The Melbourne Storm prop is first and foremost an advocate for the game even as he approaches the twilight of his NRL career
Christian Welch is focused on returning to the Melbourne Storm side after playing a key role in the pay deal reached between the NRL and RLPA.Christian Welch is focused on returning to the Melbourne Storm side after playing a key role in the pay deal reached between the NRL and RLPA.Rugby league is, to some, like a strand of someone else’s hair in a restaurant meal: hard to avoid, and harder to stomach.
But Melbourne Storm’s towering 29-year-old – who will graduate with an MBA later this year, has dabbled in professional writing, and lives in Richmond in Melbourne’s trendy inner east – largely evades expectation. Storm chief executive Justin Rodski says Welch is different to other players: “He’s articulate, he’s funny, and he’s quite smart.”
According to others familiar with negotiations, it was often Welch that called out Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V’Landys and“Naturally it’s a little bit combative when you’re in those meetings because you’re negotiating, it’s giving and taking,” Welch says. “But, like, we eventually got there, didn’t we?”
Rodski noticed a change in Welch’s demeanour. “He probably did withdraw for a little bit,” he says. “But if you look at him now, I’m seeing him more committed, more dedicated with more energy.” Welch has been widely tipped for a role in corporate Australia when he hangs up the boots, but he remains true to his socially minded principles. Of his work with the players’ union, he is most proud of securing a first-ever collective bargaining agreement for NRLW players.
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