Super League responds to Luke Keary’s brutal ‘horrendous’ comp sledge
Super League officials were stunned by Luke Keary’s no-holds-barred attack on the northern hemisphere’s top rugby league competition.
“You can’t watch the games, it’s so bad … it’s horrendous. The coverage and everything, and because we’re in France too they don’t show the games,” he told Wide World of Sports.
“I watch more NRL than Super League.
“It’s the product, the coverage, the news around the game, there is zero. There is zero.
“You watch the games, they’re near unwatchable. The way Sky do it now, or whoever’s got it, it’s near unwatchable, and the players all know it. I can’t follow it and I f—ing play in it.”
Luke Keary (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
The comments came as a shock to Super League officials.
“They were dramatic, certainly when I woke up this morning and saw them, they were certainly dramatic,” said Rhodri Jones, Managing Director of RL Commercial, on BBC radio on Friday (AEST).
“Luke’s clearly entitled to his own opinion. I’m not necessarily in agreement with what he’s got to say. From our perspective, our figures are showing that we’re having a very positive season. Our attendances are up, our TV audiences both across Sky Sports and BBC are up.
“Probably there’s a little bit of Luke being in France, he might be a little bit out of the mainstream, somewhat, in terms of seeing the positivity for the game here in the UK. But he’ll get a real feel for that this coming weekend, with Magic weekend up in the North East, at St James’ Park, where we’ll play in front of 65,000 people on Saturday.
“I think we can do a lot of things that can convince him that perhaps he’s been a bit over dramatic in his comments.”
The Keary comments come at a time when the the NRL has been making moves to buy into the Super League – only on the condition that it takes over the running of the ailing competition.
NRL officials recently met with Wigan owner Mike Danson and his Warrington counterpart Simon Moran during the Las Vegas season opener which featured teams from both competitions.
They believe the NRL can rescue the financially stricken league and the Australian competition is preparing to buy 33% of the Super League.
Jones pointed to Keary’s inexperience in the competition, and acknowledged the difference in scale in the sport in Europe, where rugby league is dwarfed by union, and in Australia.
“I think honest 9, from a person who’s been involved in the competition for the last six, seven, eight, nine weeks,” said Jones.
“I recognise Luke has played at the very top of the game in Australia. The game in Australia is very much akin to the Premier League over here. That Sydney bubble, it’s non-stop media, it’s front page, back page.
“That’s what he’s used to. I’d maintain that we’re heading in the right direction. We are working with the NRL. You saw us in Las Vegas earlier in the season with Wigan and Warrington. The Ashes are coming here in the autumn with two sell-out crowds at Everton and Headingley, with Wembley, over 30,000 tickets sold.
“And again, we’ve got Magic weekend this weekend, which is raising the profile of the competition in this country. And he’ll also be involved in a sell-out next weekend, in a Challenge Cup semi-final against Hull K.R. So I think maybe over the next week or so, Luke might have a different opinion on Super League.
“I was surprised by what he had to say.I did speak to his club this morning and they too were surprised. I think they would be disappointed, perhaps, with how dramatic his comments were.
“It’s disappointing. I actually saw and met Luke for the first time a couple of weeks ago. And he asked me about the NRL and I gave him a very honest answer, which was, we are talking, we’ve got a positive working relationship with them, Vegas and Ashes being two examples.
“There’s a lot of ongoing dialogue with the NRL, but there’s also a lot of media speculation in both hemispheres. So at this point in time, it’s who knows what the future could look like.”
