Despite enjoying 91 per cent media approval, V'landys can't convince the last Nine

Recent news surveys have revealed 12 out of ten people rate Peter V’landys as not only Australia’s best chance of a return to sporting normality, but also a coronavirus vaccine.

But to the common man, is he the eccentric saviour of rugby league? Or just a pandemic denialist who agreed to a new broadcast deal in Teletext?

Across the majority of tabloids, the Australian Rugby League Commission chairman has been portrayed in unabashedly glowing terms usually seen on Fox News for Donald Trump, and on state media in dictatorships, like China and the AFL.

Worship for V’landys commenced prior to his appointment to the ARLC, with the Racing NSW boss elevated to the chairman role because the Daily Telegraph suggested it 12 times daily – and rightly so.

As the paper championed, the chairman was always suited to the role of rugby league administrator due to his background in horses and gambling, and because of his miraculous birth in the manger.

V’landys has since enjoyed fair and equitable coverage, with his daily endorsements balanced by negative pieces accusing him of being a perfectionist and a major contributor to unemployment because he’s staggeringly tremendous in two roles.

Approval ratings have since gone in to further overdrive after he delivered a strategy for a COVID-19 restart, with media hailing his initiative in campaigning government, introducing proactive safety measures, and sacking Todd Greenberg.

Seeing off the former CEO has cemented V’landys as their unconditional darling, with the media delighted he had assumed control after it was discovered Greenberg triggered coronavirus because he paid Des Hasler $1m to coach the Dogs.

But even with the unwavering support from the tabloids, not everywhere is so enamoured with V’landys. As hard as it is to believe, there are some outlets that aren’t waiting to form a view on injecting disinfectant until he provides his opinion.

Despite the blanket worship, the chairman has failed to enamour Channel Nine and its highest commander – the Nine spokesperson – nor its major print masthead, Peter FitzSimons, and its smaller niche publication, the Sydney Morning Herald.

Even with aggressive campaigning through saturation exposure, V’landys has not enjoyed the same level of adulation from Nine, maybe as he’s hardballing in negotiations, but probably because he is associated with rugby league but he’s not Origin or the Broncos.

Has V’landys been as good as the tabloids attest? Or is your opinion less embellished, and you firmly believe he is reigniting coronavirus for broadcast revenue?

Peter V’Landys. Messiah. Naughty Boy. (Mark Evans/Getty Images)

Does the Racing NSW boss deserve to have a statue erected? And should it be in the pose of a redeemer, or with him atop a stallion alongside three other horsemen to signify his era?

Most sensible people would probably say its somewhere in the middle, but that’s unfashionable and will go nowhere to generating Fox Sports clickbait suggesting V’landys experience running a bankrupt autocracy makes him ‘the perfect man to replace Kim Jong-un’.

Some will celebrate him as the tireless force that kept the game going through crisis, while others view him as the man who punted Greenberg for poor finances to replace him with the bloke who did his finances.

Others will argue he’s not progressive, whereas some will see his vision for change – that being fresh elements like one referee, expansion into new markets like Brisbane, and the shift away from digital because Big Tech is going nowhere and there’s no more ‘interweb cafes’.

On the street, sentiment appears split on all bar one aspect; he’s probably better than Gus Gould.

However, this may change if the public feels we need a chairman who could formulate his own media campaign to sweep himself to office, before falling out with himself and paying himself a massive severance.

Nevertheless, it will all end predictably. Phil Rothfield also glowingly endorsed Todd Greenberg as the only man for the CEO job, meaning V’landys will probably be ousted for an unspeakable tragedy like spending money to run a business or calling Manly “the Seagulls”.