Get on with it Singletons magic NRL finals pitch to Vlandys

August 3, 2021 â€" 11.30am

The ability to cut through red tape, get things done and exclaim impressively on TV are attributes of political leadership in our time, just as the skill in riding a horse and wielding a sword defined it three centuries ago.

It’s why many people laud ARLC chair Peter V’landys and others criticise our politicians for their COVID-19 failures.

When V’landys convinced Queensland to allow NRL games to proceed just 24 hours after the state government announced a four-day lockdown, his admirers raced for their Roget’s in search of fresh superlatives.

John Singleton, the multimillionaire marketing genius, is also a fan. He is currently living the life of a beach bum in Hawaii, consistent with the picture we have of him of satisfying dishevelment, an image which says he’s no more groomed for moguldom than you or me.

Singo has been watching the NRL and has a suggestion for V’landys: square this lopsided competition away early.

Hive off the top eight, make them play a round robin, run a two weekend finals series and end the competition a month early.

Jason Saab’s red-hot Manly would likely be one of the sides in favour of John Singleton’s radical proposal.Credit:NRL Photos

“Or call the top eight today and start the finals next week,” he said. “The bottom eight won’t care. They will be relieved and can claim they would have won.”

They are already dumping players for next year and the feeder leagues have either shut down, or are in jeopardy.

“There is no home and away any more, with all games played in south-east Queensland,” he said. “Crowds are irrelevant.”

(Unless, of course, the grand final is played at the MCG and the Storm make it).

Asked how he would handle the tricky issue of TV rights, Singo pointed out there would be enough games to satisfy the contract with Channel Nine, which is entitled to televise three a week in the regular season.

Sure, Fox Sports would lose four games a week but the pay TV company has a seven-year deal with the NRL and can retrieve content later.

(V’landys is currently negotiating with Nine for a renewal of rights which expire at the end of the 2022 season and should he secure a record free-to-air deal, I’ll join his journalist admirers and throw palm fronds his way).

Singo points out that a round robin of the top teams would produce closer contests and therefore higher TV ratings.

A top six would include only those teams with winning records, with the seventh (Titans) and eighth (Sharks) having lost more games than they’ve won.

Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys and advertising mogul John Singleton.Credit:Kate Geraghty/Getty

Starting the semis now, or playing a round robin of the top six would probably suit the Storm who are almost at top strength.

Ditto the Sea Eagles who are in form, free of injuries and climbing the ladder.

It wouldn’t please the Panthers who have a number of top players injured, including playmakers and leaders Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo.

The third-placed Rabbitohs are still winning, despite having seven first-graders out last week.

The fifth-placed Roosters may want to hasten the end of the season, given their horrendous injury toll but have three nominally easy games left.

Parramatta, fourth, play four top teams in the last five scheduled rounds anyway.

Singo also pointed to the cost savings of an early finish. “If it is costing the NRL between $12 million and $15m a month to house the teams in Queensland, by packing half of them up and ending the comp a month or so early, they can use the money to commission a statue of Tom Raudonikis.”

Singleton’s marketing nous is legendary. He staged the first double and triple-headers in the mid 1970s and, as Newtown Jets president, he turned the toy-like grandstand at Henson Park into the code’s first corporate box.

He sent the game rapidly upmarket, inviting socialites.

Aware they could read the menu better than the game, he handed a plate of sushi to those who could name the Jets’ front row and a flute of champagne if they could pick Ken from Graham Wilson.

“Like the best generals, V’landys’ luck is going to run out eventually,” Singo said. “Why risk it on the next comparatively irrelevant five weeks of premiership games, when it could be used for the first ever magic finals?”

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Roy Masters is a Sports Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.

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