In rugby league’s roaring ‘70s, players readied themselves for a big game with a jogged lap of the oval and a Rothmans in the car park. Back then, unconventional ‘warm-ups’ such as these were acceptable, just as these days rugby league fans accept unconditionally the need for the NRL to be fired up for a new season with controversy, melodrama, skullduggery and farce.
Already we have allegations of secret recordings of a conversation between NRL chief Andrew Abdo and players, two stars of the game wrestling in the streets of Canberra and being arrested on camera, and the players’ union threatening to strike if they don’t get a hike on the 22% pay rise already offered.
On paper it’s the best episodes of The Wire, Home and Away and House of Cards rolled into one. In reality it’s a distraction from NRL pre-season festivities and the season that kicks off 2 March.
On Thursday last week players were threatening not to speak with the media, cover NRL logos on jerseys and delay kick-off times unless the Rugby League Players Association’s demands were met. The RLPA is fighting for a collective bargaining agreement on a salary cap for women in the NRLW and autonomy to distribute $90m of funding into hardship and welfare programs.
It was a headache Abdo did not need. He was already fighting the migraine of alleged secret recordings of his meeting with 60 players at the annual Leaders in League conference. The RLPA had already accused the NRL of meeting with player agents about the CBA on the sly, so when Storm star Justin Olam claimed he saw an NRL official taping without permission, all hell broke loose.
In the end, the RLPA and players cooled off sufficiently to let some actual footy get played. The Indigenous-Māori All Stars game went ahead in Rotorua and was spine-tingling entertainment. Players ran out through a tunnel of native grasses and talismanic carvings and faced off with ancient weapons and war paint, before tossing the pigskin around with the glee of kids in a park (or mates wrestling outside a nightclub).
It was rugby league at its best – freewheeling and fun, showcasing the best of culture and clubs. Footage of Kian Walker, the 11-year-old son of Indigenous captain-coach Cody, dancing in the team circle as mascot and being chaired aloft by the game’s elders on his journey to manhood, cheered the soul.
With its heat and storms, February is a fittingly ridiculous month to tune up for the NRL season. Fans can ease out of cricket and tennis with some frivolous trial games and charity fixtures, and get first look at the fresh faces who’ll represent their colours this year.
In 2023, the NRL welcomes a 17th team, the Redcliffe Dolphins, coached by guru Wayne Bennett. History dares the Panthers to be the first team in 40 years to win a hat-trick of premierships. And the Sea Eagles, Bulldogs, Warriors and Tigers all start the season under new head coaches. However, much of the buzz is about an underperforming club on a quest to reinvent itself.
At the Bulldogs, Phil Gould is overseeing a complete overhaul of personnel, attitude and ethos. Having rebuilt Penrith – the Panthers last year became the first club to win SG Ball, NSW Cup, State Cup and NRL titles – Gould is now trying to force the so-called “Family Club” back into relevance.
Gould has a rich history with the Dogs. As a player he was part of their 1984 title run but missed the 6-4 grand final win over Parramatta with injury. In 1988 he coached the club to a premiership. Now, as general manager, Gould oversees ex-Penrith 2IC Cameron Ciraldo as new head coach and a roster of star recruits in Matt Burton, Josh Addo-Carr, Reed Mahoney and Viliame Kikau.
The Bulldogs finished 12th in 2022 with a 7-17 win-loss, a big improvement on the 3-21 record that won them the 2021’ wooden spoon and triggered Gould’s appointment. One of his off-season innovations is a leadership structure of two onfield captains (Burton and Mahoney) and a ‘club captain’, 100-gamer Ray Faitala-Mariner, with Addo-Carr and Kikau in support as club culture ambassadors.
Faitala-Mariner says he will “lead from the back” as his father taught him, with humble service. It’s a lesson the NRL might also heed as it struggles for control of the game with the players: trust and you will be trusted, share the game’s riches and you enrich the game, bargain for the empowerment of the male and female collective and you might yet sign off on this collective bargaining agreement.
And maybe do it before the season kicks off.
