Is “Simply The Best” The Greatest Rugby League Ad Of All Time?

By Marcus Honesta

Where have the last 30 years gone. Believe it or not, it was that long since the greatest rugby league advertising campaign of all time was launched. But as though rising from the ashes it’s back, with Jimmy Barnes leading the charge from the ruins of the Sydney Football Stadium, the venue where it all started.

Filmed midst the construction zone, it will be used as the pay TV network’s “call to arms” on the eve of the 2020 NRL kick-off in March.

Kept secretly under wraps Fox Sports has been working on the project since October 2019 when they sought permission from construction giant Lendlease and the SCG Trust to use the venue.

The song was recorded at Barnes’s home studio before the Christmas holidays, with the approval from Tina Turner’s management then synched with the shoot on the dirt from the old Allianz Stadium.

Music producer Kevin Shirley, famous for once working with Led Zeppelin and other star performers, is working on the campaign.

Out take footage never used from Turner’s shoots with players in the 90s is rumoured to be part of the campaign.

“Jimmy is unbelievable, and the fans are going to love it. “We’ll use it all through the footy season,” said sports boss Steve Crawley.

“It will be our call to arms. It’s a massive year in Tina’s anniversary and this is a fitting way of celebrating with such an icon of Australian music.

It will be fascinating to see if it rocks 30years later, as much as it did to the last generation.