Rugby league is handing over the keys while the clubs hide under the table
Punish Addo-Carr. Don’t sack him
Josh Addo-Carr should face consequences, but the Eels should not sack him. He has checked himself into a clinic, asked the club for redemption and wants to keep playing there, which gives Parramatta a chance to impose a serious penalty without reaching for the corporate guillotine.
The conduct was illegal. He is an example to children. Nobody should duck that. But this arose from a roadside police test, not post-game drug testing, and rugby league has already retained players after other drug-related incidents. Ezra Mam was not sacked and I think received a 12-game suspension, while Reece Walsh, Cameron Munster, Brandon Smith, Victor Radley, Latrell Mitchell and Val Holmes were also raised as precedents for clubs stopping short of termination.
Canterbury sacked Addo-Carr, although I believe it was already looking to move him and the incident fell into its lap; I think that decision was driven more by football than conduct. Parramatta are rebuilding and Jason Ryles must establish standards, so Addo-Carr may yet pay the price. I still think dismissal would be unduly unfair.
Luai owed the Tigers a proper goodbye
Jarome Luai should have attended the Wests Tigers awards night. He was the co-captain, the club paid him a stack of money and smart advice would have told him to finish the season respectfully before moving on.
Instead, he was in Samoa promoting the World Cup. That might explain the absence, but it does not excuse it. Turn up. Thank the staff, players and supporters. Wish them well. Leave through the front door.
I tend to think Luai simply does not care enough about the Tigers, and Benji’s talk about him lifting standards does not survive contact with the season. The club is now discussing Tyson Frizell as somebody who can lift standards. That tells its own story.
The Tigers were 5-2 when the Papua New Guinea situation began and finished 3-14. I never thought they were a genuine top-eight side, but Luai’s departure disrupted the club and sent the season into a car crash. I believe a fair portion of that collapse can be laid at his feet. The least he could have done was say goodbye properly.
V'landys is strong. The system around him is pathetic
Peter V'landys is a dynamic leader who almost single-handedly saved rugby league during COVID, but making him executive chairman concentrates power in exactly the way the independent commission was created to prevent.
The commission approved the appointment on Tuesday night and I think the announcement will be made tomorrow. I have known Peter since the 1990s and attended his wedding. I like him, trust his integrity and do not question his business ability. This is not personal. It is governance.
The game was sliding towards insolvency before Peter intervened, and every indication suggests he believes he will do this job well. That still does not justify removing the handbrake. Andrew Abdo supplied restraint when Peter went full charge, forcing ideas to slow down and survive examination. That counterweight is gone.
The commission now bows to Peter instead of testing him. The six-again rule is the obvious warning: major on-field change arrived without proper consultation, and I do not trust the commission’s rugby league intellect enough to accept that process. Peter needs somebody strong enough to say no. Right now, he is surrounded by people cheering him home.
The clubs demanded independence, then surrendered it
The clubs have shown no courage. They spent years demanding an independent commission to spread power, then rolled over when that power was drawn back towards one person.
I think the prospect of a public vote spooked them because approval required 16 of 17 clubs. More than two clubs were very sceptical, and either the New South Wales or Queensland Rugby League voting no would have killed the proposal. Two club votes against it would also have ended it. Once representatives had to raise their hands publicly, the resistance disappeared.
That is gutless. Papua New Guinea is owned by the NRL commission and the Bears are owned by the NRL, which automatically gives the administration two votes when those teams enter the structure. An independent body should act in the clubs’ collective interests, not build a voting bloc of its own.
The deeper problem is precedent. Peter may perform brilliantly, but what happens when his successor inherits the same concentrated authority? Add a media cop prepared to pressure anybody who refuses the approved message and the danger grows. I know mainstream broadcasters are already told not to discuss certain matters. Absolute power and media control rarely finish well.
Forget the hotels. Save the nursery
Rugby league is polishing its balance sheet while neglecting the people and places that produce footballers. Hotels, bricks-and-mortar assets and shiny financial numbers mean little if male tackle participation keeps weakening and the next generation disappears.
The published growth story includes women and touch football, while pure male tackle participation is not performing as strongly as we are led to believe. Bush clubs and local A-grade competitions around Sydney and Brisbane could use genuine help, yet every new broadcast deal brings another promise that grassroots investment will come next time. It never really does.
Expansion makes that failure reckless. Two incoming teams require another 60 or 70 players; Papua New Guinea, the Bears and potentially a third team would require 90 because every club carries a 30-man roster. There is no doubt that will dilute the competition unless the pathways improve quickly.
The AFL recognised rugby league’s vulnerability 25 years ago, targeted mothers with a safety message and captured geography by offering councils ground maintenance in exchange for AFL posts. Former rugby league grounds in country towns are now AFL grounds, while the competition around Orange has good facilities and is healthy. I think rugby league has taken its eye off the ball. In 20 years, the asset portfolio may look magnificent while the talent pool has been gutted.
Business brains are useless without football brains
The commission’s design mistake was confusing outside achievement with rugby league competence. Removing club representatives sounded clean in theory, but it also brought in people who had spent the previous 20 years without skin in the game.
Gary Wishart is a lovely bloke, yet before his appointment I had only seen him around rugby league in a suite before matches. Others claimed to love the sport but had barely been visible in it. They were selected because they were high achievers elsewhere, reflecting an old inferiority complex that rugby league needed executives rather than people who understood its peculiar machinery.
Dave Smith was very smart and ran a bank. John Grant was a self-made multimillionaire. Yet smart businesspeople who do not understand rugby league can still make curious decisions about how it is played, officiated and grown. This industry eats its own, and outsiders do not master it through a balance sheet.
Ben Ikin has the right formula: the game needs people who understand the business of football. Proper governance exists for a reason, including fixed terms that were originally meant to rotate commissioners and refresh ideas. Those limits were later changed, although I cannot remember whether commissioners can now remain indefinitely or merely serve longer terms. Either way, stale yes-men are not independence.
