PSA: PVL totally deserves to chair selection of the Kangaroos

It was reported last week that the great leader of the Australian Rugby League Commission, Peter V’landys, was set to expand his remit and take up a role as a selector of the Australian national side.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, “V’landys will act as the chairman of selectors under a proposal due to be signed off imminently.”

The report noted it was “a major shake-up to how Australia’s squad will be picked”, with incumbent selectors Laurie Daley and Darren Lockyer getting punted in favour of a panel made up of current State of Origin coaches Brad Fittler and Billy Slater, as well as Australia coach Mal Meninga and V’landys.

The whole thing had me fuming. For starters, News Corp reported later in the week that Daley and Lockyer found out about their ousting through the media, rather than being told directly by HQ, which – if true – is a shocking way to treat two great servants of Australian rugby league.

But what really got my goat was V’landys getting the plumb title of chairman of selectors.

Like, really Peter? The best use of your limited time is telling three of the greatest football players to ever lace up a boot that they also need the input of a chartered accountant when it comes to picking a team?

Now, there are few things I hate more than footy players – both present and former – saying that people who haven’t played the game at the highest level don’t deserve an opinion. It’s ignorant, arrogant and if you want evidence for how shallow a player is being when they say it, name someone – anyone – who has ever been complimented for their form and responded, “You never played the game so I don’t care about your opinion.”

It’s a coward’s response to being called out for playing poorly or simply having a difference of opinion.

All that said, what did V’landys honestly believe he’s going to contribute to a discussion about the minutiae of the game being held between three men who have won seven premierships between them?

What’s more, how was he supposed to fulfil his duties as a selector on a week-to-week basis?

Given his chairmanship of the ARLC is already his side hustle to being the CEO of Racing NSW (a gig that it’s fair to assume takes up more than the standard 38 hours a week), how was he going to find the requisite time to watch – like really watch, closely and without the distractions you’ll undoubtedly find with all the movers and shakers in the chairman’s box – the games required to effectively be an Australian selector?

If you want to run the game well, you can’t be an effective selector and if you want to be an effective selector, you can’t run the game well.

Steamed up, I was. Furious even.

(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

What kind of egomaniac needs to put himself onto a selection panel made up of three of the most qualified people in the world to fulfil the task?

Well, um, it turns out… the kind of egomaniac who’s just doing his job.

(Could someone pass me a knife, spatula and large plate? My slice of humble pie is going to be hefty.)

See, there’s this document called the Constitution of Australian Rugby League Commission. I’m not certain the document I’ve linked to is the most up-to-date version – the file name convention suggests it’s from April 2019 – but it’s still illustrative for our purposes.

Clause 47 is entitled “Australian Selection Committee”, which stipulates that said committee shall consist of “the Chairman of the Company… who shall be the Chairman of each and every Australian Selection Committee”.

Ooooh.

V’landys has in fact been chair of Kangaroos selection since his appointment to the top job of the ARLC on October 30, 2019. It’s just that in the intervening period, there has only been one Test match for the Kangaroos – the Aussies’ loss to Tonga, on November 2 of the same year.

Which, you may have noticed, was only days after V’landys assumed overall chairmanship of the game. In fact, the day V’landys took over from Peter Beattie as chair of the ARLC was the same day Meninga named his side to play Tonga.

So V’landys has been the chair, it’s just that, to date, there hasn’t been a selection committee for him to chair.

As for my concerns that an accountant who’s spent the majority of his professional life overseeing horse racing is wildly underqualified for the gig, the aforementioned document covered that aspect too:

“All members of the Australian Selection Committee shall have a deliberative vote except the Chairman who shall have no deliberative vote but shall have a casting vote.”

Brad Fittler (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The guy only gets a say if there’s the need for a casting vote. And, with it being a three-man panel, that’s just not going to happen.

All told, his place on the selection panel is seemingly a piece of reasonable corporate governance, there purely to maintain a tight ship in meetings and act as the deciding voice in the rare instances an agreement can’t be reached.

At this point, I’d like to point fingers at the SMH and their irresponsible phrasing, but it’d probably turn out I was wrong about that too.

So I’ll just note that this particular pastry is mighty bitter, and wish Pete all the best in his ongoing role as chairman of selectors.

I look forward to him not doing much at all about it come the World Cup at year’s end.