Sydney Roosters coach Brad Fittler has demolished the NRL’s argument that the lure of State of Origin football will stop players switching codes and heading to Europe.
Steve Kaless: ‘What’s the matter Parramatta?’
With player agents warning 20-30 NRL stars could be playing rugby union in Europe within three years, league legend Fittler disputed one of the NRL’s mantras – players will stay loyal for less money so they can play State of Origin and Test football.
Asked today whether the lure of a representative jersey would be enough to keep players in the NRL, former Kangaroo and NSW Origin star Fittler was emphatic: “No, money,” he said.
Fittler’s comments also came as reports suggested St George Illawarra superstar Mark Gasnier was closing in on a deal with a French rugby club, either the Ewen McKenzie-coached Stade Francais or Biarritz.
Former Test winger Luke Rooney has already agreed to join ex-Penrith team-mate Craig Gower playing the 15-man game in France, linking with big-spending Toulon for a reported $600,000 a season.
Gower has agreed to a new three-year deal with Bayonne.
Asked if it disappointed him that representative jerseys could mean less to players than euros, Fittler said: “No, it disappoints me that we haven’t been able to play on a similar ground to some of the other teams that are offering the higher money.
“I don’t think the government helps these days, your tax brackets and deductions and all that sort of stuff.
“Financially it’s hard to set yourself up so why would you blame a bloke going over to France and make more money and put less harm on his body?”
Fittler sees a glimmer of hope in players’ preference for league as a game, saying he would never have contemplated a switch if offered the same big money.
“I would have said no,” he said.
“Absolutely, because I love rugby league. I played rugby union and just didn’t rock the boat.
“Each to their own. Everyone’s driven by different things.
“Rugby league’s a great game. I played rugby union only for a year or two and in my view it had nothing on rugby league.
“I played rugby league because I liked it. Most of them will do that.
“Nothing’s changed in the last 15, 20 years to show me that the other sports are as demanding and challenging as rugby league so, if you want a challenge, stick with our game.”
Elsewhere today, Panthers captain Petero Civoniceva praised the NRL and Parramatta for their handling of the racism drama which resulted in a spectator being handed a five-year ban.
A fan racially taunted Civoniceva by aiming monkey chants at the big Fijian-born prop during Penrith’s 22-16 win over the Eels at Parramatta Stadium last Sunday.
Two fans were identified in television footage on Tuesday and their details passed on to NSW Police, before the NRL banned one of the men.
“I respect the way the issue has been handled by all those involved,” Civoniceva said in a brief statement.
“I also want to convey my appreciation of the support shown to me and my family by rugby league fans over the last week.”
In contract news, Roosters captain Craig Fitzgibbon today extended his deal with the club until the end of 2009, while Canberra re-signed fullback David Milne for a further three years.
Young Gold Coast halfback Josh Lewis today agreed to a contract with NSW Cup side Balmain Tigers for 2009 and is eligible for promotion to NRL side Wests Tigers.
Steffy
Guest
"What league is going through now, or beginning to go through, replicates what union went through in the years up to professionalism in 1996" It's hardly the same - we usually get months of speculation about a rugby league player - in the old days a union player would just sign for rugby league because if he showed any interest while still a union player he would often be banned from union - once he had signed for rugby league he was banned from playing union again and in many cases shunned by the people he previously regarded as friends. In the media rugby league was often just cast as professional rugby (so its galling when union journalists refer to rugby turning professional in 1995) and because of that was often portrayed as tainted.
Dave Gilbank
Guest
By the by, Spiro, you can't compare what's going on today to League's raids on Union as they were in the old days before union went pro - Union players weren't "payed" in those days were they? Oh, sorry, of course they were (snigger). I mean the likes of the boyos from Wales and the more working class regions of Brisbane and Sydney - they went to League not through choice but necessity...they got payed to play with an oval ball. It was either that or stay down the mines. That's no exaggeration - that's how it was for them! Today, its not a matter of merely getting money to play, its a matter of greed. How much is enough? How many Beamers can you drive? How many Italian suits can you buy? Yes, money roars - what does that say about the individual?
