Abdo Quits, Players Revolt & Ref Turmoil

Warren Smith· Host0:00

[upbeat music] G'day, welcome to Kenny Blitz, your daily hit of NRL news. And Kenny, massive news today with the CEO of the NRL resigning.

Paul Kent· Host0:09

Yeah, big news. Also, it took everyone by surprise. Look, uh, I think the timing of it has really stump, stumped everybody. We did know last year, let's remember, that he, he, he was looking around, wasn't he?

Warren Smith· Host0:21

Mm.

Paul Kent· Host0:21

If you remember, news broke last August, I think it was, uh, that he had gone and interviewed for a job at TEG, which is a, uh, an, an worldwide s- sports promotion company. Uh, he didn't tell Peter V'Landys that, which I found fascinating. And then obviously the news broke today, which I don't think it's been overly well-received at, at NRL headquarters.

Warren Smith· Host0:42

Okay.

Paul Kent· Host0:42

But he'll be... It'll all be smiling faces as we record this. We, uh, we know there's a press conference on this afternoon. Um, and they'll be, yeah, smiling faces and slaps on the back and everyone congratulating each other.

Warren Smith· Host0:56

Kenny, we real, uh, normally record this later on in the afternoon, but we've got a bit of big mail that we wanna drop a little bit later. So stay watching the show. But we're gonna talk about Abdo at the start because, uh, he started his tenure 2020 as the- 2020, yeah ... as the CEO.

Paul Kent· Host1:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was chief commercial officer at the NRL before that. I didn't have a lot to do with him at that point. I had a little bit to do with him. Uh, but when he took over from Greenberg in 2020, uh, he... Look, when you look back on what he has done in the game and y- you look at his resume now,