Nathan Brown has said that the Warriors should be receiving financial assistance from the NRL to help them to bridge the gap that they have to the rest of the competition in the wake of their Covid relocation.
Speaking on James Graham’s The Bye Round podcast, Brown explained how his former club had struggled as the pandemic put the kibosh on their junior development, and how their owner, Mark Robinson, had been forced to stick his hand in his pocket to keep their lower grades playing.
“This is only after experience being there and this isn’t me with a Warriors hat on, somewhere like the Warriors probably deserves more funding than other places because New Zealand is a country on its own,” said Brown.
“To have an individual owner that has to foot the bill for an SG Ball side, foot the bill for a reserve grade side – there’s not much expense here in Australia travel wise so I believe the game could help there a little bit because a strong Warriors would be great for the game.
“Finance is needed to do the things that the Warriors need to do. Robbo hasn’t shirked his hand once. As an individual owner, he’s never shirked his hand at what he’s needed to do as a commitment.
“But I believe the Warriors have had issues over time: different owners and changes of ownership. It would be great if Robbo could stay there for a long period of time to give them stability.
“It would be nice for the game to look at ways of giving them extra funding because they deserve it and need it. It’s very expensive to do the things that you need to do to become a powerhouse.”
Brown added that the potential pathway for Kiwi players was huge, and could be vital in keeping the talent pool deep as the NRL expanded to 17 and potentially 18 teams going forward.
“As we stand at the moment, there’s clearly not enough elite players in the game,” he said. “If we can help New Zealand develop more, we’ll have more players.
“There’s less players around than there was 15 years ago. It would be nice if we could put things in place to help there be more players so that the competition between the top and the bottom is closer.”
fiwiboy7042
Roar Rookie
NZ Rugby just cashed up (nationally and internationally) and they have RTS in their ranks, among others. Big high five there. There is very little RL junior development in NZ; ever wonder why NZ RL players want to come play in Australia? Not to mention that NZ law favours NZ teams (for example Keno CAN NOT advertise in NRL games held in NZ because that's illegal!) NZ Rugby will bounce back; we will get angry about it. I saw a photo of RTS looking dismayed after NZ lost the test series to Ireland! (AARRRRRGGGHHH!!) For the first time in a LONG time, he played in a losing side that Kiwis gave a damn about! Looks like it was a novel experience for him! Just saying .... (still mad about the Irish series, though).
mushi
Roar Guru
The sponsorship angle is flawed, it assumes everyone outside of Auckland buys the "New Zealand" angle (they don't) and doesn't reflect the competition isn't rugby league clubs, it's sports generally. The one office covers all idea is what we used to call the dumb money view of nz from outside
mushi
Roar Guru
They don’t foot the bill. It’s from the state entity grants. Nz doesn’t have one of those.
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
Mushi, they can afford to spend $25 million on a hotel but not put it into grassroots . Maybe the money from all the fines this year could go to grassroots football.
Panthers
Guest
The companies in New Zealand that provide sponsorships, are only likely to sponsor the ‘1’ New Zealand club too. As long as they wish to sponsor rugby league. That puts them in a better position than many clubs here. Having said that, their should be major backing for all the clubs who carry a heavier load in producing most of the junior talent that comes into the game. As they shouldn’t have to foot most of the bills to bring players through, to lose most of the best players without compensation. Which would include: Warriors, Penrith, Brisbane, Cowboys, Newcastle. Perhaps even Roosters ( with central coast ) & St.George.
mushi
Roar Guru
The "independent commission" effectively means it's the NRL. (Remember the funding brouhaha this year) As to what the state leagues do, we'll not much given the funding shrank and was effectively allocated back to nrl clubs. The current set up didn't really give NZ much consideration.
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
Putting his name out for a job, what a load of crap, has left or been punted from too many coaching positions for anyone to hire him,
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
Brown needs to get his facts straight S.G Ball comes under the auspices of NSWRL. In saying that there needs to be some help to State leagues which flow down to grass roots. My question would be what do NSWRL do with the money granted to them by the NRL. We have this disjoint between them but also we don't want the NRL controlling every state league either so a lot of work has to be done . Maybe the NRL should be giving NZRL a grant to promote the grass roots in that country seeing we have so many island players .
Succhi
Roar Rookie
I think the support needs to be for juniors and seniors. By seniors I mean getting some experienced quality players into the system in NZ. Like a SBW, Cam Smith, Cronk, Slater, etc - that can mentor the younger players and also attract sponsorship, media interest, etc.
mushi
Roar Guru
Well don't like his chances. Revenue went up last year on the 2019 pre covid levels but... State leagues got more than 25% reduction in funding. (Now 6% of rev goes to non nrl comps) Which was better than development of the game down more 30% (now only 5% of rev goes to developing players so good luck Brownie). Player welfare, as injuries rise and players are suffering career threatening concussions... down over 55%! (So just over 1% of revenue, but hey - we'll hold a heck of tribute if they do succumb, we just won't give a toss before hand) But hey current NRL players, and more importantly the NRL club bosses who are the effectively the only ones who can change the ARLC, are up! (Keeping them the same would have funded keeping state, grass roots, player welfare and referees the same and the some)
Nat
Roar Guru
You know, I tend to agree with this. Sure the clubs need to be able to stand on their own 2 feet but there is a plethora of young talented kids who could be steered away from union at this time when NZ rugby is at it’s lowest trough. By creating a successful Warriors can lead into a successful establishment of NZ 2.0. The NRL have far more funds available than NZ rugby so they should use their competitive advantage while they can.