Andrew Abdo's shock departure to Tennis Australia has left the rugby league community scratching their heads wondering who will be the next CEO.
With his departure set for July 15, that gives Peter V'landys and the NRL approximately six weeks to find a suitable replacement, which will be an extremely difficult task.
It has been confirmed, though, that V'landys himself will act as the interim CEO if a replacement cannot be found in that time.
"We're going to need Superman and Jesus together," V'landys put it bluntly.
While that may be slightly out of reach, the NRL is going to need a candidate who has extensive knowledge about broadcast deals, club relations and the political intricacies of leading a soon-to-be 19 and most likely 20-club competition.
When considering these conditions, it leaves the following eight candidates who could realistically replace Andrew Abdo.
3. Brock Schaefer
An interesting prospect, Brock Schaefer has been involved in sports since nearly the entirety of his professional career.
Currently, he is the Head of Performance, Pathways and Strategy at the NRL, but he spent nine and a half years at the South Sydney Rabbitohs, beginning as the General Manager of Souths Cares before eventually working his way up to being the COO.
Importantly, Schaefer has CEO experience, he was the boss of Northern Pride Rugby League for two years.
Most interestingly, though, was his work early in his career.
Schaefer spent a year and a half working in Port Moresby, the home of the PNG Chiefs, employed by Cricket Papua New Guinea.
His experience working in Papua New Guinea may be looked upon favourably by Peter V'landys.
Ultimately, the combination of him working for an NRL club, for the NRL and as a CEO makes Schaefer actually a very strong candidate to succeed Andrew Abdo.
I don’t like one person filling both the Chair and CEO roles.
I think it is poor governance.
I agree with your assessment that a former NRL Club boss will not get the job. No matter how honest and impartial he is in his decision making, half the fans and all 17 of the other club bosses will believe that he has his thumb on the scales, making sure his old club is never disadvantaged by whatever decisions or policies he makes.