Gone west
And now to the news that some NRL fans had spent almost three decades waiting for:
JAMES BRACEY: Well hello and welcome to Nine's very special coverage of the unveiling of the national rugby league's newest franchise, we're coming to you live from HBF Park here …
- Nine (Sydney), 8 May, 2025
And that was the Nine Network startling its day-time viewers who last Thursday were enjoying Drive TV's Car of The Year and dragging them willing or not to this announcement from the Western Australian premier Roger Cook:
ROGER COOK: … the Perth Bears are about to become part of the national rugby league competition.
- Nine (Sydney), 8 May, 2025
After 26 years in the wilderness the North Sydney Bears are back, albeit a five-hour flight away in Perth, and Nine's James Bracey was so beside himself he had to preface his question with a little speech:
JAMES BRACEY: … we're broadcasting live on Nine right around the country at the moment, which emphasises the monumental occasion this is for the sport of rugby league, particularly penetrating an AFL state like that is WA, but how important is it to this franchise to be associated with the Bears on the east coast?
PETER V'LANDYS: It's extremely important …
- Nine (Sydney), 8 May, 2025
Nine even swung a second reporter onto the story who watched the announcement live in the North Sydney bear cave with tearful fans:
DAMIAN RYAN: We saw the tears rolling out of your eyes
BEARS FAN: We've waited since the 15th of October 1999 for this
- Nine (Sydney), 8 May, 2025
As you would expect, our two news channels Sky and the ABC also cut live to Roger Cook's press conference.
Seven did not and left unsullied … the delectable pleasures of 'Carrot Cake Murder':
ALISON SWEENEY: … no murder investigation for you. But you can have a cookie …
- Carrot Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery, Network Seven, 8 May, 2025
And there were more bakery treats for its WA audience too …
CHEF: … set aside a couple of spoonfuls of this to coat the madeleines at the end …
- The Morning Show, Network Seven, 8 May, 2025
Delicious …
Seven News in Perth did report the story during its news that day.
And this was how its stablemate The West Australian had presented the story that morning:
THE BAD NEWS BEARS
Rugby-mad Roger Cook forces WA taxpayers to pay Sydney's NRL rejects $65m to play in Perth
- The West Australian, 8 May, 2025
Oof, rejects from Sydney?
The West knows exactly how to rile a sandgroper.
And it just so happens, the paper's editor has been happily prosecuting this case for months dedicating acres of space to what he says is an 'extravagant' piffle:
Roger. Mate. Stop trying to make rugby league happen.
- The West Australian editorial, 14 February, 2025
West Australians … won't tolerate extravagant spending on a team no one asked for in the first place.
- The West Australian editorial, 12 March, 2025
And describing the Premier as:
… a self-confessed rugby league nuffy …
… one of a handful of blokes in WA who support rugby league and reckon it's a goer in our State.
- The West Australian editorial, 24 March, 2025
The West's subtle opposition did not escape the NRL specialists at News Corporation which, it should be noted, also has a financial interest via streaming rights in both sports:
The state's leading newspaper, the West Australian, has been vicious in its coverage of the NRL's expansion push to Perth.
- The Sunday-Mail (Qld), 23 March, 2025
And why are the Nine and Seven media empires in opposing corners?
… The West Australian is owned by Seven West Media, which has control of the Seven Network, the free-to-air broadcaster which inked a $1.5 billion deal with the AFL in 2022.
Billionaire Kerry Stokes is chairman of the Seven West Media empire fanning the flames of NRL expansion discontent.
- The Sunday-Mail (Qld), 23 March, 2025
While the West Australian's owner Seven West has free-to-air rights to the AFL, Nine holds the equivalent rights to the NRL, a point not lost on Mr Hot Chips himself Peter V'landys, rugby league's chairman:
PETER V'LANDYS: Well I think the media coverage has been a bit biased in the sense that the main newspaper here is owned by Seven West Media that has the AFL rights lets be quite frank, so they don't want us to be here because they realise we're going to be competitive and we're going to take some of their lunch, and we eat a lot ...
- Sky News Australia, 8 May, 2025
Never one to shy from a fight, The West's editor Chris Dore bit back the following day.
And he told Media Watch:
… the idea that somehow our coverage at The West Australian is dictated, or even remotely influenced, by some fanciful proposition that a rugby league team in Perth would diminish the AFL and therefore somehow have a financial impact on the broadcaster is laughable.
- Email, Christopher Dore, Editor-in-Chief, West Australian Newspapers and The Nightly, 12 May, 2025
Adding this little dig for the newspaper he used to helm:
I know this is hard to grasp from reading the NRL-Las Vegas-loving boys at The Daily Telegraph who inhale every word uttered by their messiah Peter V'landys, but they have taken you for a ride if you believe the spin.
