New Zealand Rugby needs to fear cashed-up Aussie league raiders as Auckland eyed

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…