BY KANE AUSTIN & SCOTT DILLON

Some don’t like the way Peter V’landys gets about and the swipes he takes at rugby league’s biggest rival – the AFL.

Since taking on the role as chairman of the ARLC, V’landys has continued to poke sticks into the ribcage of AFL officials and their fans.

Perhaps it may have something to do with us in NRL Land having spent our entire lives hearing about the huff and puff and the big bravado of the game from the southern state. For years we have heard how it’s going to take over and sad old rugby league is dying.

Rugby league has never had a leader willing to give it back.

We’ve had Eddie McGuire on our television screens for eternity, sliding in AFL chitchat wherever he can – whether it’s Millionaire, boxing pay-per-views or guest spots on morning TV.

Journalists from Melbourne are forever (blindly) spruiking their beloved code (sometimes at the expense of the truth).

Cricket broadcasts, riddled with Victorians, have become embarrassing.

One Sydney breakfast radio program boasts a former AFL player from Adelaide and another guy from Melbourne.

Their ratings have always been steadily average at best.

GWS Giants and the Gold Coast have come along in recent times and their whole purpose is to take eyes off the NRL and put little shiny red footballs in kids hands.

Now V’landys comes along and gives a bit back and it’s not cool?

AFL Kool-Aid drinkers are aggressive types and they only ever retreat when you hear stuff like ‘there’s room for all sports in NSW and QLD’ or ‘we just want to co-exist’.

‘Coming in too hot? Okay… let’s pump the breaks a little’

An AFL journalist by the name of Shane McInnes doesn’t think the AFL’s move to play their grand final at the GABBA was a tactical move (they could have very easily played their grand final in Perth).

Instead, he has called it a ‘refuge’ after having to ‘desert its heartland’.

Poor buggers.

Writing for the Wide World of Sports, McInnes came to the thundering defence of his sport.

“You would think given the circumstances – namely a global pandemic, and the state of disaster unfolding in Victoria – that the AFL’s temporary move into NRL heartland might be accepted by the ARL Commission and even supported. After all, aren’t we all in this together?

“But it seems that even amidst the greatest crisis in a generation, the ARLC chairman, Peter V’landys, can’t set aside his disdain for the AFL. Throughout the year, V’landys has repeatedly put down, mocked and taken swipes at the rival code that he believes is “trying to take the NRL heartland”.

“Yes, V’landys has had his fair share of critics amongst the Victorian media, myself included. And V’landys is more than entitled to return serve, as are members of the NRL media.

“But think about V’landys position of power and the role that he holds.”

The Arthur Beetson Medal 2020 is this Monday

This all feels like a bully who has spent his whole life ripping into other kids and someone finally belting him back for the first time.

It hurts… doesn’t it?