In 2004, Reg Reagan released the single Am I Ever Gonna See the Biff Again? lamenting how rugby league had gone soft. Sample lyric: “What has it come to when a bloke can’t punch his mate?” It was satire, but only just.

Now Biff is back on the menu as the NRL prepares for its a double header at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on Sunday which this month hosted the Super Bowl. To win converts to its cause in the entertainment capital of the world, the NRL has produced an extremely slick, well produced video narrated by Russell Crowe that has attracted more than 1.2 million views on X, formerly Twitter.

Maximus’s primer begins “arguably the fastest, most aggressive ball-in-hand football game that exists” and there follows five minutes of footage that is about 70 per cent violent tackles. Viewing it through a union prism, it can appear jarring to see so many big, potentially concussive hits celebrated. The concussion bunker would go into meltdown.

Unlike league, which unapologetically prides itself on its aggression, union seems to have grown scared of its own core physicality as a concussion lawsuit rumbles through the court system. This, in the eyes of former Harlequins and current Fijian Drua chief executive Mark Evans, is holding union back, particularly with how the sport sells itself. As former chief executive at the Melbourne Storm, Evans has seen first-hand how the NRL has exploded in popularity, and it is not by hiding from its visceral, violent elements.

“I thought the NRL adverts were great, they were terrific,” Evans said. “The NRL are on a roll.”

“Rugby [union] isn’t for everyone. It’s not. In the same way that diving isn’t for everyone. The thought of doing that scares me rigid. But it doesn’t mean it should stop them from doing it. It is another world. Crack on. Rugby is not for everyone. How can a collision sport not emphasise its physicality? It’s a nonsense.

“That’s what people like about it. You can make the game safer and address the concussion issue and not lose the game’s physicality. I refuse to believe those two things are not possible. Also, we are talking about adult rugby. We are not talking about kids’ rugby. I don’t see the NFL not emphasising the physicality. Or the NRL. Or MMA. Or WWE. I am not saying you should use it to the exclusion of all the other things you want to emphasise but we shouldn’t hide away or be embarrassed by it. It is a physical game.”