Sky Sports pundits Jon Wilkin and James Jones-Buchanan have stressed the need for strong leadership in rugby league following Nigel Wood’s appointment as chair of Rugby League Commercial.
The news that Wood would be heading up Rugby League Commercial was confirmed on Friday, with the former Bradford Bulls chief taking over from Frank Slevin who has officially left the organisation following the completion of his three-year term.
Wood is the current interim chairman of the RFL after being brought back to the governing body by the clubs to lead a strategic review. And, he has now been nominated by Super League Europe and the RFL to take on the role with Rugby League Commercial.
Speaking about the new on Sky Sports, prior to Leeds Rhinos’ clash with Leigh Leopards at Headingley, Wilkin questioned whether Wood was the right man to take the game forward before going on to outline his desire to see a figurehead of the game emerge, in the mould of the NRL’s Peter V’landys, for the Northern Hemisphere game to put their trust in.
“I think the inertia we’ve had in our game has largely been created by disharmony and a political narrative that suits all of the individual agendas of each club,” Wilkin said on the live broadcast.
“I think we’ve lacked strong leadership. I think maybe there’s a sense that Nigel is a safe pair of hands. He negotiated the TV deal when the TV rights market was a completely different space to what it is now. I’m not sure he’s the answer, but I’m certain that a review needs to happen. We need to understand the governance and politics behind the game.”
He continued: “If you look at Peter V’landys, he’s come in with a belligerent mission and gathers people behind him in a direction, and everybody gets on board with it. We’ve lacked that; there’s disunity, and the clubs can behave in their own way and not galvanise behind a strategy towards growth and expansion. Are we expanding, are we contracting, are we staying in the M62, are we going to play in London, in Toronto, are we playing in the south of France or not? All of these things can be clarified by a mission statement that’s clear.”
Jamie Jones-Buchanan, who will take over from Gary Hetherington as Rhinos CEO at the end of the season concurred with Wilkin’s sentiment.
“You talked there about clubs with selfish ambitions, and certain individuals are the de facto rulers of the game,” he said. “What it needs is a messianic figure to pull it altogether, and probably a dictator to say, ‘this is what we’re all doing’, and we all get in line and follow it.
“I think that’s what the game’s never really had. Until we get that person who becomes the glue, and there’s a vision and a mission, I think we’ll struggle.”
The Rhinos man added when talking about the lack of direction in the game: “Let’s be fair, that’s the point of a review, right? That’s why Nigel Wood has gone back in. There’s a lot of owners who have prior of experience and a wall of evidence and hopefully Nigel will come up with the good and give us that.”
Nigel Wood OBE has been appointed as the Chair of Rugby League Commercial, having been nominated by the Boards of Super League Europe and the Rugby Football League.
— Rugby Football League (@TheRFL) June 27, 2025
