The NRL stuffed its messaging. Have they lost the crowd?

As COVID-19 played havoc with sport across the globe in 2020, things looked especially bleak for the NRL.

Then, new Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V’landys swept in to pure, unadulterated fandom from the rugby league media and a raised eyebrow from everyone else.

V’landys was, according to constant drooling fan fiction from the NRL media, a man who got things done, couldn’t be stopped and if you were in his way, God help you.

He had no time for doubters and he didn’t care which hapless sops he needed to step on or over to achieve what he wanted to do.

For the rest of us, the fawning was so bad it became difficult to determine whether we were reading proper paid sporting journalism or a letter to Penthouse Forum.

In rugby league land V’landys could do what he wanted, when he wanted, to whoever he wanted and was cheered every step of the way by his media squad.

He started by getting the game back on the field – an immense feat that will rightly echo in league history. Being first didn’t really matter, but it was a landmark sign to the country that the NRL had itself together.

Then unsettling things started happening.

The NRL made two snap rule-changes during the COVID-19 hiatus, removing one of the two on-field referees and introducing the six-again rule for ruck infringements.

This was done without consulting the clubs, the players or the public, and apparently driven by a supporter’s poll V’landys had seen, but no one else did.

The move to one referee was done by steamrolling the referees’ union, who were vocal in their opposition to the change on the grounds of player safety.

‘Six agains’ were to speed up the game and increase fatigue in players, which V’landys trumpeted loudly to all corners.

Players and referees came back to a different, faster game they had effectively four weeks to train for and V’landys’ media cheer-squad hailed him all the way, shouting down anyone who had a problem with either the change, how it was made or its consequences.

Fast forward to 2021’s Round 11, week two of the directive to referees to sin bin or send off any player making contact above the shoulders, regardless of whether it was accidental.

Again, this was done without consulting clubs, the players or the fans, but we should note V’landys says they’d given clubs a fortnight’s notice and that should be plenty.

That’s still not long enough to change techniques that have been trained into players since they were juniors.

We saw this on the weekend with Sydney Roosters forward Victor Radley, who was binned twice and placed on report four times for a slew of charges totalling four weeks’ suspension with an early plea.

Judging by postgame comments from his coach Trent Robinson, it seems unlikely Radley will test his luck at the judiciary.

As an aside – this was a big public test for Robinson, who many thought would blow up and rail against the new rules because they had arguably cost his team the game. But he stayed true to what he’s been pushing for a long time about high contact, saying Radley needed to get his technique right.

Tino Fa’asuamaleaui is a huge recruit for the Titans. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Good intentions and all (for the record, I’m 100 per cent on board), it was still just dumped on everyone.

Referees and players are still adjusting to what deserves a spell on the pine and what’s just a penalty, players are getting suspended and clubs are frantically trying to change how they go about engaging the attacker.

As is his way, instead of acknowledging perhaps the game could have managed this better V’landys has doubled, tripled and quadrupled down.

“It would be easy for me to say I don‘t need to have this fight. But as chairman of the ARL Commission, I wouldn’t be doing my duty if I didn’t look at ways to help our players,” he said to the Daily Telegraph this week.

But that’s the whole point – this didn’t need to be a fight. The NRL made it one.

There’s not one person following rugby league who endorses players attacking the head. It has always been regarded as foul play and it’s even more front and centre now we know what we know about concussion and CTE.

Instead, with teams losing one and two players at a time to the sin bin and players suspended multiple weeks for actions that three weeks ago weren’t even a penalty, fans and the media are starting to wonder if V’landys ploughing through is the best way for things to be done.

New research reported in the Sydney Morning Herald over the weekend suggested you’re more than three times more likely to need a head impact assessment from an upright tackle compared to one where you’re bent at the hip.

Also reported this week was research commissioned by South Sydney into the rise of head and shoulder contact, particularly as part of the rise of ju-jitsu/MMA style moves in tackles to immobilise the ball carrier.

Souths say this report was presented to the NRL in January 2020.

League fans are angry.

They understand the need for the new approach, but they’re not happy about how it was implemented and how it’s impacting games while teams and officials try to feel their way through.

But the NRL still acts like it’s in fight mode, releasing a bizarre statement on Thursday which they claimed “corrects some misconceptions about the changes in the game over the last two years”. What followed was easily debunked and frankly cherry-picked data which at best proved the changes had not increased fatigue, or at worst showed a fundamental misunderstanding of the numbers they were showcasing.

The Rugby League Players’ Association were moved enough to put out a statement, which reads in full:

“The Rugby League Players’ Association (RLPA) notes the release of season to date statistics by the National Rugby League today.

The RLPA is adamant that prior to making any definitive statements concerning the playing environment, all information must be thoroughly tested and scrutinised.

Players have provided the RLPA with direct feedback throughout the season regarding changes to the level of fatigue and match demands, which has been shared with the NRL.

While it may not have been the intention, dismissing the feelings and experiences of players as ‘perception’ in this statement lacks awareness and respect for those playing the game.

Sports opinion delivered daily 

   

The need for transparency has never been more important and the RLPA will request further data from the NRL and Clubs before confirming our position and making any recommendations for change.”

That second last line is a killer. And it shows the problem V’landys and his team have with their own public perception.

If player safety was as paramount as the NRL claims, then this all should have happened in the offseason, bringing anyone with a stake in house to explain the why, the how and give everyone time to sort themselves out.

It would have been the simplest of wins for V’landys and his team and the entire NRL community would have been on board backing it in, rather than the complete debacle we see now.

Instead, the NRL again chose to bulldoze. And it’s starting to get old.