The NRL is bending the rules to anoint Peter V’landys. Strap yourselves in

Later this week, rugby league’s version of white smoke from the Sistine Chapel is expected to emerge from NRL headquarters as Peter V’landys is anointed executive chairman.

In the midst of the NRL and NRLW finals series and on the eve of racing’s spring carnival, it would complete a long-anticipated permanent switch of sports for the bull-at-a-gate administrator.

Peter V’landys.Steven Siewert/Michael HowardThe newly created position stands to give him unprecedented power, making him effectively the NRL’s chief executive as well as chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission. He has held the latter role since 2019.

The dual functions of CEO and chairman are explicitly not allowed under the ARLC’s constitution, drawn up 15 years ago by the former Super League combatants News Limited and the ARL.

V’landys himself is on record as saying a removal of the separation between the board and management was not appropriate.

“I’ve always believed in proper corporate governance, so it would be hypocritical to do anything other than that,” he told this masthead in 2020.

Six years later, however, the goalposts have moved.

They have also shifted since May, when V’landys was asked again about becoming executive chairman as Andrew Abdo announced his departure as CEO and replied that a change to the constitution was required to facilitate it.

Since then, V’landys and his fellow commissioners have come across a workaround deep within the foundation document which, they have been advised, would allow him to become executive chairman without amending the constitution – something that would need the acquiescence of the clubs and state associations.

It was one of the clubs that brought the clause to the Commission’s attention.

Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V’landys at the NRLW finals launch on Monday.Oscar ColmanWith the code in rude financial health on the back of a record seven-year $5.3 billion broadcast rights deal, few, if any, will block his coronation.

The clubs are mostly behind V’landys. Even those hesitant about handing such power to one person largely admit that it is better to have him on your side than not.

The NSWRL and the Queensland Rugby League, however, are yet to give their seal of approval, and have not even been approached.

They and any wavering clubs are effectively being dared to take V’landys on. To do so, they would have to go to court.

Officially, the man himself is still to decide whether he will take the job. As he continues to weigh it up, he has been out and about.

He was a guest in the suite of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at the MCG last Friday before being spotted flying back to Sydney on Lachlan Murdoch’s private jet. He then attended NRL finals games over the weekend and the launch of the NRLW finals on Monday morning.

“I’ve been given a few more days, so I’ll take those days,” he said at the NRLW event. “And for me, at the moment, the focus is on the semi-finals, not on me.”

As a hands-on chairman, the reality is that he has essentially already run the game for six years. V’landys’ supporters argue having him do it full-time is too good an opportunity to let go.

It has also been said there is little alternative because of a lack of succession planning at the NRL.

As for V’landys’ comments of six years ago, he believes the circumstances have changed.

However, his amassing of even more authority raises a series of questions, not least about who will challenge him, whether the post will come with a term limit, who will set his salary, and what the clubs will do when they don’t get their way.

As for what kind of leader he will be, there is less mystery. V’landys’ modus operandi is well known. He runs a tight ship, wrests a dollar for his sport from wherever he can, thinks outside the square and pursues his goals aggressively.

It’s instructive, though, that his confrontational style and Racing NSW’s vast tentacles of control have worn thin in some quarters of the industry he has led for the past 22 years.

V’landys once elicited reverence across racing in much the same way as his backers laud his achievements in the NRL. He delivered unprecedented rivers of gold from betting turnover and other deals and demonstrated the same kind of entrepreneurial zeal he has brought to league with innovations such as The Everest, the $20 million slot race that has drawn younger crowds to the track.

Given his propensity for a fight, he was never going to keep everyone on side, but after more than two decades in charge, many believe his tenure has run its course.

His exit looms as an epochal moment for racing and rugby league.

The NRL should at least know what it’s in for.

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