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I believe there are only two sizeable issues in Rugby League today – they are huge and they are not on the field. The on-field footy this season has been fantastic and there are only minor things to clean up.
They are less power to video referees and waiting for rookie on-field referees to get more experience.
The first major issue is off-field behaviour and media saturation of this. The second is how the NRL was badly ripped off on its last television rights deal.
These problems will be largely solved when Rugby League eventually gets its own independent commission to run the game just as AFL has enjoyed for years.
Firstly off-field player behaviour will improve dramatically when we have black and white laws and expectations in place set by the independent commission. This will remove the inconsistencies of the 16 clubs with their 16 different sets of standards that we currently have.
This will also stop those few players who currently ‘club hop’ every time they have their contract torn up. If a player is suspended from the NRL for two or five years, it will really mean no Rugby League in Australia or New Zealand for that player for that period of time.
The second major issue is of League being undervalued on its television rights deal. This will be solved when News Limited is no longer a co-owner and they no longer will be able to short sell Rugby League to pay television.
This is arguably the biggest conflict of interest in Australian sport. Also David Gallop has stated they will sell NRL games, the State of Origin series and Test matches separately to rival networks. This means higher bidding by networks and the added bonus of Channel 7 and/or 10 having to soften their stance on Rugby League once they have paid millions to show some of it on their network.
The sooner Rugby League has its own independent commission running the game, the sooner the game can reach the heights it deserves. Getting this independent commission should be Leagues number one priority.
The fact the game has gradually grown from strength to strength over the last 15 years whilst having a News Ltd anchor weighing it down is quite remarkable and shows the resilience and strength of the game. Realistically only the AFL and NRL could have actually grown under these circumstances.
Imagine where Rugby League will be in 20 years time with an independent commission in place, especially when you consider that the Australian Government has predicted that Queensland – the often coined “Home of Rugby League” – will be the country’s most populous state.
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