Queensland\u2019s most-capped player, Sean Hardman, has been elected President of the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU). Hardman (QRU #1102, Wallaby #776), who replaces outgoing president Roger Gould after a six-year tenure, inherits an organisation that recently confirmed its seventh consecutive operating profit.<\/p>\n
A stalwart of the game, Hardman made 148 appearances for the Queensland Reds between 1999 and 2010 and earned four caps for the Wallabies.<\/p>\n
His election follows a period of stability under Gould, who was recently inducted into the QRU Hall of Fame. Hardman\u2019s return to a leadership role comes after serving as a players\u2019 representative on the board and holding executive positions with the Classic Wallabies and Brothers Rugby Club.<\/p>\n
Commenting on his appointment, former wallaby, Hardman, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a great honour, especially at this time with rugby having the chance to make a major imprint in Australia over the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The QRU\u2019s financial trajectory provided a positive backdrop for the Annual General Meeting. The union reported a 2025 EBITDA of $813,997, a substantial increase from the $199,832 recorded in 2024.<\/p>\n
This growth was largely attributed to the successful commercialisation of the Ballymore precinct and match-day revenues, including the Queensland Reds\u2019 high-profile fixture against the British and Irish Lions.<\/p>\n
Strategic infrastructure investments, specifically the BMS National Rugby Training Centre, have transformed Ballymore from an annual $1 million liability into a near break-even commercial asset.<\/p>\n
This fiscal discipline supports the union\u2019s \u201cunashamedly aspirational\u201d 2026\u20132030 Strategic Plan, which aims for 100,000 participants and average crowds of 25,000 at Suncorp Stadium by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n
The meeting also saw the re-election of vice-presidents Kim Bending and Jen Gillett, while Linda Bennetts was awarded Life Membership for 40 years of service.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t miss out on the latest in sports business \u2013 Subscribe today to the free Ministry of Sport newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and stay ahead of the game. For even more exclusive insights, event tickets, professional development and networking events, become a\u00a0MoS Member today!<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland\u2019s most-capped player, Sean Hardman, has been elected President of the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU). Hardman (QRU #1102,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-543155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}