Briefing notes II
That smell? That's Origin coming.
Welcome to The Maroon Observer, a weekly newsletter about rugby league, Queensland and rugby league in Queensland.
Programming notes
While I’m on “holidays” in “England”, service will be reduced. It is difficult to write a full newsletter if you don’t have access to one-half of the newsletter’s remit.1 In lieu, we’ll keep it light and tight.
Things that happened
Teams for the first game of the women’s State of Origin series were announced: Queensland and New South Wales. The teams are more or less as you’d expect and Queensland have named as strong a side as possible under new coach Nathan Cross. Other than a couple of Blues changing their surnames in the offseason, the main talking point will be how well Lauren Brown and Chantay Kiria-Ratu hold up the team in the absence of Tarryn Aiken and post-rep-retirement of Ali Brigginshaw. Brown is one of the most well-rounded players in the game with significant experience as a leader and Kiria-Ratu is an exceptional talent. Given that it is possible to stymie Jesse Southwell, this is far from a predetermined battle. The first game is on April 30 in Newcastle. If I’m lucky, I’ll have returned to Australia and watched the game before the following week’s newsletter.
Peter V’Landys was once again the subject of a Media Watch segment (h/t Luke). Media Watch paints the Ninefax papers publishing criticism of Racing NSW following the findings of the NSW state government audit, which we touched on last week, is brave journalism while the silence of the Daily Telegraph is damning cowardice. Being Media Watch, they did not engage with the substance of the critique or the matter at hand, instead opting for a smug pissing contest. The findings of the audit were consistent with how PVL runs his orgniasations, a thing that doesn’t seem to bother anyone important, so what else is new? He hired the son of Lachlan Murdoch to make a puff piece of a doco that no one will see as part of a Sydney racing-media industrial complex circle jerk? Please. We did get some funny attempts from V’landys to sound both intellectual and aggrieved:
I find it inhumane that you would attempt to destroy a young man’s self esteem and worth to satisfy your agenda and ideology.
- Email, Peter V’landys CEO, Racing NSW Chairman, Australian Rugby League Commission 16 Apr 2026
[I] have learned to live with unfair reporting regarding myself. Just like I did in the last time Media Watch presented a very one sided unbalanced and unfair critique on me.
- Email, Peter V’landys, Racing NSW CEO, Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman, 16 Apr 2026
Inhumane? Agenda and ideology? Critique on me? Dude should have run his email through ChatGPT first. If nothing else, it would have made him sound less like Whiny Trump.
As eloquently put by The Sportress:
It had been part of the imprimatur given to the wacky waving yellow arm guys to speed up the game through the issuance of set-restarts, extended to cover 80 per cent of the ground in the offseason. This was going to result in more tries, something that chief rugby league guy Peter V’Landys assured us would be really fun to watch, and also get him more dollars when it came to the broadcasting deal.
As you know, some people loved this idea. Like Ricky Stuart, the coach of the Raiders, who came out recently to say how important it was to increase the pace of the game, particularly between the 20-40 metre lines, exactly where Corey found himself. Of course many did not, including Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart, who spoke this week of how this extension, ‘recommended’ by the competition committee of which he was a member, was tearing at the fabric of the game.
Befitting a Frenchman, Trent Robison didn’t really say anything.
Campo has a similarly eloquent piece on Flanagan’s sacking:
In a world that runs on set restarts, which did not exist in Flanagan’s glorious times, speed and athleticism are at a greater premium than ever before and young legs leave the old grasping at air or gasping for it.
Holmes has been a disaster. Gutherson was strong last season, but years of pushing himself to the limit have finally caught up to him. And while Cook still has his moments — he was in beach-sprinting mode against South Sydney on the weekend — he is not what he once was.
At their best, the Flanagan Dragons could find a fight and stick in one, but could never really nail the winning part. Last season they beat three of the top four and played in 12 matches decided by one score or less but lost eight of them.
