{"id":901445,"date":"2026-09-22T15:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/901445\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T15:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:58:16","slug":"nrl-grand-final-tones-and-i-sends-peter-vlandys-a-message-after-pre-game-entertainment-negotiations-break-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/901445\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL grand final: Tones and I sends Peter V\u2019Landys a message after pre-game entertainment negotiations break down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tones and I has sent a message to the NRL<\/a> hours after it was revealed negotiations for her to headline the grand final had fallen through at the 11th hour.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood the singer refused to perform her biggest hit, Dance Monkey<\/a>, leading to NRL bosses scrapping the performance slot altogether.<\/p>\n

\"Tones<\/p>\n

Tones and I has broken her silence on the NRL Grand Final hours after news negotiations for her to headline the sporting event had fallen through.\u00a0Graham Denholm\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V\u2019landys said the performance fee would instead go to grassroots rugby league, prompting a pointed response from the four-time ARIA Award winner.<\/p>\n

“Some artists that also deserve opportunities,” Tones & I wrote on an Instagram story.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot even scratching the service [sic] of how many incredible artists we have in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tones and I, whose real name is Toni Watson, shared a collage of photos and handles of artists she thinks are worthy of the slot.<\/p>\n

\"Tones<\/p>\n

Tones and I shared a pointed Instagram story after NRL grand final negotiations fell through, suggesting her replacement.\u00a0Instagram\/@tonesandi<\/p>\n

This included: Budjerah, Kye, Miss Kaninna, Illy, Baker Boy, Ruel, Adrian Eagle, Soli, Pierce Brothers, and band One Four.<\/p>\n

The singer also named G Flip as a possible replacement. Georgia Claire Flipo (aka G Flip) is already a part of the AFL pre-game line-up, which is being headlined by Kylie Minogue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But V\u2019landys suggested the NRL isn\u2019t keen on spending the sort of money performers can command for the 11-minute slot.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than giving a performer $90,000 a minute, we would prefer to give it to grassroots,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that the entertainment is our game. It\u2019s more the media that put themselves into a frenzy who we get as performer. But when you look at it realistically for 11 minutes, it\u2019s not worth it. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will come to the game with or without it. We believe the money is better spent on junior rugby league.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tones & I also named G Flip as a possible replacement. Georgia Claire Flipo (aka G Flip) is already a part of the AFL pre-game line-up, which is being headlined by Kylie Minogue.\u00a0Richard Clifford<\/p>\n

Tones and I performed Dance Monkey at the AFL grand final in 2019, the year the song was released. It broke the record for most consecutive weeks at No.1 on the ARIA charts after 10 weeks at the top.<\/p>\n

It stayed up there for a total of 24 weeks and went 19 times platinum.<\/p>\n

The song went to No.1 in 37 other countries and made Tones and I the first female artists to get more than 3 billion streams on Spotify.<\/p>\n

But the singer has spoken previously of hating performing the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loathe that song a lot of the time,\u201d she told radio show Smallzy\u2019s Surgery in a 2022 interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times I don\u2019t want to sing it. I\u2019m not gonna write another song like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NRL grand final will take place at Accor Stadium on October 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tones and I has sent a message to the NRL hours after it was revealed negotiations for her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-901445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901445","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=901445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}