Rugby league supporters should expect to see a whole lot more English talent joining Sam Burgess, James Graham and Gareth Widdop in the NRL in the next few years.
The trickle that has occurred in recent seasons is about to turn into a flood. The success of the Burgess quartet at Redfern, along with the barnstorming front row play of James Graham at Belmore, has paved the way for more Poms to move south.
But it’s not just the performances of those individuals, along with past players like Adrian Morely and Gareth Ellis, that has got NRL clubs salivating.
The gap between the NRL and the English Super League is widening. The NRL is cashed up with its $1 billion broadcast deal and is ready to expand. The salary cap is increasing and the Aussie dollar remains remarkably high.
Meanwhile, in the UK, Super League struggles. The English economy is in the toilet, the competition is without a naming rights sponsor and there is clear gap between the top half and the bottom half.
Several clubs have struck financial difficulties in recent times and talk of another restructure of the 14-team comp has begun. A wave of uncertainty surrounds Super League, even though the World Cup will be staged there later this year.
With Australian clubs cashed up and looking for the best talent in the world, English players are chomping at the bit to make the move down under.
They can earn a lot more in Australia now, even the middle-rung players, can enjoy a great lifestyle and test themselves against the best players in the world. Bradford or Bondi, Castelford or Cronulla is hardly a brain-teaser.
Several NRL player agents are strengthening their links in the UK to tap into the best English talent.
One agent told me: “The salary cap here will eventually get to around seven million dollars. We now have players here on million dollar contracts. The NRL have also stated they want the world’s best players, playing in our competition and are prepared to look at ways to entice them to our game.”
“The structure of the salary cap is about to be reviewed to see how we provide more opportunities to attract the best players.”
Already Wigan and England forwards Lee Mossop and Gareth Hock are joining Parramatta next season, with Warrington’s prop Mike Cooper signed by St George Illawarra.
There’s strong speculation that Hull’s prolific try-scorer, England international Tom Briscoe, will also enter the NRL, along with superstar Sam Tomkins.
Rumours abound that Tomkins, dubbed by some to be England’s version of Billy Slater, is headed to the New Zealand Warriors.
Others reportedly in the NRL’s sights are Leeds’ Kallum Watkins, Castleford’s Rangi Chase and Wigan’s Liam Farrell.
There’s also quite a few more in Super League who have the skill and toughness to potentially do a job in Australia such as James Roby, Eorl Crabtree, Josh Hodgson, Sean O’Loughlin, Josh Hodgson, Chris Hill, Stefan Ratchford, Josh Charnley, Michael McIIorum, Zak Hardaker and Leroy Cudjoe.
Already there’s a number of other Poms in the NRL system and associated competitions – Scott Moore at North Queensland, James Hanson at Manly, Matthew Russell at Gold Coast and England internationals such as Bronco Jack Reed, Tiger Chris Heighington and future Dragon Gareth Widdop.
There could be an entire English representative XVII in the NRL by 2015.
Exactly what affect the loss of these players will have the Super League remains to seen. Smartly, English clubs have been focusing on their academies and junior development to produce the next crop of stars.
While a drain of players to Australia could hurt Super League, it should help the performance of the England national team. And surely it is better for UK talent to head to the Antipodes and stay in rugby league, rather than to English rugby union and leave the sport entirely as Owen Farrell, Chris Ashton and Joel Tomkins have done.
For decades English players in Australian rugby league have made an impact, although sporadically. The greatest in the past have included Malcolm Reilly, Garry Schofield, Jonathan Davies, Denis Betts, Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah, Kevin Ward and others.
Now the English influence is set to become more permanent. The NRL has the best Kiwis and Pacific Islanders playing in it, why not the Poms too?
Follow John Davidson on Twitter @johnnyddavidson
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
The income from the SOO ,the interest from the players,the fans.the sponsors,the TV stations all suggest the importance of the series,and for a shorter period the NRL clubs are disadvantaged giving young up and commers experience and providing a growing experienced player pool. The Baby Broncos beat an NRL side,when they had a large number of their top liners inovlved in SOO. To an outsider it may appear as a glorified exhibition match,yet it rates its proverbials off in this country and the Pacific islands it is popular.Melbourne has shown its interest with the Tv ratings. You had SSO footy,and the clubs showed little interest,that is not rl's problem. Devaluing the bread and butter WTH.It is the cream at the top of the entertainment cake of rugby league in this country.Club/State/Country and All stars as a piece de resistance. That is the beauty of the code,Three levels of the code at which players can aspire and indeed fans can take their pick. A TV/telecommunication's deal in both this country and NZ approaching $1.3bn (partly due to the SOO) is madness LOL.Then I hope the howling at the full moons continue,as the money rolls in.So the income from SOO is worth it and indeed the exposure it provides in non NRL states and countries. and there are millions of outsiders thus exposed.
