{"id":901631,"date":"2026-09-22T19:30:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/901631\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T19:30:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:30:28","slug":"nrl-ditch-aussie-grand-final-performer-tones-and-i-over-setlist-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/901631\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL ditch Aussie grand final performer Tones and I over setlist dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Kylie Minogue is set to have the AFL grand final crowd \u2018Spinning Around<\/a>\u2019, the NRL have ditched their pre-match headline act after a fall-out with singer Tones and I over her setlist.<\/p>\n

The award-winning Victorian performer reportedly refused to commit to sing her biggest hit, Dance Monkey, which went No.1 in more than 30 countries in 2019.<\/p>\n

Toni Watson, known professionally as Tones and I, has previously spoken of \u201cloathing\u201d the song which made her famous.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

Rather than look to attract another big star to perform before the grand final at Accor Stadium on October 4, the NRL will instead direct the $1 million payment to junior rugby league.<\/p>\n

Ahead of last year\u2019s title deciders, ARL Commission chairman Peter V\u2019landys mocked the AFL\u2019s choice of Snoop Dogg as grand final entertainment, calling the veteran rapper a \u201cdog act\u201d while promoting the NRL\u2019s booking of another American performer Teddy Swims.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s he called, Labrador or poodle? All I know is it\u2019s a dog act. We had to get better than that and we actually got a vocalist,\u201d V\u2019landys said at the time.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe NRL won’t have Tones and I performing at the grand final after a disagreement over music. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

This year the AFL signed up global icon Minogue to perform at Saturday\u2019s grand final at the MCG between the Fremantle Dockers and the Brisbane Lions.<\/p>\n

But the NRL\u2019s own big dog made the call to go without a major pre-game set and instead will give it to junior rugby league.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than giving a performer $90,000 a minute, we would prefer to give it to grassroots,\u201d he told the Sydney Morning Herald, whose parent company Nine are the code\u2019s broadcaster.<\/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. People will come to the game with or without it. We believe the money is better spent on junior rugby league.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision follows a recent vote by the states and clubs to elevate V\u2019landys to full-time executive chairman, with the appointment expected to be announced this week.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the NRL told AAP V\u2019landys had been in discussion with the NSWRL about junior funding well before the stand-off with Tones and I and her management.<\/p>\n

He wanted the money to be used to help \u201c2000 or 3000 kids who couldn\u2019t afford to play rugby league be able to play rugby league\u201d.<\/p>\n

AAP has reached out to the management of Tones and I, who performed the song at the 2019 AFL grand final.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Kylie Minogue is set to have the AFL grand final crowd \u2018Spinning Around\u2019, the NRL have ditched…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,134,1625,761,762,158,588,85,14179,438546],"class_list":["post-901631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-lifestyle","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-sunrise","tag-your-feed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901631","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=901631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}