{"id":290195,"date":"2023-04-27T03:25:54","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T03:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=290195"},"modified":"2023-04-27T04:58:25","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T04:58:25","slug":"squealing-vlandys-mocked-over-rugbys-raid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=290195","title":{"rendered":"'Squealing' V'landys mocked over rugby's raid"},"content":{"rendered":"

"Peter who?" \u2014 That was the cheeky response from Rugby Australia<\/a> boss Hamish McLennan when he was prodded about NRL<\/a> boss Peter V'landys<\/a> and his remarks targeting the rival code<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The war being led by Rugby Australia has had the Australian Rugby League Commission chair's hackles up of late amid escalating tensions between the two.<\/p>\n

Although much of the talk has been about union bosses approaching league players, McLennan said he has fielded several calls from NRL stars.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific and Super W seasons on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Aiding that effort is an $8.2 million surplus announced by Rugby Australia on Wednesday, marking a massive turnaround for the governing body after the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\"Rugby<\/p>\n

Just two years ago, the organisation found itself $27.1 million in the hole and staring down the barrel of grim "amateur" future.<\/p>\n

The uptick has some questioning how that money might be spent.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Tennis player barred from flight over passport<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Calls for radical Brownlow move after 'disgrace'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Embarrassing' hunt for new AFL boss finally over<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

CEO Andy Marinos said much of it will be invested in the sport, particularly grassroots and the women's game \u2013 not necessarily on poaching NRL players.<\/p>\n

"I wouldn't overstate what happens with the money but there are a lot of league players that have reached out to us," McLennan said.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

"They like the idea of playing league and we're the first to say league is a great game, but they want something different with rugby union.<\/p>\n

"There are actually quite a few people that want to come back and we'll just see in due course whether it's right for them and for us."<\/p>\n

Sydney Roosters star Joseph Suaalii was the first to make the jump and Nelson Asofa-Solomona of Melbourne Storm fame came close to switching sides.<\/p>\n

Penrith Panthers captain Nathan Cleary and Brisbane Broncos star Payne Haas have also been shoulder tapped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1651103953621250049<\/a><\/p>\n

McLennan described the codes as being on an "even keel" off the back of their profit announcement.<\/p>\n

He downplayed talks of a "raid" on the NRL, instead eyeing a handful of prodigious talents union had lost to league.<\/p>\n

McLennan isn't afraid to offend anyone, even its died-in-the-wool stalwarts who might take umbrage with trying to pillage the rival code.<\/p>\n

Equally, he's keen to set the Wallabies up for the future with an eye on the 2025 British & Irish Lions and then the 2027 World Cup \u2013 both taking place on Australian soil.<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST! \ufeffSean Maloney, Stephen Hoiles, and Morgan Turinui share some insights into how rugby league and rugby union can coexist peacefully.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/between-two-posts-1\/the-golden-wallaby-the-code-wars\/embed?in_playlist=podcast&style=Cover<\/a><\/p>\n

"Some rugby diehards hate it," he said.<\/p>\n

"We just see that we have lost a lot of very good union players to league over the years and they've been poaching our talent pool.<\/p>\n

"They squeal when we take one or two of them back. We've been very strategic. It's a free market. It's good for the players. As Eddie [Jones] said, there's only five per cent of players that actually have the skills to do both.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Joseph-Aukuso<\/p>\n

"You look at a guy like Suaalii, he's a great amount of natural talent. We're taking a long-term view with the Lions and Rugby World Cup. He loves sevens. We've got a highly differentiated offering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Everyone is going a bit bananas about it but there will only be a handful of players we'd like to pull back. We may not be right for everyone but we do think there's a real role for those players who have played union before who are playing league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"We'll get a few of them back that we think can make a difference."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

"Peter who?" \u2014 That was the cheeky response from Rugby Australia boss Hamish McLennan when he was prodded about NRL boss Peter V'landys and his […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":290197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290195"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=290195"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290201,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290195\/revisions\/290201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/290197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=290195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=290195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=290195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}