Ray Micallef
Roar Rookie
Interesting article I always watch Super Legue games on Fox with interest. Is the quality any good? - the quality of the games ive watched have been awesome! Just as entertaining as NRL games Are there people at the games? - crowds seem to be OK. Lets face it, some NRL matches have pretty poor attendances. They are up against the might of the EPL so thats a tough one to go up against. At least they sing more than Aussie crowds.. Its great to have top English talent make its way to the NRL. How great was Ellery Hanley for Balmain! Why wouldnt the players want to better their careers in the best league competition in the world.. But i think there needs to be another quality competition in the world. Long way before Rugby League is truly a world game but lets hope the Super League gets its act together for the sake of Rugby League
Razza
Guest
SO WHAT. We had enough of them out here from the 70's on, I would call it fair exchange, or what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Has anyone told Paul Revere, that "THE ENGLISH ARE COMING" ???. "GO THE EAGLES"
Ian M
Guest
I would take Eastmond over Tomkins for the Warriors if both were available. Tomkins is a full back, it would be like playing Billy Slater in the halves. On past experience, Tomkins would put on about 20kgs during Warriors pre-season training and lose all the pace that makes him so dangerous a la Denan Kemp, Joel Moon and Wade McKinnon.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
So true. I sometime wonder if in the next TV contract, that Sky would allow one of the free to air channels to showcase one game a round (even if free), to help build your audience. Might take some time to rate, but it would have to help in building support for the game.
Adam Everitt
Roar Rookie
There are many reasons why Super League is struggling in certain areas. As the main article states, the economy is all over the place and finding any major sponsorship is proving difficult. What the article doesn't state however is that the Super League have plenty of partners plowing money into the game; however, just how much that is seems to be a closely guarded secret. The lure of the NRL is huge. We've seen some of our best players go over and do extremely well, and we've seen some do OK. The question we should be asking is: Why does the governing body make a profit year-on-year yet the majority of individual clubs remain insolvent? Instead, we bury our heads in the sand and diverting peoples' attention away from the real issues by discussing a league re-structure that, without major investment from Sky (our TV broadcaster) and other outlets, will not help much to solve the problem anyway.
jonesy
Guest
survival of the fittest. let's cull some clubs back to 2nd division.
jonesy
Guest
to be fair, oikee makes the league section of the site in my opinion. always generates good responses and as an expat living in the states, i see where he is coming from. some of these clubs/ leagues are run so poorly the word professional shouldn't even be used in the same sentence. the reason why nrl clubs struggle to make money is that there are too many sydney teams. you don't need to be a genius to work that out. for all the talk of loyalty and passion for these sydney teams, money talks, and at the moment, some clubs only exist through hand-outs. where are all the fans?how is that a viable business model?
jonesy
Guest
totally agree oikee
peeeko
Roar Guru
thanks for that Mick,his trambles lower the whole level of conversation on this otherwise great website. i notice he hasnt responded to your facts
peeeko
Roar Guru
hayne and sims were born and bred in nsw unlike many qls players. perhaps the fact that qld have won the last 7 series has something to do with ticket sales. would they have won 7 series in a row if inglis was playing for his home state of NSW?
peeeko
Roar Guru
agree on London, its profft that sometimes expansion doesnt work
Stephen Martin
Guest
The biggest loss to English League in recent years was Kyle Eastmond leaving St Helens for Bath. Although he's on the England tour to Argentina this summer, playing at outside centre in Union instead of half-back in League means he only gets about five touches a game. He'd be worth a punt from an NRL club, he's the best English half-back in a generation (not saying much, admittedly).
John
Guest
Rugby Union is hardly massive anywhere in England and has little effect on Rugby league, Football is the main problem for all UK sports.
Brendan Bradford
Roar Pro
Sam Tomkins would be massive for the Warriors if they can get him. Shaun Johnson needs a stronger halves partner than Thomas Leuluai - ironically, Leuluai was very good in England.
Chairman Kaga
Guest
Sounds like the Liberal-National party spruikers.
Daniel Szabo
Roar Guru
do you read your comments before you post them?
eagleJack
Guest
From "oikees world". The beauty about getting facts and figures from "oikees world" is that they can change at any stage to suit your mood or argument. They can never be wrong.
mick h
Guest
where do you get your figures from game one in sydney has sold in excess of 68,000 tickets
Chairman Kaga
Guest
Technically it might be there now. But to get the salaries right up, just get rid of the salary cap system. Let the market work out who is on top and possibly have a division two, for the clubs that want to keep running around but do not have the capital. An 8, 10 or 12 team elite league with loads of money and a 2nd league for the plodders.