New QRL boss Ben Ikin has opened up on being ‘forced’ out of the Broncos, the Maroons coaching future, his plan for Wayne Bennett and other issues in rugby league.
New Queensland Rugby League boss Ben Ikin will move to extend the contract of Billy Slater and outlined plans to sign Wayne Bennett in the Maroons’ ruthless quest to turn the screws on the Blues at Origin level.
In a wide-ranging interview, newly-minted QRL chief executive Ikin opened up about the state of Queensland rugby league, why he quit the Broncos, and addressed rumours of a rift with Brisbane coach Kevin Walters.
Former Broncos football boss Ikin also savaged the NRL over a “silly” national reserve-grade competition and questioned ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys’ ambitious plan to stage a premiership double-header in Las Vegas next year.
The Queensland team for Origin I will be picked on Monday and Ikin has arrived at QRL headquarters at an opportune time as Slater’s Maroons launch their mission for back-to-back titles.
THE BIG BOSS
Ikin has a 40-year connection with Queensland rugby league, starting with his days as a junior at Tugun Seahawks, and one of his first tasks as QRL boss is making sure Slater is not lost to Camp Maroon.
Slater is off-contract after this year’s Origin series and the 46-year-old Ikin is determined to stave off poaching threats from NRL clubs to secure the Storm, Maroons and Test legend to a new deal.
“I want to make rugby league accessible to more people in Queensland and those that do come into the sport fall in love with it and have a lifelong journey, as I have,” Ikin said.
“Winning Origin in the next few months, that’s the main priority for me.
“It’s very important (to retain Slater).
“Anyone who has had anything to do with Billy gets the sense pretty quickly that he has a very sharp mind. He has taken to the Origin coaching role very quickly.
“Once this series is done, in consultation with the board, we will move into negotiations with Billy and hope he is as keen as we are to continue the partnership.
“I hope he stays with us. We have to convince him that (coaching Queensland) is the right path for him in the short term and if at some point on that journey he develops ambitions to coach in the NRL, then we will do our best to support those ambitions.”
WAYNE BENNETT
The blooding of Slater as an Origin coach has underlined Queensland’s pressing need to develop a new era of quality Maroons mentors.
In 2020, during the code’s Covid crisis, Queensland were so starved of options that supercoach Wayne Bennett answered an SOS to coach the Maroons for a fourth time.
Bennett can’t coach forever and Ikin – the supercoach’s son-in-law – says the QRL will explore the prospect of employing the 73-year-old as a mentor to cultivate the next wave of Queensland coaches.
“Coach development is a whole-of-game issue, not just Queensland,” Ikin said.
“The role of the coach cannot be understated, so we will be pouring part of our budget and our time into making sure there is good depth in the coaching ranks for our purposes at the QRL.
“We have two old fellas who sit in the background in Wayne Bennett and Mal Meninga, who are ready to pick up the slack if there’s a gap.
“That’s been a discussion more recently at the board level which will find its way into my world about how we shore up those candidates so that succession planning around that very important role is well and truly taken care of.”
THE BRONCOS
Ikin’s departure from the Broncos came as a major shock.
He lasted just 23 months at Brisbane after being headhunted by CEO Dave Donaghy in June 2021 to help coach Walters preside over a Red Hill resurrection as head of football.
There is a view Ikin was quickly marginalised at Brisbane and not fulfilling the function of a bona fide football boss.
But he insists he was not forced out of the Broncos and chased the QRL job on his terms.
“It was difficult (to leave the Broncos),” Ikin said.
“But between myself, the head coach and the CEO … Kevvie and Dave were constantly in conversations with me about how we were going to get the program into shape when we came together in 2021 to give the players the experience to be the best they could.
“There was a lot of good work done over the two years.
“When Kevvie took over, the Broncos were coming off a wooden spoon and they sit in the top four at the moment.
“This (QRL CEO) role came along, both Dave and Kevvie knew I had a deep passion for the QRL and my first instinct was to stick. But in more conversations with Kevvie and Dave, I felt comfortable that they were comfortable I could pursue this role.
“One thing I have learned about high-performing organisations, it’s less important what you stand for – it’s more important that everybody stands for the same thing.”
KEVIN WALTERS
Brisbane bosses openly conceded last year they had to work on improving lines of communication between Ikin and Walters.
The pair clashed not only over team-selection matters, but over the level of input Ikin, as football boss, should have on the structure and running of the Broncos’ NRL program.
Walters has insisted he was always open to suggestions from Ikin and the new QRL head honcho has broken his silence on his relationship with the Broncos coach, confirming the pair didn’t always agree.
“We challenged each other, absolutely,” Ikin said.
“And I have no doubt that because we weren’t prepared to operate in an echo-chamber, there were some really honest conversations about what needed to happen.
“It’s a big reason why the Broncos are where they are now.
“We were able to delineate between work and a cafe where we meet most mornings.
“Personal conversations were personal conversations, but when we got to work our job was to challenge each other … because if you don’t do that, if you don’t push the boundaries, if you don’t have honest, robust debate then you keep doing what you have always been doing.
“That wasn’t good enough for the Broncos. We leave on great terms. Kevvie and I remain great friends. We won a premiership together in 2000. He wished me all the best and I think we all agree that the Broncos of 2023 under his guidance and leadership are in a really good spot.”
NRL RESERVE GRADE
Ikin blasted the NRL’s proposal for a national reserve-grade competition, warning it would threaten the health of the Queensland Cup.
“NRL national reserve grade is just a silly, nostalgic thought bubble,” Ikin said.
“It died for a reason.
“As the female game grows, then there has to be a space on the schedule for a women’s game that is getting better and better every year.
“Last year’s State of Origin men’s team in Game One had played a total of 394 Queensland Cup games.
“Last year’s Dally M Medallist, Nicho Hynes, was cast out of the NRL and spent two years at Mackay Cutters.
“That’s how he found his way back in to be the player we all admire today.
“Talk to Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Cameron Smith who played in the Queensland Cup. National reserve grade would diminish that significantly. From our perspective, it’s never been on the table.
“It’s a silly idea. It should not be entertained.”
VIVA LAS VEGAS
V’landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo returned from America last week following a fact-finding mission to launch the 2024 NRL season in Las Vegas next March.
Ikin is not yet convinced of the NRL’s American Dream and has called for more information.
“Seriously … can I be a fan of it after we see how it unfolds?” he said.
“I love Peter’s energy. He has big ideas and it’s been proven with the push in Magic Round and celebrating that, some of the changes he has made to the game, that’s his wheelhouse.
“He is a big thinker, a big dreamer and he drives the game hard to be better.
“But I take a more slow and steady approach. I am sure there is some merit behind it, but once we see the details and why they are going to do it and why it would benefit from the broader game and we get to see the actual product, then I can get excited.”
Originally published as QRL boss Ben Ikin tells all on QRL, Wayne Bennett, Walters and Las Vegas plans