When they eventually did surface, after countless hours and pizzas, they put in train not only a broadcast deal but a series of events that would ultimately cost then NRL chief executive Dave Smith his job.

"The whole deal took everyone by surprise and that was not by accident," said one of the chief architects of the deal, Nine Entertainment Co's managing director, Amanda Laing.

It is worth noting, particularly in the NRL's Women in League round, that Laing was one of several influential women shaping what we view when we press our remote controls.

The initial $925 million broadcast deal, before it was revised to give Fox Sports a piece of the action, was chiefly negotiated by Laing, Nine's general counsel Rachel Saunders, Clayton Utz partner Kate Jordan and the NRL's general counsel Eleni North.

There were countless others involved in the secondary negotiation to placate Rupert Murdoch and ensure pay television retained the product so crucial to driving its subscriptions. However, those four faceless women of influence were crucial in shaping how the greatest game of all reaches your eyeballs.

"Whether it's men or women in the room, if you have people motivated to get a deal done, you work through the things that may otherwise derail the process," Laing said.

"The two rights negotiations were utterly different. The first one of 2015 was an extremely discreet and relatively swift negotiation.

"That was for all the obvious reasons. The NRL weren't naive, they knew granting Nine the rights to four live games would probably take them off the Fox Sports Christmas card mailing list. But Dave Smith and the commissioners believed that was in the best interests of the game and Nine paid a price he thought was fair."

The subsequent renegotiation ensured Fox retained the content crucial for its Super Saturday timeslot, while the pay-TV broadcaster paid $25 million to simulcast Nine's games live, using Fox's own commentary team. While Nine has experienced an erosion in its own figures, ratings across of the game have increased.

"You can make the figures say whatever you want them to say, but overall – and this is the cliche – NRL is the winner," Laing said.

"There is an overall lift in viewership and, from our perspective, if you compare our Thursday night ratings with the second Friday night game we had as a double header, we're up year on year."

Laing is uniquely placed to provide a perspective not just on the last deal, but what the next one might look like. In the previous round of negotiations, the NRL played up the likelihood of the "disruptors" – the likes of Google, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter and the telcos – becoming genuine rights bidders.

Their role was overstated in the last round of talks to drive up the price, but it is likely they will change the landscape once the current deal expires in 2022.

"Do I think life will be very different in the next rights negotiation? Absolutely," Laing said.

"Whether it's an android player or a telco wanting a major role, a number of participants will have their hat in the ring and the way the rights will be sliced and diced in the next rights negotiation will be unrecognisable from what we have seen in the last four or five years."

So what will it look like? How will we be watching rugby league in six years' time?

"I would maintain there is something fundamental in the way people like to watch sport that won't change," Laing said.

"Lots of other things will, but people will consume sports on the best and biggest screens they have available to them.

"In addition, there will be a much bigger second screen, or companion, or social [element] so that while they are watching the live footage they will want to be engaging at the same time in a discussion about the game, the player, the commentator or the referee or the bunker.

"It will be very different with many points of deeper engagement during the live broadcast and before and after it."