BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Exclusive: International Rugby League (IRL) chair Troy Grant has hailed the opening rounds of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup and says the sport is now in a favourable situation to grow.
After two rounds of the World Cup, total attendances have grown to more than 215,000, which is an increase of 34% from the 2017 tournament held in Australia. Television ratings on Seven have also been strong, with matches reaching a total audience of 8.1514 million at an average of 655,000 per game, an increase of 52% from 2017 (according to footyindustry.com.au).
Speaking during round two, Grant told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads that he “couldn’t be happier” with how the World Cup was tracking so far.
“The chat about international rugby league has probably grown in the last two years, just through the regular season,” he said.
“That helps build the anticipation and week one delivered. It was box office, the engagement of the fans through at the grounds and via the broadcast numbers was just astonishing.
“So I couldn’t be more grateful. Appreciative of the organisers, but also the countries for really digging in. I think people are really appreciating them, celebrating their heritage, their culture, and showcasing that, not being afraid to cry, singing a national anthem is pretty powerful. It’s pretty moving.
“And the action on the field has certainly been spectacular. And there’s more of that to come.
“The power of what we’re seeing in the rugby league world is that it’s now becoming more attractive as a spectator sport, not just for the rusted-on fan, but for the casual viewer. It’s the most gladiatorial sport that we have out there that’s made for TV.
“It truly has evolved from just being a wonderful sport to an entertainment product. And I think the NRL has shown the way and how that is promoted, how that is organised, run, marketed, all those sorts of things.
“They’ve pulled their head out of the sand of some old administrative thinking. They’ve been inventive, and not only Peter V’landys needs a lot of credit for that, but he’s got a wonderful team, very visionary commissioners that sit around them that have the game’s interests at heart.
“They’re not driven by their own self-interest. They’re driven by the game’s interests and that’s genuine. And they bring that to the International Rugby League board in their representation too, and we’re learning a lot from them, and we’re coming off a low base from the International Rugby League perspective, a couple of years of Covid.
“Essentially on the brink of insolvency. So we’ve had to rebuild from the ground up. But I really feel like we’ve got the wind at our back and it’s all upside as long as we execute it well.
“Our vision is to continue to grow the game. But you have to, when you renovate anything, you’ve got to start from scratch and you have to do it sustainably and sensibly.”
In recent years the Pacific Championships have been successfully established in the southern hemisphere, Tonga and Samoa have toured the UK for Test series, and the Kangaroos held a successful Ashes tour to England in 2025.
But there has been some criticism of the 2026 World Cup about the format and the reduction to a 10-team tournament from 16 countries four years ago.
“The secret to all this has really been that we did land on a calendar a couple of years ago,” Grant said.
“So people don’t understand that we do have an actual fixed calendar, which gives the clubs more confidence to release their players. We have insisted that the care and the squad arrangements, the medical support, the data going back from the player’s workloads, going back to the club’s management.
“So there’s a lot more confidence from the professional clubs, both in the northern hemisphere and in the NRL that when they release their players, there’s a risk-reward there.
“The risk used to be all on the clubs and they got very little reward out of it. But now they’re getting the reward as well, and that’s beneficial.
“Look, I absolutely hear and understand the viewpoints being made about the number of teams. I understand the disappointment, because people are passionate. But the reality is, if we kept it at the same model, there would be no World Cup because we wouldn’t be able to afford to put one on.
“Ultimately, do we get back to 16 teams at some stage, potentially? Do we look at other concepts? Do we become more entrepreneurial? We’ve just started our World Series concept.
“More investment into it as part of our strategic plan to also give another legitimate tournament and more competitive opportunity at that level. So there aren’t the big gaps that you do get between the full-time elite players and those coming from the strongest competition to some that don’t get that exposure.
“…I think that’s where the difference really lies. The natural talent there, but it’s the professionalism in building on that natural talent that needs to happen in other hemispheres to equalise the game.”
There has also been criticism about the long travel times that England and France have faced getting to Australia for the World Cup. England reportedly took 44 hours to get to Perth, while some of the France team had a 50-hour trip.
“Look, the international rugby league wasn’t involved in any of the travel arrangements,” Grant said.
“So when those concerns were raised, I just asked the questions. So the countries themselves, through an agency, did their bookings, talking to the local organising committee [the NRL].
“I’m not exactly sure how long ago those arrangements were made. They may well have been fine and we didn’t have it when the bookings were [originally] made. So there’s no bad faith here.
“I don’t think there’s any error. It’s just the circumstances of the world, but living in it at the moment has had the unfortunate impact that it did. Sadly, these things do happen in life.
“You’ve just have to adjust to it. Australia is a big place and it takes a while to get there, but it’s really disappointing that that happened. But certainly there’ s no malice in it.
“But I think England, despite that, they played really, really well [against Tonga]. I was really impressed and especially with a new combination of players, a lot of new faces, the new coach. I think the gap that was at the Ashes last year, there was much less of a gap [now].
“And don’t forget that England beat Samoa and Tonga in tours as well. These teams and these nations are pretty close. You’re going to win some days, you’re going to lose other days. It’s just the way the cookie falls in sport.
“That’s the reality of it, and I know people get passionate and emotional about it. But, you know, that’s just the way it is.
“And the reality is, in my view, Tonga had a harder draw than England. They got the money in that match, which has now made it a harder draw for England, but that’s sport.”
Changes in the federal government in the UK and has seen more strong support for rugby league, particularly from the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Grant says he has been encouraged by this.
“I met a lot of the MPs when I was over there in 2022 and obviously the government’s changed, as happens in politics, but I just love the fact that the MPs are rugby league fans and they care this much,” he said.
“I think that’s important. And we want England to thrive. We absolutely do. I know the NRL have the same view, we think everybody does. We want to see Ireland bounce back. We want to see Wales come back as well.
“Scotland, the Celtic nations, and the emergence of the Netherlands and Ukraine, Serbia. “e’ve got a strategy now to try and lift them up to give them more content at the more elite level as well. So it’s going to take some time. That’s just the reality of it.
“We’ve just got to get England stopping going backwards and to hold and continue to improve to lead the way. And we need the RFL to replicate the investment strategy, not necessarily the quantum of money, into the nations that have the interest and accessibility to the Super League.
“Like the NRL has done here in New Zealand, now in Papua New Guinea, and as they have done across the nation with expansion. They’ve got to open their eyes.
“The RFL has got to get their heads out of the sand and frankly, they’ve got to get their heads out of their arses for a lot of their old-time thinking because it’s not working in the modern world.”
