QRL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Statewide Competitons Director
Brendan O'Farrell was appointed to the QRL Board as the Statewide Competitions director in February, 2024. O'Farrell holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA), is a Graduate from the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and has undertaken various courses in strategic management. His senior management experience working with corporate, government and industry funds now spans 25 years. Throughout that time, O'Farrell has been an avid follower of rugby league in Queensland, and with this extensive knowledge of community and pathway competitions, he is committed to making a meaningful contribution to the game across the state.
Born in Warwick Queensland, Brian was educated in schools on the Darling Downs and Brisbane, and the University of Queensland. He played and coached in the Brisbane Rugby League competition with the Fortitude Valleys club for a period of 12 years before joining the Brisbane Broncos in its inaugural year in the national competition.
Following a 10-year teaching career, Brian became involved in rugby league, working with Queensland and National Rugby League clubs, Queensland's State of Origin team and rugby league's governing bodies.
His involvement in the sport has covered the areas of management, coaching, strength and conditioning and junior participation development.
In recent times, Brian has held senior management positions, including NRL club chief operating officer, chief executive officer, director of football and NRL governing body head of football.
Brian has recently been elected as chairperson of QRL South East Region and currently works as a special projects consultant.
Bruce Hatcher was a promising centre for the Eastern Suburbs club in the Brisbane competition. On the cusp of reaching higher honours, a spate of injuries and growing opportunities in the business world forced him to cut short his promising playing career.
Job Titles:
- Life Member of the North Queensland Rugby League Referees
- Northern Chairman
- Queensland - Based Administrator
Clinton Begg is a North Queensland-based administrator with a long-standing connection to rugby league.
Begg's 30-year involvement in the game spans multiple facets, from his junior playing days to refereeing, volunteering and serving as an administrator.
A Life Member of the North Queensland Rugby League Referees, Begg is former top level referee who is passionate about driving positive experiences for match officials across the state.
Begg has extensive professional experience working with government departments and agencies, both state and federally, and has also operated within the Australian Small Business Advisory Service.
Having also worked with well-known national and international brands, Begg brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the QRL Board.
The former Queensland and Australian halfback was appointed to the QRL Board as an independent director in July, 2021. As the Chair of the QRL Pathways and Performance Committee, Cronk is passionate about ‘giving back' to the game and helping Queensland produce elite players of the future. Cronk played his junior rugby league with the Souths Acacia Ridge club, before going on to play with the Norths Devils in the then Queensland Cup. His talent and work ethic saw him become a dominant force at the Melbourne Storm, where he played 325 games between 2004 and 2017. Cronk capped of an incredible professional career with consecutive grand final wins at the Sydney Roosters, and has since established himself as one of the most respected voices in the game through his work as a presenter with Fox Sports.
As the newly-appointed chairman of the Central Division (November 2012), Danny McGuire returns for his second stint on the QRL Board.
He previously served on the Board from 2006-2009 and has been the chairman of the Wide Bay Region for the past eight years.
A former player with Rockhampton Brothers and Wests in Brisbane, Danny has a long and proud association with rugby league.
He has been a coach and administrator with Sunshine Coast junior club Kawana (Life Member) and has served as the chairman of the Sunshine Coast Rugby League..
In 2010, he was inducted into the Sunshine Coast University Sports Hall of Fame for administrators. Danny is currently a State Manager for an IT integrator.
British historian, Geoffrey Moorehouse wrote: 'Harry Sunderland was many things, but, most of all, he was uncommonly astute'. In today's language, he was a 'mover and shaker'.
Job Titles:
- Journalist
- Visionary, Expansionist
Some of the most influential administrators in Queensland history have been Harry Sunderland, Ron McAuliffe and Ross Livermore.
Gympie born Sunderland, a journalist, was secretary of the QRL from 1913 to 1938, except for two years when he left the state and lived in Victoria, where he promoted rugby league. He was a man of great energy, with a world view.
In 1929, when rugby union was reforming in Queensland, Sunderland turned up at the annual general meetings of league clubs, imploring them not to switch to the 15-man code. He even offered loyalty payments to the clubs.
League had taken its eye off the ball during its decade of dominance, in the 1920s, because of an internal squabble. For eight years there had been a battle for control of the game in Brisbane, between the QRL and the Brisbane League.
Job Titles:
- Independent Director
- Manager of the Griffith Sports College
McCarthy represented Australia at two Olympic Games (2000 and 2004), winning a gold medal in Sydney 2000 and she had the honour of leading her country at Athens in 2004.
She has remained heavily involved in sport since her retirement, serving as a board member for the Queensland Academy of Sport and as a director of Womensport Queensland.
In her current role at Griffith University, McCarthy is the manager of the Griffith Sports College, where she works closely with many professional and Olympic sports and their elite athletes.
Job Titles:
- Independent Director
- Independent Director for the QRL Board
Renita Garard AM was appointed as an independent director for the QRL Board in 2017. Renita has a professional background in the financial services industry and has had a long involvement in elite sport.
She is a dual Olympic gold medallist, having been a member of the Australian Women's Hockey team from 1993 to 2000, while off the sporting field, she has fulfilled board roles with both the International Hockey Federation and Hockey Australia.
She is currently a director of a boutique financial consultancy firm, Board Chairman of the Port of Townsville Limited (POTL) and Co-Founder and Director of the 4 Aussie Heroes Foundation.
Renita has also previously held board positions in the primary health care sector.
Job Titles:
- Independent Director
- Indigenous Community Leader
A respected Indigenous community leader Samantha Bliss was appointed to the QRL Board as an independent director in November 2021. Bliss is a former Queensland and Australian rugby league representative who has a genuine desire to promote and develop rugby league in Queensland. A specialist in child protection and family support with senior management experience, Bliss chairs the QRL's Participation Committee and will contribute to the QRL's child safety and member protection frameworks, and work related to the QRL's Female Strategy, Diversity and Inclusion Framework and Reconciliation Action Plan.
Queensland Rugby League respects and honours the Traditional Custodians of the land and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future. We acknowledge the stories, traditions and living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the lands we meet, gather and play on.
Ron McAuliffe, an orphan, raised at Sandgate, believed the best committee was a committee of three, with one on leave and the other ill.
Wally Lewis was appointed schools liaison officer in 1985, and John Ribot came on board in marketing. In 1987, the QRL gave its backing to the privately-owned Brisbane Broncos (with Ribot as inaugural CEO), to enter what was then known as the NSWRL.