Cooper deal would open the door for change in NRL

 
Luke Doherty Columnist

By , 16 Aug 2010 Luke Doherty is a Roar Expert

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Queensland Reds players Quade Cooper (l) and Peter Hynes (r). AAP Image/Dave Hunt

Queensland Reds players Quade Cooper (l) and Peter Hynes (r). AAP Image/Dave Hunt

Any move, however unlikely, by the NRL to provide Parramatta with a top-up payment to lure Quade Cooper away from the Queensland Reds and Wallabies would leave the salary cap clinging to whatever little credibility it has left.
 
Cooper, apparently, is genuine in his desire to play for the Eels, but only if the NRL provides an extra $200 thousand on-top of a reported $500 thousand a year offer from Parramatta.
 
Can you imagine the up-roar if David Gallop, although I’m sure he’d love to fire a cannon back across the bow of the ARU, said yes?
 
Tomorrow morning he’d have the chief executives of the other 15 clubs, lining up outside his office at Moore Park in Sydney, waiting for their bag of money as well.
 
Don’t get me wrong. The 22-year old playmaker would be worth every cent of the $700 thousand a year payment. He’s an amazing talent, but then when other clubs have made similar requests for a bit of help from the governing body in the past, they’ve been met with a “gee we’d really love to, but…..”.
 
What Cooper and his management have to understand is that the salary cap is designed to provide the code with a level playing field. If the NRL started handing out extra cash (after-all they already give the clubs a grant worth over $3.5 million every year) it would render the cap useless.

The only way this could possibly work was if the NRL built up a warchest that would be available for clubs to raid.
 
Here’s how I think it should work:
 
1. Club’s are allowed one payment by the NRL of $200 thousand to top-up one new player’s contract
2. That player must be signed from a rival code to be eligible for the payment
3. The club can only have one “cross-code” player on their roster with a contract that has been boosted by the warchest at a time
4. The “cross-code” player must have played at least 10 tests (for rugby) or 100 games (in the unlikely event an NRL side goes after an AFL player)
5. The player wouldn’t be eligible for extra money from the marquee portion of the cap
6. It must not be a player who has previously played rugby league for NSW, QLD or Australia
 
The publicity that Cooper’s switch would bring to the NRL would be enormous.

It would give the impression that the code is fighting back, after being trampled by its rivals over the past 12 months.
 
Greg Inglis said in an interview with Channel 9 recently that he believed the NRL was 25 to 30 years behind the AFL in terms of marketing and recruitment. Well here’s a chance for David Gallop and co. to reduce the gap slightly.
 
The sight of Matt Giteau in a Sharks jersey and Rocky Elsom running riot for the Cowboys would be a fantastic look for rugby league. Who knows? Nathan Sharpe, with his profile in Western Australia, could even help get fans through the gate when a team is placed in Perth.
 
So where will this extra money come from?
 
Had an independent commission been in place this year club officials were told the game could’ve saved at least $4.5 million.
 
Financial projections indicate the commission could save the game around $50 million over the next five years.

There’s some food for thought. The question remains, is the NRL hungry enough?

You can follow Luke on twitter @luke_doherty and on Sky News Australia

You can follow Luke Doherty on Twitter @Luke_Doherty and on Sky News Australia.
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