Rugby league great, Steve Mortimer, backs NRL Chairman Peter V'Landys to lead game out of coronavirus drama

The NRL's desperate efforts to get the competition back up and running have been controversial and seemingly chaotic at times, with a vacant CEO chair thrown in for good measure after Todd Greenberg's exit.

From public sprays from broadcasters - the latest being Channel Nine saying a push for a May 28 restart is premature - to butting heads with the Queensland government, the NRL's efforts to resume their competition are being played out in public.

It hasn't been pretty, nor has it always looked professional. But Mortimer, a former Canterbury champion, NSW captain and Australian representative, believes the game has the right man at the helm to find the path forward.

"The best thing about the game is the game itself but on top of that, you have to have the right people to be the CEO or the chairman.

"Now that we have someone like Peter V'Landys - he's the man that's getting everything done, and will get change for the betterment of the game of rugby league," Mortimer said.

"I'm an absolute fan of Peter V'Landys. He loves the game. And he doesn't know how to put a foot behind him. He's always on the move.

"He's a very clever person and he knows how to bring people together. He'll have to work it out with Channel Nine but he's the best person at getting people to shake hands and move on."

Shortly after arriving as NRL chairman, V'Landys raised concerns about league's lack of an emergency fund or a war chest. It was a shortcoming that came back to bite them very quickly when coronavirus struck.

"It showed that the former administrations and CEOs, they all loved the game but they weren't fulfilling what needs to be done for the game of rugby league to make it the best winter football code in Australia," Mortimer said.

Mortimer was one of rugby league's earliest and most consistent advocates for the game to be run by an independent commission.

The man nicknamed 'Turvey' said it was obvious to him as far back as when he moved from Wagga to Sydney in the 1970s that the sport had to shift away from old models that allowed self-serving interests to wield too much power.

Progress wasn't helped by a convoluted governance model, including two state bodies, a national body and a separate NRL after the Super League war.

The former crafty halfback said the AFL's commission model clearly helped Australian rules grow, along with the long-term involvement of highly-skilled professionals across their game.

"The AFL, or the VFL back in my day, they had leaders who were CEOs or chairmen in business and with the ARL (Australian Rugby League), that wasn't always the case," he said.

"The AFL have done it quite well. But it's time for rugby league to have the right people, people with a brain who love the game that want to grow the game.

"Peter V'Landys is that man but the time has arrived now that we need some other good people in support of him."

Mortimer also served as Canterbury chief executive early this century, and is on the board of the Canterbury League Club, which supports the Bulldogs football club. He said everyone in the game has a responsibility to improve the sport's financial stability.

"We've got a game that will absolutely thrive so it's up to us, I say that as a person who grew up in Wagga,. It's up to the people who love the game and are members of their clubs to make sure the right people are in charge," he said.

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