I was never particularly convinced by the Flanagan hire but that was born largely of apathy toward the Dragons’ entire oeuvre of malaise. If they don’t care, and all evidence points that way, why should I? To save the Dragons from their own inept and incestuous club culture, the NRL may need to considering mandating a de-merger with a fan refugee resettlement program ($50 voucher per fan for the Perth Bears merch store).
Dean Ritchie did a typically lazy job of trying to summarise Abdo’s meeting with the RFL in England. Ritchie could only couch the bombshell in terms of NRL clubs buying out their Super League counterparts, something that no one really wants - as Abdo made clear - other than maybe Nick Politis, and copied the substance of a piece published in Forty20 magazine (without attribution, of course) from Leeds chairman, Paul Caddick.
As usual, Messrs Davidson and Mascord had the temerity to get informative quotes and write up a story that doesn’t leave you feeling stupider for having read it. Abdo said:
“There seemed to be a lot of focus on ‘what’s the deal’., ‘what’s the offer’. It’s not really an offer. It’s not really an M and A (mergers and acquisitions). I come from an M and A background and this is not M and A.
“This is about, ultimately: if rugby league is going to globalise and get on an even bigger platform that it is at the moment, it makes sense for the two biggest leagues in the world to collaborate and co-operate and for us to want the Super League to be as strong as possible…
“It’s rugby league uniting and working together against all other forms of entertainment and sport, not the other way around.”
This is the right tack - NRL involvement isn’t going to be anything other than stabilising in the short to medium term - but whether the English game buys it, or otherwise senses this is not going to be in their long term interest, remains unclear. We’ll get a better sense with the next issue of Forty20 and until then, the iron law of institutions continues to apply.
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Intermission
Upcoming slate
Read this
Eye Test - Don’t let one loss sour the celebration of the Tigers’ improvement. Editorial counterpoint: sour the celebration, there was no more likely outcome than the Brisbane Busteds giving the Wests Tigers a huge reality check after a week of pundits pumping their tyres.
Campo - After 27 years and 20 losses, can South Sydney finally find their first win in Melbourne?
Rugby League Writers - Cowboys v Sea Eagles. Subtitled: “I watched this one so you don’t have to.” Thank you for your service.
What You Get Is What You See - Not an accident: How set restarts are driving the NRL’s injury crisis
Storm Machine - Game 748 – S29E07 Review
Notes
Andrew Abdo defends the possibility of NRL TV rights being broken up. I am choosing to believe this is “we are keeping all options open” and not a deflection from something we’re all going to hate. I do love the attempt to couch this as doing the best thing for the game with no reference to what the fans, whose time and money keeps the entire enterprise afloat, actually want. As if I’m going to trust an ex-Deloitte saffa lapdog to know what’s best for rugby league.
NRL limits contact in training in bid to reduce head injuries
Cobbo locked in until 2027. When you have the chance to lock up an outside back that drops the ball five times a game and can’t be bothered to run, you gotta do it.
Clint Gutherson reveals personal recruitment drive to lure fellow fullback [Scott Drinkwater] to Dragons. Embarrassing.
Barnett Signs with Broncos as Club Supports Anderson Release
An activist’s bid [Crikey founder, Stephen Mayne] for Broncos to oust News Corp as major shareholder. I couldn’t read this so I don’t know what case is being made, however, I think it is very presumptuous that any new owner is going to do a better job of running the club, which is all anyone actually cares about. It’s not like a capital investment is required.
All Blacks great Michael Jones says rugby union losing ‘hearts and minds’ to league
I did manage to catch some of the second halves of the Sunday QCup games. The Walker Brothers-coached Clydesdales held a 24-6 lead over Souths Logan at half time that was always going to be run down (it took the Magpies 30 minutes). Western had not one but two send offs - here’s footage of one - and both were incredibly weak. Duncan Thompson would ruin his shorts watching how badly the Walkers have bastardised contract footy.
‘Old bushie’ Steve Hawe has a dream to make his board game an Aussie classic
Vanuatu denies it is about to sign a security deal with China as Australia works to ink its own pact. Would awarding a NRL licence to the Vanuatu Iguanas sort this out?
I am not paying for Watch NRL given I already pay for Kayo and I don’t seem to have access to Sky Sports.