ARLC CEO Dave Smith takes first swipe at AFL

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ARLC CEO Dave Smith takes first swipe at AFL


NRL chief executive Dave Smith says rugby league can emerge from the drugs scandal as Australia's national sport because unlike the AFL, his code is "about tomorrow not yesterday".

Welshman Smith, who became an Australian citizen late last week, travelled to the Sunshine Coast on the weekend for a question and answer session with 200 of the game's volunteers.

He spoke eloquently of league's potential and repeatedly stated he envisioned the code becoming national.

Smith also lined up the NRL's major contender for a national footprint - the AFL.

"I want us to be the No.1 game in Australia. I think it is wholly achievable," Smith said at the Queensland Rugby League's annual conference.

"Look, I don't want to make too many comparisons to the AFL.

"I look at the things they (AFL) have done that are good and I think we can far exceed what they have done because we are about tomorrow not yesterday.

"With the athletes we have and the game we have ... the sky is the limit."

The Australian Crime Commission's explosive report dominated the volunteers' questions.

Smith said it would be months before their investigation was formalised and stressed the NRL was very restricted in how it could respond to the report.

Smith met Aurora Andruska, the chief executive of Australia's Sports Anti-Doping Authority, last Friday and the pair will have weekly meetings from now on.

Smith revealed he wanted the NRL to expand from its current 16 teams.

Last year, the ARL Commission reaped a $1.2 billion five-year broadcast deal without a need to add extra teams and ARLC chairman John Grant put expansion at the bottom of the code's priorities.

Consortiums from across the country, including groups in Brisbane, Ipswich, Perth and the NSW Central Coast, were gutted by the decision after spending years formulating their proposed clubs.

Smith however said his desire to make the game national required new clubs be established.

"Expansion is definitely something I want to see. This game should be more national," Smith said.

"We have to think about expansion soon. The Commission is committed to expansion.

"The foundation needs to be right though.

"We have set up the platform. It is poised like never before but it needs a different approach and perspective and I hope I can bring that.

"The strategy that John Grant laid out is terrific. There's a great vision and My job is to make it a reality."

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