Australia’s Greg Inglis races away for a try. AAP Image/Hagen Hopkins/PHOTOSPORT
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to slightly enjoying the hysteria and frenzy created by the AFL’s recent brazen attack on rugby league.
But now though, with everyone on high alert and the battle lines drawn, ironically the AFL might end up being its own worst enemy.
In pledging its support for Essendon’s bid to poach Greg Inglis, the AFL is treading on dangerously thin ground and running the risk of completely alienating its own players.
The Greg Inglis situation is poles apart from Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau and funding his defection is fraught with danger for the AFL.
The smash and grab policy in its new expansion markets has been both brave and shrewd, marching into enemy territory the coup was well planned, extremely well funded and executed to perfection. It needed to be.
Fair enough, there was always going to be ridicule from some sections of the industry, however in this case, the potential pioneering impact has been too seducing for even the harshest critics to ignore.
The same can’t be said when it comes to Greg Inglis.
Two new teams, two new markets and two new high profile recruits. Money is money, but the exposure and publicity is invaluable and has landed the AFL an important minor victory in the long running war that is the battle of the codes.
This is big picture stuff and whether Hunt or Folau even play a game is irrelevant in the scheme of things anyway.
Apart from being incredible athletes in their own right, they are well and truly novelty recruits. The lure of Inglis is not.
If the AFL was to offer a similar promotional arrangement for Greg Inglis to switch to a Melbourne based club I can guarantee you right now they won’t be afforded the same autonomy from the current playing group, coaches and the AFLPA.
I wonder how big an impact this could potentially have ahead of next year’s collective bargaining agreement too? Why wouldn’t the players strike or demand far more than they would otherwise if the AFL keeps forking out bundles of cash to code swappers?
It just threatens to create an unnecessary divide, it totally makes a mockery of the salary cap, and fails to reward the elite players already playing the game.
The suggestion his indigenous background would help further promote the game baffles me a little too; the AFL has over 80 indigenous players already playing the game. Sure not many are from New South Wales or Queensland, but to use Inglis’ heritage as justification just isn’t going to fly on this one.
There’s no legal issue but it becomes an interesting moral one for the AFL. Any club can pre-list a player as an international rookie providing he had not been registered in a recognised AFL competition, but here in lies the problem, when the governing body is funding the move, the lines become blurry and the boundaries are lost.
This in a sense opens up Pandora’s box.
Every Melbourne club or any other club for that matter will find a boom recruit from another sport and request the AFL fund his salary outside the cap.
shoebox
Guest
for years that the nrl have relied on pokies revenue and so have subsequently the players there is a price to pay getting revenue from these disgusting abominations the afl should run and so should inglis a million miles away fom these putrid things bravo rabbitohs
JVGO
Guest
Because the NRL is not attacking the AFL in Melbourne, adding teams buying players etc. Do you think if the NRL were doing this there wouldn't be pages and pages of stuff against it in the Vic press.
Billo Boy
Guest
Please. With the Hunt signing the AFL hung up a huge sign saying to every NRL player and his manager that there was a motza on offer for the new Sydney franchise. Playing semantics to try and paint themselves as non predators is just a little too cute, even by AFL standards.
Redb
Roar Guru
The anti AFL PR operatives likewise. AFL fans see it for the possiblity, the anti AFL nuts see it for the conspiracy.
Adam
Guest
Talk about killing your own game, whatever happened to just playing the game? Oh thats right there's a quid to be made.
Gilbank
Guest
I will never watch AFL and nor will my friends. No matter how many players they nick. You can't win hearts and minds by paying money. Rugby Union learned that. Publicity alone will burn out your games limited appeal.
JF, "“We are getting closer to obliterating the NRL, we need to sign some more of their stars and pump more money into Sydney and SEQ, we will keep bombarding their TVs with live AFL games until they come around”" Who specifically are you quoting?
JVGO
Guest
The AFL PR operatives will never admit this. They are all spin, spin, spin.
Redb
Roar Guru
Rubbish. I guarantee there is a truck load more anti stuff in the Sydney papers about AFL than in reverse in Melb and RL. ;-)
JVGO
Guest
True. I'm not a Python fan. Your argument is then that News is RL's enemy not the AFL? As I see it RL needs to negotiate it's way between the two equally soulless corps. Hopefully we can let you too hack away at each other and then say see you later to both of you.
JVGO
Guest
They do this by attacking the attacks of other codes, same a the AFL and Melbourne media does.
