In addition to officials from the competing teams those present included Manly chairman Scott Penn and chief executive Jason King, Gold Coast Titans owner Rebecca Frizelle, Sydney Roosters supremo Nick Politis, board members Mark Bouris and Andrew Jolliffe and CEO Joe Kelly, and Perth Bears directors Joe Hockey and John Dumesny and PNG Chiefs CEO Lorna McPherson and general manager Michael Chammas.
Also there were Dragons legend Craig Young and Bulldogs premiership winner Peter Mortimer, former grand final referee and now Queensland sports minister Tim Mander and V’landys’ fellow ARL commissioners, among them Balmain great Wayne Pearce.
Title-winning ex-Canterbury captain and former Bulldogs chairman George Peponis was also at the game, bringing along his two US-based sons.
Airline boss reassures nervous fans
Cameron Wallace, Qantas’ CEO of International and Freight, was also in the room and assured the thousands of rugby league fans in Las Vegas that the strikes on Iran and their regional impact would pose no problems to them getting home from the US from Monday.
“There are no changes to our flights from the US. They’ll be going straight through,” Wallace said.
Flemming in league of her own
Former track and field queen Jane Flemming was another high-profile guest in the Champions Club.
A recent addition to the board of Racing NSW, which V’landys heads in his day job, she flew in from Los Angeles, where she had been as the Australian Olympic Committee launched its “Road to LA28” campaign. Flemming is president of Australian Athletics and still the Australian record-holder in the heptathlon, which she set when she won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland in 1990.
Sivo shows Eels what they’re missing
Maika Sivo has “no regrets” about leaving the NRL and Parramatta after reminding fans he remains one of the best wingers with four tries for Leeds.
Playing his second game since knee surgery, Sivo was simply too hard to handle for Hull KR.
Four-try Leeds hero Maika Sivo.Credit: Getty Images
The Fijian flyer was lured to England by former Eels coach Brad Arthur. With Arthur linked to the PNG Chiefs, and Sivo off contract at the end of next season, he said he would see how his body was holding up before making a call on his next deal.
Leeds fans were in full voice against Hull KR, but it’s a shame they are yet to embrace the Sivvvvvooo chant Parramatta fans yelled every time he scored.