I knew it would happen, and it didn’t.

Where have all the press trumpets and strumpets, blaring in unison about the glories of the opening NRL matches in Las Vegas, gone? The matches are next week, dammit! Do you Fans With Typewriters have no sense of tradition???

Bulldogs captain Stephen Crichton will be one of the stars in Vegas.Credit: NRL Photos

This is the time of year when you’re meant to be giving endless, breathless predictions of how the double-header will be the biggest thing Vegas has seen, how it will be watched by up to 100 million viewers around the world – three times the Super Bowl international audience, seeing as you ask – and how the whole thing is further proof of the genius of Peter V’landys. Oh, and that every cent spent by the NRL on the project is justified, and that American punters from Miami to Malibu, Dallas to Dulles, will soon be blowing their dough on the Panthers to beat Parra by more than 20 points, instead of the American sports leagues.

I used to cherish such claims and chortle about them for weeks afterwards in these pages.

This year, so far, nothing. Crickets.

Meantime? Meantime, one thing that was not on my bingo card for 2026 was leaning in as a famous former North Sydney Bears and Kangaroos prop, with painted nails, dismantled Barnaby Joyce straw by straw, before giving a fascinating dissertation on our former Prime Minister John Gorton.

But, there you go. I’m not sure what Marty Bella does for a gig these days, but I have suddenly become aware that he is a minor phenomenon on social media, particularly Facebook, giving his views on the issues of the day. And he is very good, rarely missing his mark and going in hard, just as in days of yore.

© Brisbane Times