Redb
Roar Guru
JVGO, maybe you missed Monty Python and the Holy Grail :-) From Wikipedia... ....In the film, King Arthur (Graham Chapman), accompanied by his trusty serf Patsy (Terry Gilliam), is traveling through a forest when he enters a clearing and observes a fight taking place between a Black Knight (John Cleese) and a Green Knight (also played by Gilliam) by a bridge over a small stream. As he watches, the Black Knight defeats the Green, stabbing his sword straight through the eye slot of the Green Knight's helm(during Arthur's battle with the Black Knight, the Green Knights body is nowhere to be found). Arthur then congratulates the Black Knight and offers him a place at his court on the Round Table, but he only stands still, holding his sword, and makes no response until Arthur moves to cross the bridge; he then refuses to stand aside. Reluctantly, Arthur fights the Black Knight, and after a short battle the Knight's left arm is severed. However, even at this the Knight refuses to stand aside, insisting "'Tis but a scratch", later insisting that "I've had worse," and fights on. Next his right arm, which had been holding his sword, is also removed, but he still does not concede. As the Knight is literally disarmed, Arthur assumes the fight is over and kneels to offer a prayer to God. The Black Knight interrupts Arthur's prayer of thanks for his victory by kicking him in the side of the head and accusing him of cowardice; when Arthur points out his injuries he insists "it's just a flesh wound!". In response to the continued kicks and insults, Arthur chops off one of the Black Knight's legs. At this point, as the Knight still will not admit to defeat, Arthur is extremely annoyed at The Black Knights persistence, and angrily asks the Black Knight if he is "going to bleed on me". The Black Knight replies by saying, "I'm invincible!". Arthur finally cuts off the other leg too. The Black Knight then offers to "call it a draw" as Arthur puts his sword away then summons Patsy and "rides" away, leaving the Black Knight to scream threats at him ("Come back here and take what's coming to you! I'll bite your legs off!"), whereupon the scene fades out. ----------------- The NRL (and fans) are the over confident yet leg-less Black Knight and its not the AFL that has cut off his legs, it's News Ltd. The NRL is powerless to stop other sports attracting their players, its not the AFL or ARU's fault, look within.
JVGO
Guest
'If RL is so superior why doesn't anyone watch it in comparison to Aussie rules.' This is the crap that gets RL fans annoyed Nathan. The Rams were a News Ltd marketing exercise. New's agenda almost destroyed RL, the majority of the fans were against it and it caused a huge split in the code. There is nothing wrong with being a sports fan but the AFL ( that is the governing body of your code I believe who you all back uncritically) has an agenda to undermine, disrupt and ultimately replace the other codes as far as possible with its own product. A lot of fans of the other codes see this as not conducive to being an all round sports fan and they object. Well the news is Nathan that barely anyone in Sydney watches AFL and of course this seems proof enough that we all must be ignorant.
JF
Guest
AFL supporter/administrator "on the record" comments - "We do not want to destroy the NRL, you guys are crazy to suggest such nonsense, we are about being involved in the community and providing pathways for the kiddies" AFL supporter/administrator "off the record" comments - "We are getting closer to obliterating the NRL, we need to sign some more of their stars and pump more money into Sydney and SEQ, we will keep bombarding their TVs with live AFL games until they come around"
JVGO
Guest
No, it's disingenuous to say you don't mean what your analogy implies, that is that the AFL would love to dismember the NRL limb by limb. When the NRL is helpless then Eddie McGuire can slip in and finish it off with a dagger between the ribs. When we react to your jibes you tell us that we are paranoid and insecure about the AFL's intentions. You are basically a PR operative Redb and deserve no respect.
Redb
Roar Guru
Well said.
Nathan
Guest
Can't understand the bitterness and ignorance expressed by league fans here. @Timelessness, you're welcome to your opinion but the only purpose it seems to serve is to indicate the size of the chip on your shoulder. I don't think the AFL are saying 'Your (NRL) athletes are better' at all, otherwise the Hunt and Folau etc would be paid solely for their playing ability. Your opinion is easily refuted by the fact that a fair portion of their wages is actually for marketing, which most aware people realise is the MAIN purpose of the exercise. And what's wrong with being a SPORTS fan? I'll watch RL, I love all sports, but it's hard not to feel contempt for most RL fans and their puerile attitudes ...when a RL team was formed in Adelaide, most Aussie Rules fans in SA that I know said 'great, another team to follow'. And the Rams didn't have too bad crowds before they were terminated, in fact they were awesome crowds if you consider a per capita basis. But RL fans, in contrast, feel threatened and resort to making ridiculous 'AFL players look like flying fumbling girls' style comments. It's so petty and sad (though I do get a laugh out of it). What It really boils down to - if RL is so superior, why doesn't anyone watch it in comparison to Aussie Rules? Geez, even the SANFL (a state based competition in a state with a fraction of NSWs population) gets crowds as big as some NRL games (supposedly a national competition).
Michael
Guest
The AFL has said Folau approached them, Folau's manager said there was an approach by the AFL. Someone is telling porky pies. Your argument of players looking elsewhere is not the player, its their manager exploring options. If my manager was to approach a rival company and say..."hey would u look into my player", and they said "Sure we'll bring him in and pay him $6m over 4 years" and then my manager says "Hey...Mick...look this company wants to offer you this to be the main guy and earn $6m over 4 years, are you interested?"... What are you going to say? Israel Folau didn't get hold of Sheedy's number and say "hey coach, i'm interested in AFL, lets get this done." This is what the Herald Sun would like you to believe, but the fact is it is not true.
Ken
Guest
I get your point and I think we should run with it. All Rugby League has to do is name it's sport 'World Football' and then the whole world should feel obliged to play it Thanks for the heads up
Redb
Roar Guru
"News’ interest is in keeping the RL viewers tuned in" So they do this by attacking other codes?