His old club, mind you. Turns out the Sydney Roosters diehard used to be an Emu, yet the sight of him wearing a Wallabies jersey and staring down the barrel of the camera professing his love for the 15-man code was something of a surprise.

Even colossal rugby league figure Phil Gould was tweeting about the game between NSW and Queensland. But it wasn't State of Origin, it was the Super Rugby AU season opener.

If a new broadcast deal was designed to open the game to a new market and lure back the fans lost to rugby, the game has taken a step in the right direction.

Rugby's changing of hands was a source of fascination after 25 years behind a paywall. So much so that 97,000 people watched the Waratahs-Reds clash on Gem, up from 69,000 in their round one clash last year. Those figures don't include Stan or regional numbers.

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A new broadcast deal puts the Nine Network and streaming service Stan Sport in the driver's seat. "A huge opportunity", says Rugby Australia chief executive Andy Marinos.

Images of John Eales lifting the Bledisloe Cup and Grace Hamilton terrorising defenders raced across television screens. Wendell Sailor, Stirling Mortlock, Quade Cooper and even Jonny Wilkinson featured in a montage showing a glimpse of what will be on offer from the game's new broadcast partner during the next three years.

But those are yesterday's heroes. The dawn of a new era rugby officials have championed for months on end called for the stars of today.

So we were met with a smile from NSW flyhalf Will Harrison, barnstorming Reds prop Taniela Tupou, and ACT Brumbies young gun Mack Hansen celebrating that match-winning penalty.

But you can roll out all the old highlights you want. Fans will only invest - both emotionally and financially - if they enjoy the product they're watching today.

And many would have - Waratahs scrumhalf Jake Gordon took less than three minutes to score. Reds flyer Filipo Daugunu left defenders clutching at thin air.

Nick McArdle and Roz Kelly steered the coverage, while expert input from the likes of David Campese, Andrew Mehrtens, Allana Ferguson, Morgan Turinui and Michael Cheika broke down the action and gave insights into the minds of players.

The arrival of the cinecam, used by the NFL, UFC and even WWE, adds another dimension to the coverage. The only widespread frustration was ad breaks cutting into small segments of play on Gem and some minor kinks with the stream.

"I think of it as a huge opportunity. We need to make sure the product out on the field complements the extensive coverage we're going to be getting," Marinos said.

"It just takes the game, which is truly a global game, into so many more households and touches so many more people.

"What we're looking at from a rugby strategy is we want to engage people in non-traditional areas and introduce them to rugby. We believe that's the value behind this game, what opportunities it can offer you.

"It's hugely exciting, the enthusiasm with which they have taken this opportunity to market. They've used all of their assets.

"More importantly for rugby supporters, they've now got the option of having it on free-to-air but they're also getting a streaming service into their home and at their own convenience."