February 10, 2026 — 5:00am
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Junior assistant zookeeper turned multi-functional celebrity Robert Irwin got the clicks as the most prominent Australian at the Super Bowl LX, along with globally acclaimed music producer and DJ Dom Dolla, (aka Kew High School 2009 alum Dominic Matheson).
But fear not. The contingent of Australians rushing over to San Francisco for the game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots had length, breadth and depth.
Robert Irwin at the Super BowlInstagram
AFL and MCG executives were on the ground, with various perfectly timed fact-finding missions.
AFL executive general manager football performance Greg Swann hit town for meetings with NFL officials around “advancement in officiating” and the “use of AI in refereeing decisions”. If we needed a cheap gag, we would say surely, the AFL doesn’t need artificial intelligence in refereeing decisions, it just needs some intelligence in refereeing decisions. Accompanying Swann was AFL executive general manager finance, broadcasting and infrastructure Matthew Chun.
And as for attending the game at Levi’s Stadium? Well, it’d be rude not to!
The AFL top dogs weren’t the only Australian executives squaring away some business. With the MCG hosting a regular season NFL game in September when the San Francisco 49ers face the Los Angeles Rams, Visit Victoria dispatched a couple of its executives for inspiration and tips. We’re told the state marketing agency Visit Victoria’s board, which is now chaired by former Telstra boss Andy Penn and includes Super Bowl fanatic Eddie McGuire, stayed home. But chief executive Brendan McClements headed stateside along with the agency’s director of major events, Kelly Dickson, both to watch the game and to take a few meetings with NFL types and others.
Media lawyer Justin Quill at the Super Bowl.
Media lawyer Justin Quill, a partner of the firm Thomson Geer, was pictured proudly in the stands in a photo leaked to us by … media lawyer Justin Quill.
But the super eventist nearly didn’t make it, recalling his aborted trip to the Super Bowl in 2022 when he got to Los Angeles only to be recalled home for an urgent legal crisis.
This time, Quill got as far as Melbourne Airport only to realise he was missing an essential item in the global sporting eventist’s toolkit – his passport. Which his wife, Camilla, had to race to the airport to supply just in time.
In the lead-up to the game, we were readying ourselves for a parade of tech bros to dot the stands, particularly given the pre-game barbs traded by two of the world’s biggest AI firms, Anthropic and OpenAI, over a series of Super Bowl ads. Google CEO Sundar Pichai was there along with his YouTube chief, Neal Mohan, as was Apple CEO Tim Cook and a string of other Silicon Valley heavyweights.
Not so for the local tech contingent, however. Canva co-founders Cliff Obrecht and Melanie Perkins opted against the trip to California, CBD was told, as did Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brooks, who we guess is more of a rugby league man anyway.
The NFL also played host to Melbourne Cricket Club president Fred Oldfield and MCC chief executive Stuart Fox, who runs the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Fox vocalised on radio how thrilling it was to see a model of the MCG in San Francisco at the stadium before the big game. They had even printed the word Melbourne on coffee cups – could there be any clearer sign that the southern city had truly arrived?
The NFL had 60-or-so staff checking out the MCG before Christmas, Fox said. “Everything feels like it’s super-sized or on steroids,” he told SEN radio, before checking himself. “I probably shouldn’t have used that on sports radio.”
V’landys lands a health kick
Peter V’landys, chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission, is a man who loves his hot chips.
Well, not so any more. The rugby league and Racing NSW boss has officially sworn off the treat, along with his other love, ravioli, as part of an off-season health kick that has helped him shed some 12 kilograms.
Photo: Michael Howard
V’landys was telling guests about his new healthcare regimen in the directors room at Randwick Racecourse for Inglis Millennium Day on Saturday, CBD was told. But that wasn’t his first public outing sporting his new look. Only a week earlier, his makeover also caught the attention of attendees at the Australian Open tennis in Melbourne.
“My favourite meal is chips … The chips are very high in carbohydrates. And that’s killing me, because I love my chips,” V’landys told CBD.
What else has he been doing to trim down? As well as dispensing with the carbs, skipping breakfast hasn’t hurt either. V’landys said these days, he wasn’t eating until about 1pm, to give his body the chance to expel nasty toxins.
Beyond that, it would behove us to note it’s all natural. “I haven’t taken any medication,” the man said. All power to him – and just in time for his trip to Vegas for the opening round of the NRL at the end of the month.
Where’s Wells?
After a summer of sport spent missing in action, Communications and Sport Minister Anika Wells again sent tongues wagging in Canberra late last week, after she went a few days without being seen.
Rest assured, though, the minister was simply out sick, CBD was told, and is back on deck this week. Wells’ office declined to comment.
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The absence was only noteworthy, of course, given the ongoing scrutiny of Wells’ role in the parliamentary expenses scandal that rattled the Albanese government and was triggered by revelations that a three-day trip to New York for a victory lap over Australia’s teen social media ban cost close to $100,000 in flights alone.
In the intervening months, Wells has been a no-show at the nation’s premier summer sporting events, giving the Ashes a miss, and she was also a no-show at the Australian Open, leaving Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to front up.
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Stephen Brook is a special correspondent for The Age and CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously deputy editor of The Sunday Age. He is a former media editor of The Australian and spent six years in London working for The Guardian.Connect via X or email.
John Buckley is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.From our partners