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One hundred years ago, Dally Messenger famously walked away from union to play league, shaking the sporting community. Now, Sonny Bill Williams has walked in reverse and has achieved the same thing.
It has been fascinating to watch old NRL (Gallop) v ARL (Gould) hatreds re-emerge around “contract sanctity”, with cries of hypocrisy being thrown at David Gallop.
Rugby league is struggling with News Limited (a 50% owner of the NRL) taking $10 million a year out of the game and Gallop (a News appointee to the NRL) negotiating with News over television revenue, with the perception that the game has been short-changed as a result.
Particularly in New South Wales, the situation is exacerbated through the club’s narrow and short-sighted poker machine revenue base, which through tax has all but dried up.
Allegedly some player wages are now under threat.
The ARU’s John O Neill has stated that the Super 14 competition is being expanded and lengthened. The two areas in Australia that could easily sustain a new Super 14 team are Melbourne and Western Sydney.
The cold facts are that rugby league has been around for 100 years and has not grown out of its traditional regions. It cannot withstand their best players being offered millions to play rugby when many clubs are struggling to pay wages.
Melbourne could lose Slater and Inglis amongst others; Parramatta, Hayne and Inu amongst others, or Penrith, a whole bunch of exciting youngsters.
If anything, NRL clubs are highly pragmatic.
So which club will be the first to have a chat with John O Neill?
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