Dave Gilbank
Guest
Dunno about that one, mate. I think they'll grow wise to the fact that recruiting RL players from Oz is, by and large, a waste of money. They're better off getting players like Goode, Mike Catt or even Wilkinson perhaps who are in the twilight of their careers - at least they know how to play the game and you know what you are going to get. What a gamble going after Gasnier! Man on man he can skin 'em, but how will he fare with 2 more players on the field? Has he got the temperament? Hmmmmm
Spiro Zavos
Expert
Dave: Money doesn't talk, it roars. It is immaterial whether rugby league is a better game than rugby union (immaterial and, from my perspective, problematical) and whether league players get no enjoyment playing union. Those lucky enough like Luke Rooney to get the big contracts can cry all the way to the bank. Footballers in all the codes have a very short career. The average professional rugby career is 4 years. Some players can stretch this out to a decade or so. But they are the exceptions. They will go where the money is. Daniel Carter is being paid by Toulouse $1 million for about three-quarters of a season's play next year. Toulouse will get this money back in gate receipts and in selling Carter-sponsored boots and jerseys etc a la David Beckham, but on a much smaller scale. Players in all the football codes (except AFLplayers, aside from the occasional kicker in the NFL) especially once they're married and have played at the top international level, will go where the money is. What league is going through now, or beginning to go through, replicates what union went through in the years up to professionalism in 1996. You should read about the anguish in rugby ranks in the late 1940 when the great Trevor Allen was being enticed away from rugby to rugby league in the UK, the latter-day equivalent of French rugby. Allen's father even put notices up at Milner Field saying that his son would not defect. But Allen was recently married, had captained the Wallabies successfully in NZ in 1949 winning the Blediisloe Cup there for the first time, and had a job carting ice. It would have been stupid (in terms of the family's financial security) for him to do anything else but take up the league offer in the UK, even though he loved playing rugby union rather than league (in a mirror image of Brad Fittler) How long the raid by French clubs, particularly, on rugby union and increasingly on rugby league stars will last? The French national side is already suffering from foreigners playing in key positions instead of the locals. Brive has just signed up Andy Goode, a journeyman and over-weight English five-eights. This is an indication that there is no sense of national pride with the French clubs, only their own short term interests. My guess is that the raid by cashed-up French rugby clubs on league stars, particularly, has just really started and has a long way to run.
Dave Gilbank
Guest
Its a shame when the lure of money overshadows the passion to run with the ball. Ask Brian Carney. He's playing for Munster (if you didn't already know) and stands out in the cold (when he's selected) doing nothing. I would say he touches the ball once a game (Get this, when he actually gets the ball, the commentators scream that he never passes it - I kid you not -). European Rugby Union is devastatingly boring. Watch the last Heinnekin Cup final. Kick. lineout. Kick lineout. Kick lineout. Oooh, run. Scrum. Kick. Lineout. Lineout again. Kick. ooh run. knock on. Scrum. Scrum. Scrum. Scrum. Scrum. Scrum. Kick.....penalty goal. Kickoff and so on. (Kick lineout.) Let them go. Who cares. The game doesn't need 'em. Has-beens or greedy numpties with triceratopped-sized brains. Someone tell them how they'll catch pneumonia standing out on the wing or outside backs. Someone tell them they don't speak English in France. Someone tell them how forward-based the French game is. "But it's a different Kul-ture, mate". Yes, that's right. They make Jamaicans look like workaholics. They smoke loads of fags, they drink copious amounts of red wine and are bloody nasty to foreigners (except the Germans). The louvre is nice, though. So, go for some kick-lineout-scrum-scrum (or "scrum-scrum" for short) in Francais. If you make the top grade or even enjoy it - then the money is a bonus. If you don't make the conversion, then compare your CV to Wendell Sailor's in a few years. What a waste. PS love this quote from Peter Fox (English Rugby League coach) "Rugby Union is the only game where the ball spends more time in the crowd's hands than in the players." Wha-hay! PPS lets race to see who's the first to quote TV ratings figures or crowd numbers...OK? On your marks, get seeettt...GO!
Warren Goldsmith
Guest
Fittler should know he sold out for the Bondi bucks.