Sydney clubs the Roosters and Rabbitohs plus Manly Sea Eagles and last season’s beaten grand finalists the Brisbane Broncos, has V’Landys ambition stamped all over it.

V’Landys is often ridiculed for an unfortunate lisp which sees him pronounce rugby league as “rugbah league”. He shrugs the criticism off with a “is that the best they can do?” response and keeps making money.

For league fans, the annual Vegas excursion (the NRL plans to open the season there for the following two years as well) represents a slice of glamour added to the razzle-dazzle and thrills and spills of the game.

They’ve lapped up footage of the likes of Broncos star Reece Walsh and other players rubbing shoulders with NBA stars at lead-in events.

For the other key group Hansen identified as driving V’Landys’ mantra, the participants (players and club owners), that’s about more money and influence.

V’Landys is delivering there too.

On the one hand, the Great Las Vegas Experiment looks to be a glaring example of the hubris and attention-seeking that V’Landys’ critics regularly accuse him of.

The reality is the NRL will be lucky to half-fill the 65,000-capacity state-of-the-art Allegiant Stadium.

But that won’t worry V’Landys and his able CEO Andrew Abdo. The Vegas experiment is a play for American betting money.

It’s audacious and if it comes off, will be another victory in the NRL’s determination to swallow its rivals.

After all, consider where the NRL is at compared to Rugby Australia, which just took out an A$80m debt line to keep its head above water.

Why NZ Rugby needs to fear V’Landys and the NRL

A cashed-up NRL isn’t just a dangerous beast for Australian rugby administrators.

It also represents the biggest existential threat to New Zealand Rugby since Super League thought about plundering the All Blacks ranks in 1995.

The bulging cash chest alone is a concern.

If the NRL was to target the New Zealand market for two of its expansion franchises – one in Christchurch and a second one in Auckland – for a 20-team league by 2030, league could deliver serious pain to rugby.

I am reliably informed the NRL recognises the vulnerable position of rugby in Auckland and the prospect of a second team in the City of Sails is gathering increased interest, particularly in light of the waterfront stadium debate.

At the moment, V’Landys is trying to get others to pay for his dreams. Favourites for an 18th franchise to be announced at the end of this year is a Papua New Guinea-based team off the back of the Australian government paying to keep the Chinese at bay.

A far smarter long-term plan would be to add Perth and two NZ teams to get to V’Landys’ goal of two 10-team conferences.

A second Auckland team would allow the league code to finally “take” New Zealand’s biggest city. A weekly dose of content from two competitive NRL franchises is an appetising prospect in a waterfront stadium.

Scoff if you like, but the populations of Brisbane and Auckland are not that far apart and the Queensland capital’s new franchise entry, the Dolphins, is already averaging 25,000 for home crowds, while the Broncos are the biggest drawcard in the NRL with regular attendances topping 50,000.

What’s more, the Dolphins are dominated by Kiwi-born Māori and Polynesian heritage players – just as 40 per of every NRL club roster is.

The player-production machine is here.

What could be the fortuitous maverick element is the downtown stadium.

I doubt V’Landys would invest but the lure of being cut in on a precinct deal within a new sports and entertainment complex in downtown Auckland offers him something he doesn’t yet have in Australia and something very alluring.

The NRL bought two hotels last year as revenue-producing assets – an 81-room Mercure on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and an inner city Quest Hotel in Sydney.

Would an NRL-themed Auckland downtown sports precinct that he could be cut into the right deal on interest V’Landys? His track record suggests so.

Weekly NRL matches, potential to host the Magic Round in Auckland (at last!), merchandising, and virtual and augmented-reality entertainment opportunities, TV studios … it all could be compelling enough for him to consider a second Auckland team.

The economics stack up

Warriors owner Mark Robinson could be reasonably expected to push back against another franchise in Auckland – especially as it’s taken more than 25 years to turn the only one to date into a consistent performer.

But maybe not.

With its swelling commercial success, the NRL is delivering record distributions of A$447m clubs including players receiving a record A$216m.

The more the distributions go up, the more the Warriors make.

As an anchor tenant in a waterfront stadium, those numbers look even more attractive. Enough to remove likely resistance to a second Auckland team.

The blunder that cost Wayne Bennett the Kiwis job

While on league, if you were like me and couldn’t fathom how New Zealand Rugby League passed over Australian super coach Wayne Bennett for the Kiwis job, there may be an explanation.

SportsInsider has been told by several sources now that Bennett interviewed horribly for the job.

There may have been a degree of Bennett feeling he didn’t need to lay out a master plan given his record in the game. But it left NZRL powerbrokers nervous, hence the last-minute surprising decision to opt for The Little General Stacey Jones.

Is NZ Rugby under-gunned in TV rights negotiations?

