Can't help but get the feeling that this guy is the chopper reed to Al's Capone, the media are doing a good job of glorifying him right now as rugby leagues saviour but s**t stinks from a mile away..

This guy is total slime, has bully written all over him and I wouldn't be surprised if some dodgy shit came out from under the red carpet once he's done being victory paraded down it, especially given his prior involvement in racing.. I salivate at the potential schadenfreude I may experience continuing to observe this swampy looking dude in action if the NRL hits any snags with this relaunch.

Discuss

Runs two tawdry sports, Racing NSW and leader of Mungoland says it all. If his Racing NSW role controls the greyhounds too he is an even bigger c.unt.

"there should never have been a lockdown" Translated, a few deaths is something the game could live with.
He's getting more bullish this week. Total grub.

He looks and acts like an arsehole. But there is no doubt he is an effective administrator. He pulled off a miracle by securing the NRL's May 28th restart, whilst rival codes are still organising meetings to talk about restarting. He's probably saved the NRL as an organisation.

Obviously your Segway into shit-talking RA AC , I have no issue with that btw, I too think RA is a shambles.

I'm pretty sure though he just played every legal threat, thug and machiavellian card he could in pressing for the code to go live on a desired date.. the s**t that has come out of this mudballs mouth has been absolutely nothing reflective of a sporting administrator, but completely reflective of an underworld boss..

Definitely, he actually created The Everest the richest horse race in Australia out of nothing, took the title from The Melbourne Cup. I say "out of nothing" because the horse owners pay for the prize itself. Iirc they enter a two year contract paying $500k a year to run their horse. Out of the blue, Sydney has a horse race bigger prize-wise than Melbourne. Obviously there are kjock on effects.

This is a weird thread. V'landys is easily the most effective and influential sports administrator in Australian sport, and RA wishes that he was at the helm of Rugby at this time.

It offers a bigger purse than the Cup, but that is the only thing The Everest has on it. It has fvck all prestige, even less class and no history.

Thanks Captain obvious.

It is very weird. It's essentially "I'm jealous of how good he is, he must be crooked even though I have no evidence". He might just be a really, really good leader.

I thought the May 28 date was lunacy when I first heard it a few weeks ago. I'm amazed he can be so effective.

He shits on the weasels and snake oil salesmen who govern Rugby in Australia or who have recently resigned from a great height.

From what I have read he has the guts to front people face to face then gets it done. Now he has gone ahead of every other sport and got a tv deal done up until 2027.

Yup, signed a massively increased TV deal as well ($2 billion dollars) during a global flu pandemic when his sport was in quarantine at the time.

By all accounts his leadership style is demanding, abrasive and authoritarian. The only reason why he is in the NRL job, and why he's been head of NSW racing for so long, is that he gets results. He's all about outcomes, not popularity.

There's no doubt he's crooked as fuck. You don't run Racing NSW without disposing of a few bodies in swampland.

I really wish he was running Rugby Australia.

That will be his Achilles heel. Someone will draw a map for the swamp soon enough. He's pissed enough people off but yes, he makes things happen. The NRL deal is impressive.

It's clear he's an arch-spiv who wouldn't make it in any other industry.

He'll be rolled at somepoint with an expose.

Don't get the appeal

Oh he would do extremely well in politics, completely surrounded by brethren, be surprised if he doesnt go there.
Hes shouts loud for what he wants and some of the spittle sticks. He shakes and moves with other grubs like Alan Jones who are deep in the racing industry and then these types have lobbied behind the scenes for him. Backscratching 101.
Its the kind of style that works in NSW and probably Qld it doesnt so much in Victoria and its not how the AFL work yet they would have stronger political links through business.
He suits the NRL and the NRL suit him. Id like what he he could do for rugby but not how he does it, sure we have had a long line of cvnts running the sport but its not structured to have it run by a self appointed emperor. That was shown in recent resignations from the RA board.
Plus the clubs are happy right now, they can play. Wait to the dust settles and they get greedy again he might not be the Messiah.

Thank you for agreeing that The Everest sucks.

It doesn't.

Yes, looking like a serial killer and having the personality of brown snake is generally a recipe for success when it comes to getting votes.

Oh hes not a good guy now? Make your mind up?
NSW Labor is full of his type, dont be so naive.

Are you blind as well as stupid?

My first comment on this thread.

John O'Neil in his earlier days did very well for RA/ARU. He also did well for FA.

NSW Labor is full of wannabe tough guys who in reality are knee-pad wearing apparatchiks. I don't get the impression he's a wannabe.

Where would he sit on the Barilaro scale?

He is a fantastic self-publicist. All that stuff about how rugby league saved him, he was just a poor little chap of Greek ancestry, living in horrible Wollongong. I say, bullshit. The 'Gong has always been pretty cosmopolitan.


I lived in Wollongong in the sixties, and so did a lot of people of Greek ancestry. The most feared young fella around the place was Peter Peters, (aka Zorba the Greek). His cousin Margie worked at the Steelworks, in the IT department and nobody was brave enough to take her out!!!


I really doubt that the place went all aggressively Anglo-Saxon in the intervening years.

A genetically mutated retarded neanderthal could have lead the ARU during those days and acheive just as much.

I'm not so sure. Aust rugby was in a worse state back then than it is now. If whoever takes over now could turn things around like the mid 90s - early 00s, I'd give him credit for a good job.