- Email, Christopher Dore, Editor-in-Chief, West Australian Newspapers and The Nightly, 12 May, 2025
Of course, the real game here is being played off the field.
Peter V'landys with his top-shelf connections has been extending the reach of his NRL empire not only in the West but with a new team in PNG while also trying to cultivate lucrative US betting markets which means more games more fans and more money for the next round of broadcasting rights, negotiations for which are reportedly imminent.
These sports TV contracts are so lucrative they are becoming existential for Australia's distressed commercial TV networks, so it really should come as no surprise that impartial interrogations of the politics of footy might be thin on the ground.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
26 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Katy Perry shakes off social media hate at triumphant opening Aus show
Australia gets Katy Perry because Katy Perry gets Australia. The pop superstar shook off the social media pile-ons of recent months to take a quintessential tall poppy potshot at herself at her opening Lifetimes concert in Sydney on Wednesday. When complaining of jetlagged tiredness, exacerbated by her daughter Daisy Dove waking her at 5am on the morning of her first Australian gig, Perry said she had come prepared for the challenge. 'You can't tell I'm tired because I got fresh Botox for Australia!' she declared to huge cheers from the audience. And the scream-o-meter, the true gauge of a concert's success, remained pushing into the red for the entirety of her two-hour neon pop dream at Qudos Bank Arena. They laughed again with her when she shared an on-stage wardrobe emergency, calling for an assistant to unzip her costume 'because I've been eating too many Tim Tams.' The last time Perry was down under last September, she roared at the MCG for a generally well-received AFL grand final performance worth a reported $5 million pay cheque. Her culture stocks in Australia proved to be buoyant when she announced her Lifetimes tour, with more than 170,000 tickets to 15 concerts in five capital cities selling out instantly. Since then she has been the subject of savage social media pile-ons for missteps, from working with controversial producer Dr Luke on her 143 record, and its lacklustre chart performance, to that Blue Origin celebrity space flight folly. But put Perry on a stage, in front of a sold-out crowd of true believers, the day after an epically suburban stop at a western Sydney shopping mall during rehearsals, and it is abundantly apparent the oversized outrage hasn't downsized the devotion of her fans. Their ranks have been bolstered by a sizeable contingent of tweens and teens who lapped up Perry's high-flying, fluoro-lit spectacle which was humanised by a generosity of spirit. The fans dressed to impress their idol in the costumes of her various eras, and squealed with delight when she launched into the dance breaks and light-sabre battles which were mocked online as cringey and awkward when the tour opened in Mexico in April, but make perfect sense within the context of the Lifetimes show. After all, she's playing a half-human, half-robot character in this video game-inspired concert, battling villainous machines on her mission to restore girl power and all the lovey-dovey stuff to counter the nasty world order. One of the highlights of the show happened during the Choose Your Own Adventure segment - which appears to be more pre-determined than granting the sign requests held up by fans in the front rows - when she brought fans on stage to perform Thinking of You from her 2008 album One of the Boys. The 18-year-old Left Shark superfan Elliott, who brought his two younger sisters and cousin to the show, was declared an MVP for his pop stewardship of his family, as the cute group from western Sydney joined her to play chicken egg-shakers during the song. It was a suitably heart-warming moment in a show that, by its hi-tech nature, is tightly choreographed. The Lifetimes show's intention is pure pop escapism soundtracked by a career-spanning collection of hits which have spun more than 25 billion streams and counting - albeit with a little too many of the misses from the 143 record. The Dark Horse pop queen may not possess the vocal chops and choreography skills of Beyonce, or the edgy dark pop drama of Billie Eilish, but this seasoned entertainer knows how to put on a great pop show. And she's got 14 more of them to perform in Australia before this leg of her world tour wraps at the end of the month.
Daily Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Daily Telegraph
Katy Perry's Sydney show: Fans give their verdict on her recent trip to space
Don't miss out on the headlines from Confidential. Followed categories will be added to My News. She felt like 'the most hated person on the internet' and a 'human piñata' as fans turned on her after a bizarre trip to space, but there's still plenty of love for Katy Perry in Sydney. More than 12 hours before the pop icon took to the stage at Qudos Bank Arena on Wednesday night, in her first Australian tour in six years, locals were braving the cold and rainy weather outside to secure spots in the front row to watch Perry's Lifetimes Tour. Sporting a pink bob and and bright smile, Olivia James said she and and her group of friends had turned up at 8am on Wednesday for a trip down memory lane. 'We listened to her when we were young and we're not taking into account what's been happening with her now,' the 19-year-old said. Katy Perry fans Ella Smith, 19, Mellisa Dean, 19, Lily Brown, 18, and Olivia James, 19, started queuing at 8am. Picture: Jonathan Ng 'It's more the nostalgia of it and coming for our younger selves. 'We're here for the music and the experience of it. Everyone around us today has been so fun and energetic. So many fans have been super supportive being here.' Perry is set to perform two more Sydney shows next week before taking her tour to Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide later this month.
