V’landys salutes champion of game’s toughest season
ARLC chairman Peter V’landys laughed off suggestions the extraordinary circumstances of 2020 will cheapen the premiership and believes the grand final winner will have endured more than any other.
“The team that wins this year should have 20 asterisks because, let me tell you, there’s never been a tougher season or a more worthy winner because of the challenges we had,” V’landys said at Penrith’s grand final luncheon.
“They haven’t just gone through a normal season — they should all have asterisks, because this season is the test of character, the test of everything.
“The team that wins this year is really a champion team, maybe more than any other year.”
With the COVID-19 stoppage, the reworked draw and introduction of radical new rules, the 2020 season has been unlike any other in rugby league’s 112-year history in Australia.
Both Penrith and Melbourne would be worthy champions but V’landys has had a premiershipcalibre season of his own.
His leadership during the global pandemic proved crucial for rugby league’s resumption on May 28 as the code faced an unprecedented challenge.
V’landys nominated securing permission for the Warriors to train while they were quarantined as the most crucial battle of the NRL’s remarkable resurrection after the season was temporarily suspended in March.
“We were able to convince the state and federal government, which is why we selected a site like Tamworth where they could train together and play together,” V’landys said.
“Otherwise, they would have been stuck in a hotel in the city and they’d be two weeks behind, so you have to give them another two weeks and then we’d be a month behind. That was the crucial time to me.”
“Even to the last day, the Prime Minister was saying ‘we haven’t given them permission yet, that bloke at the NRL should just calm down’ but I was always confident they would give us permission and they did.”
V’landys declined to offer a tip but said “I have to stay independent but I would love to see the Panthers win”.