The reaction to Hamish McLennan’s purge this week has been fascinating. It was unanimously agreed that he lacked humility and wasn’t the guy to bring people together. There was also excitement that a ‘Shore blazer’ had been toppled by a Brisbane Grammar alumnus, backed by a Chief Executive Officer from Churchie. Few people seem to have watched the press conference given by Brett Clark, Chairman of the QRU, on Monday. In his talk about Queensland’s regional rugby community, Clark made a revealing fumble when he mentioned they have not been able to retain players. He also provided a delusional and confused assessment of the problems afflicting rugby across Queensland. On one hand, he said “we have entire first teams at schools contracted to rugby league.” Then moments later, he identified that “the disconnect is from club land to professional rugby through to the Wallabies and that’s the high performance piece.” The QRU’s position vis-a-vis its commercial assets is the equivalent of a husband and wife refusing to share assets. When people talk of repeated QRU profits, they fail to recognize those profits seldom have exceeded six figures. The game in Australia is at real risk of being reduced to an amateur pastime.