We had confirmation last week via the Herald’s ever-attentive MediaInsider column that recently appointed New Zealand Rugby Commercial (“ComCo”) boss Craig Fenton will negotiate the new broadcasting deal with Sky.

That’s no surprise given NZR has effectively out-sourced its commercial work to ComCo since doing the Silver Lake deal.

What is a surprise is the absence of any previous broadcast negotiation experience among the entire ComCo set-up.

The last deal with Sky, a spectacular one that is consistently reported at more than NZ$100 million annually for five years, was negotiated by then NZR chair Brent Impey, board member Richard Dellabarca and senior NZR manager Ged Mahoney.

It was clinched in the shadow of Spark Sport threatening to end Sky’s grip on rugby rights and Impey, with vast experience in broadcasting, held the upper hand.

But not only is he no longer on the scene but nor is Dellabarca and Mahoney surprisingly left NZR this month.

I can’t find anything in Fenton’s background as a senior exec at Google which suggests broadcasting negotiation expertise. Nor does the board chair Ian Narev, as capable as he is, have it.

Nor do either of the two Silver Lake reps on the board, players rep Richie McCaw or NZR’s representatives like Dame Patsy Reddy and CEO Mark Robinson.

Like Impey and co, Spark Sport isn’t around anymore either. And now NZR has lofty ambitions for its new digital app and wants more product on free-to-air, all of which eats away at Sky’s exclusivity value.

In a nutshell, NZR is going into one of the most important financial negotiations in its history when the number it receives is almost certainly going down and seemingly without an executive well-versed in broadcast negotiations.

Meanwhile, V’Landys and the NRL will no doubt be watching from the sidelines with growing interest.

What SportsInsider will be watching

Before Drive To Survive, there was Sunderland ‘Til I Die.

The F1 docu-series is largely credited as the inspiration for the now prolific generation of “fly-on-the-wall” sports content, but in reality (an ironic word in this context), Sunderland ‘Til I Die was the first pioneer.

Season one of the behind-the-scenes drama about the iconic English football club’s relegation from the Premier League to the Championship was released in 2018 – the year before the first series of Drive To Survive.

It was watching Sunderland ‘Til I Die that inspired American actor Rob McElhenny to enlist Hollywood A-lister Ryan Reynolds to buy Welsh club Wrexham and pursue the ambition of Premier League promotion.

As documented in the pair’s Welcome to Wrexham series, McElhenny had never encountered promotion-relegation in American sport.

The journey to see if Premier League status can actually be achieved is captivating in the hands of two gifted story-tellers, making Welcome to Wrexham the current standout in this genre.

So I was intrigued when, after a two-year hiatus, I stumbled across a new season of Sunderland ‘Til I Die on Netflix covering the club’s turbulent 2021-22 season.

It’s only three episodes. The club is now a league lower than last time Netflix’s cameras were there. There’s drama aplenty and, it’s a satisfying watch.

And what about The Dynasty, the Apple-produced show on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots I mentioned in last week’s column?

Three episodes of the six have now dropped and I’ve consumed them.

The early verdict? The lofty claims the series rivals Michael Jordan’s Last Dance may not be far off the mark.

Team of the Week

The Chiefs

The Waikato rugby franchise has agreed to participate in a doco covering off this season’s campaign, including miking two players per game. Damian McKenzie and skipper Luke Jacobson were the first guinea pigs. Hardly groundbreaking but a start in Super Rugby’s bid to be more fan-friendly.

Neil Wagner

Has there been a more selfless and loyal Black Caps cricketer than the lion-hearted South African-cum-Kiwi?

Dylan Cleaver excerpted a compelling profile from his book Modern New Zealand Cricket Greats on The Bounce newsletter, comparing Wagner to a “loyal to a fault” pet Labrador.

“The things working against Wagner were myriad,” wrote Cleaver. “By international standards, he was not fast. By fast-bowling physique standards, he was not big. He could swing the new ball, but not a heck of a lot and, anyway, he seldom worked with the new ball. He didn’t jag it off the seam. Sometimes, in fact, he didn’t even hit the seam, which, in their earlier days before they became besties, used to frustrate his more illustrious teammates who were trying to keep the Kookaburra in tip-top condition.

“What did he have in his favour, then? A big engine and a relentless range of short-pitched deliveries.

“He bowled an astonishing number of deliveries between nipple and neck height. He bowled them from all angles. Left-arm seam bowlers do not bowl around the wicket to left-handed batters. It’s just not a thing … until Wagner made it a thing. He helped win the aforementioned test against India by doing it and he also played a massive role in getting New Zealand to the World Test Championship by doing it, too.”

Penaisi Dakuwaqa

Forget the early contenders for so-called Try of the Season from the first round of Super Rugby. A 100m-plus breakout in the French Top 14 for Stade Francais’s Fijian winger Peniasi Dakuwaqa has gone justifiably viral.