{"id":257667,"date":"2025-11-11T23:23:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T23:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/257667\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T23:23:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T23:23:18","slug":"rfl-chief-never-been-more-optimistic-over-super-league-future-as-nrl-investment-discussed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/257667\/","title":{"rendered":"RFL chief “never been more optimistic” over Super League future as NRL investment discussed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"RFL\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Chair of the RFL, Nigel Wood, has spoken on a potential NRL involvement in Super League, following talks that were held over the course of the Ashes series.<\/p>\n

Both ARLC chairman, Peter V\u2019landys,\u00a0 and NRL CEO, Andrew Abdo, have been in England discussing a potential investment from the Australian game into the English one,<\/a> though it is not known what kind of involvement the NRL are looking to have.<\/p>\n

V\u2019landys gave an interview with the BBC, in which he stated that Super League was heading for a train crash if the financial needs of the game were not met<\/a>, which suggests the that he and the NRL higher-ups want to take some form of control before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

However, Wood, rejects that notion, and in fact shares an opposite view.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t necessarily share that opinion,\u201d he said in an interview with the BBC<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve probably never been more optimistic about what Super League looks like\u2026 we\u2019ve got a terrific opportunity to reset the course for the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

The English top flight sees mass change in 2026, with the structure changing from 12 to 14 teams. Bradford Bulls, a team that Wood has previously had major involvement in, York Knights and Toulouse Olympique will make the jump, whilst Salford Red Devils drop out.<\/p>\n

Key criticisms about the increase in teams have revolved around timings and the speed it has taken for the expansion to occur. Super League has taken a completely different path to the NRL, with the promoted teams only finding out they were in two months before the start of pre-season.<\/p>\n

The NRL meanwhile, have given the Perth Bears and the PNG Chiefs two seasons to prepare for their entry into the competition.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Wood believes the league will be a success in 2026. He said: \u201cVirtually unanimously people think that\u2019s a progressive step that opens up new markets, and demonstrates that\u2026 we\u2019ve got a growth agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a fair charge to say that it\u2019s been done recklessly and without proper planning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot the RFL vs the NRL\u201d \u2013 Nigel Wood gives verdict on potential NRL takeover<\/p>\n

Some key figures in the game believe that the NRL\u2019s involvement in Super League is a negative thing, and would do more harm than good.<\/p>\n

However, Wood revealed that the two competitions only want to achieve the same outcome, and that there is no bad blood between the two.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no real issue between the RFL and the NRL,\u201d he said. \u201cWe both want what\u2019s best for rugby league\u2026 and obtaining a greater understanding of the collaboration that\u2019s available is vital to all parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the RFL versus the NRL, it\u2019s rugby league versus the rest of sport, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

One positive of the Australian game coming in, and not having an outside party coming in and taking over, is the fact they already know how to run the sport well, and as mentioned by V\u2019landys, a strong international rugby league needs a\u00a0 healthy England, so they have more than enough incentive to do the right thing for the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the advantage of a relationship with the NRL is that everybody should be coming to the table trying to get the same outcome, which is for rugby league to be in the strongest possible position in a crowded global sports marketplace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge with private equity is that there\u2019s a more hard-nosed commercial imperative. So instinctively you would think a \u2018sweetheart arrangement\u2019 with the other major league on the planet should offer more opportunities than a more third-party remote investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chair of the RFL, Nigel Wood, has spoken on a potential NRL involvement in Super League, following talks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-257667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}