‘This is not about whether people like or hate Peter’: Inside the audacious idea of V’landys ruling the NRL |
‘This is not about whether people like or hate Peter’: Inside the audacious idea of V’landys ruling the NRL
May 30, 2026 — 5:00am
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Former premier Barry O’Farrell once said Peter V’landys is a man “always more than three steps ahead”. He’ll need to be if the sporting supremo hopes to pull off an audacious bid to become executive chairman of the NRL.
If O’Farrell’s assessment is correct, V’landys will have spent months, if not years, considering how to handle the make-or-break moment which arrived on Monday when NRL chief executive officer Andrew Abdo called it quits.
Abdo’s departure was not a surprise; there had been persistent talk he wanted out, and V’landys says his chief executive kept him abreast of a potential defection to Tennis Australia for some time. The real test of smarts and strategy lies in the battle over how Abdo is replaced.
V’landys has refused to deny that his endgame is to wind up his two-decade tenure as Racing NSW chief executive officer and focus on league by merging his existing role of Australian Rugby League Commission chairman with the newly vacated role of chief executive officer.
Unorthodox doesn’t go close to describing the idea of an all-powerful NRL executive chairman – all other major Australian sporting codes are governed by a partnership between a chair and a CEO – but V’landys is not shy in challenging tradition.
The polarising “PVL” has many descriptors: Australia’s best sporting administrator, the most influential man in Sydney, hard taskmaster, disruptor, mad genius, hero and saviour of racing and league. Master strategist is on the list too, or, as........