The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
England's Vegas hiding by Australia did damage: coach
Former England women's rugby league head coach Craig Richards believes the 90-4 humiliation by Australia in Las Vegas in March did "a lot of damage" to the perception of the sport in this country. His side's march to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup had a surge of interest in the women's game and led indirectly to a number of star England players landing historic contracts in the fully professional NRL. Richards, who announced his departure from the England job in an emotional press conference after their last defeat to New Zealand, hopes the chastening experience in the US will act as a timely wake-up call for the domestic game. "Social media-wise, it did a lot of damage," said Richards of the Las Vegas clash, which was bolted onto an international program that also saw the start of the men's NRL season and the Super League clash between Wigan and Warrington. "I don't think it was a true reflection of where we are at. I'm not saying we're anywhere close to beating the Aussies, but I also don't believe there is a 90-point gap. "Internally it didn't harm us, but it made us question whether we are resting a little bit, and if we need to dig in a little bit deeper. I think the women's game is still in a good place, but we don't hide from the fact that there is still a lot to be done." After leaving the international set-up, Richards returned to St Helens where he succeeded Matty Smith as women's joint head coach alongside Derek Hardman for the start of the current campaign. He will lead Saints out at Wembley on Saturday as they bid for their fifth successive women's Challenge Cup win against Wigan, in a match Richards hopes will serve as a timely reminder of the strength of the English women's game. Former England women's rugby league head coach Craig Richards believes the 90-4 humiliation by Australia in Las Vegas in March did "a lot of damage" to the perception of the sport in this country. His side's march to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup had a surge of interest in the women's game and led indirectly to a number of star England players landing historic contracts in the fully professional NRL. Richards, who announced his departure from the England job in an emotional press conference after their last defeat to New Zealand, hopes the chastening experience in the US will act as a timely wake-up call for the domestic game. "Social media-wise, it did a lot of damage," said Richards of the Las Vegas clash, which was bolted onto an international program that also saw the start of the men's NRL season and the Super League clash between Wigan and Warrington. "I don't think it was a true reflection of where we are at. I'm not saying we're anywhere close to beating the Aussies, but I also don't believe there is a 90-point gap. "Internally it didn't harm us, but it made us question whether we are resting a little bit, and if we need to dig in a little bit deeper. I think the women's game is still in a good place, but we don't hide from the fact that there is still a lot to be done." After leaving the international set-up, Richards returned to St Helens where he succeeded Matty Smith as women's joint head coach alongside Derek Hardman for the start of the current campaign. He will lead Saints out at Wembley on Saturday as they bid for their fifth successive women's Challenge Cup win against Wigan, in a match Richards hopes will serve as a timely reminder of the strength of the English women's game. Former England women's rugby league head coach Craig Richards believes the 90-4 humiliation by Australia in Las Vegas in March did "a lot of damage" to the perception of the sport in this country. His side's march to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup had a surge of interest in the women's game and led indirectly to a number of star England players landing historic contracts in the fully professional NRL. Richards, who announced his departure from the England job in an emotional press conference after their last defeat to New Zealand, hopes the chastening experience in the US will act as a timely wake-up call for the domestic game. "Social media-wise, it did a lot of damage," said Richards of the Las Vegas clash, which was bolted onto an international program that also saw the start of the men's NRL season and the Super League clash between Wigan and Warrington. "I don't think it was a true reflection of where we are at. I'm not saying we're anywhere close to beating the Aussies, but I also don't believe there is a 90-point gap. "Internally it didn't harm us, but it made us question whether we are resting a little bit, and if we need to dig in a little bit deeper. I think the women's game is still in a good place, but we don't hide from the fact that there is still a lot to be done." After leaving the international set-up, Richards returned to St Helens where he succeeded Matty Smith as women's joint head coach alongside Derek Hardman for the start of the current campaign. He will lead Saints out at Wembley on Saturday as they bid for their fifth successive women's Challenge Cup win against Wigan, in a match Richards hopes will serve as a timely reminder of the strength of the English women's game.
