A whiz-kid from Sydney’s western suburbs is being entrusted with leading the NRL’s mission to play catch-up after being ‘‘beaten by the length of the straight’’ by the AFL in winning favour and funding from politicians for over a decade.

NRL chief executive Dave Smith’s latest appointment is 29-year-old Jaymes Boland-Rudder, formerly the right-hand man to Barry O’Farrell as the NSW Premier’s chief of staff.

Known as "JBR", the ex-Liberal staffer’s hiring to head up the NRL’s government relations is being welcomed in club-land by officials who are fed up with the second-class status the sport  receives compared to the AFL.

There is a concession among club heavyweights that too little has been done to court assistance in building and upgrading stadiums, and other facilities, while the AFL under Andrew Demetriou appears to have the ear of government.

Panthers Group chief executive Warren Wilson, who has designs on a third top-line NRL stadium in Penrith, said rugby league had dropped the ball in fostering contacts under the game’s previous ownership structure.

‘‘You have a look at the amount of money that has gone into [AFL] stadiums over the last 15 years versus how much has gone into NRL stadiums, i.e. rectangular grounds, and you will see that we have been beaten by the length of the straight,’’ Wilson said.

‘‘The AFL have made hay while the sun shines. They have absolutely made gazillions out of it.’’

The Panthers received $12million in last year’s federal budget for their $53million Western Sydney Community and Sports Centre – and the Abbott government retained its Labor predecessor’s $10million pledge towards the upgrade of Brookvale Oval.

At South Sydney, however, there was disappointment over a $16million federal funding package for a high performance centre at Heffron Park being withdrawn in December by Treasurer Joe Hockey.

Despite that bad news, Souths chief executive Shane Richardson said the NRL was on the right track with the appointment of Boland-Rudder.

‘‘There has been a vast amount of money spent in Melbourne with AFL clubs ... Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, you name it. And yet we’ve had a paltry amount when you consider the size of the game in NSW and Queensland,’’ Richardson said.

‘‘This is a step forward to actually try and improve our political ties and improve our share of assistance within the community.

‘‘I think the AFL, to be totally honest, have had a free hit in the area.

"We’ve started to do it, which is great, under David Smith, but we’ve got a long way to go.’’

Steve Mortimer, the former premiership-winning Canterbury captain and current Bulldogs director, said the NRL’s past deficiencies in lobbying the government had been made clear to him in a visit to Parliament House in Canberra for a function five years ago.

Mortimer said: ‘‘I was there with Ron Coote and when we walked in the receptionist said to us ’All we do is see AFL and soccer people here every second week. This is the first time in a long time we’ve seen rugby league people’.’’