Of all the dumb ideas rugby league officials have come up with in recent years, this ranks somewhere in the middle, but it’s still pretty dopey.
Despite still not sealing a collective bargaining agreement with their own players nearly six months since the last one expired, the NRL now is considering a loophole in its already convoluted salary cap rules to allow clubs an exemption to sign rugby players from particular countries.
As is often the case with these kite-flying exercises, there is little detail and a lot of rhetoric but the main crux of this “brainwave” is that rugby players – which may or may not be confined to players who aren’t already professionals in the Australian, England and New Zealand competitions – could be added to NRL rosters outside the salary cap with a limit of $1 million per club.
Not that Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan needed extra fodder to laugh at the NRL’s paranoia in the contrived code wars but he happily offered up his contact book for the league talent scouts, knowing their chances of convincing any player of substance to switch sports would not be worth the international call costs.
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A similar idea was floated by the CEO at the time Dave Smith a decade ago when he made a song and dance about a so-called war chest of funds that would be set aside to help prevent players from heading elsewhere, like Jarryd Hayne joining the NFL.
Jarryd Hayne returned to the NRL after stints in the NFL and rugby sevens. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
There is so much wrong with that sentence in hindsight but all you need to know is this scheme not only was never used but never existed.
Rugby league should be thankful that it operates with very little competition for its playing talent.
Poking the international rugby union bear should be the last thing they do.
The NRL has primacy over rugby in the Australian states on the eastern seaboard that care about the two codes but apart from Papua New Guinea, is there another country where that is the case?
Definitely not in the sport’s two other traditional powerhouses in New Zealand or England while the other major rugby playing nations like South Africa, France, Ireland, Italy and Argentina have comparatively little or no interest in league.
Does anyone genuinely think NRL clubs are going to go to these countries to sign rugby players who have probably never seen the 13-a-side version of the sport to supposedly bolster their roster just because it would sit outside the salary cap?
It’s interesting to say the least when you hear rugby league zealots say their sport will always attract the top talent because they’ve got the best product.
Really? Best product. If that was actually the case then it probably would have gained more traction over the years than the few pockets on the global landscape where it has a genuine foothold.
Rugby league is a fine sport and the tribalism and passion it has built up through the Australian premiership has been an unqualified success.
But if the NRL was truly in competition with rugby or other internationally popular sports for playing talent, then it wouldn’t even be a blip on the radar.
Like the AFL, the NRL officials should be happy they don’t have to put up with the pale imitation syndrome that other Australian sporting leagues can never conquer.
The A-League, NBL and BBL can reach their absolute maximum potential as far as playing standards, salaries, TV ratings and crowds yet they will always be battling the perception that their competition is an inferior version to what is on offer overseas.
Joseph Suaalii . (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
And in those sports, when the foreign franchises come calling, the Australian sides can do little apart from wishing their player well and trying to replace them from the already competitive battleground for the best young athletes in the land.
Rugby union also faces the problem that even though Super Rugby has many of the best players on the planet in its ranks, mainly on the other side of the Tasman, the biggest dollars can be earned in the UK and France.
Funnily enough, England’s Premiership Rugby competition has a marquee player system which it has used to cherry-pick talent from the NRL ranks, kind of like what the NRL is now floating except it’s actually a rule.
Each club was allowed two players sitting outside the salary cap although that is being cut back to one, grandfathered out to when the existing contracts run out.
Semi Radradra playing for Fiji. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Former Parramatta Eels winger Semi Radradra has been a beneficiary of this clause – he is on a deal worth a reported £500,000 a season, around $930,000 in Australian dollars.
He’s coming to the end of his stint with the Bristol Bears but is returning to France’s Top 14 on a similar contract for two more years despite being 30 and coming off a couple of knee surgeries.
If he is worth that much, imagine the kind of big bucks the NRL’s younger outside backs could earn if they dedicated themselves to the 15-player code.
Everyone who thinks Joseph Suaalii will return to the Roosters and rugby league’s bosom after his three-year deal ends with the 2027 Rugby World Cup could be in for a rude shock.
He will likely be front and centre in the global shopfront for European rugby’s club big-spending bosses who have way deeper pockets and more inflated egos than the Australian suits who are taking up so much of the current news cycle with their grand ideas and pot shots at their cross-code rivals.
Payne Haas. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Broncos prop Payne Haas is the latest NRL star to be linked to a move to rugby with a switch to a French club floated as an option.
It’s no coincidence that these kinds of reports are coming out while Haas is in the midst of contract extension negotiations with Brisbane.
The NRL has enjoyed a relatively sedate time of it over the past 15 years or so without the threat of too many stars being tempted by a switch of codes, mainly due to Rugby Australia’s previously poor financial health.
But now that there is competition from home soil and beyond, league is clearly worried by the threat of losing its top talent.
It’s still pretty unlikely that more than a handful of NRL stars will jump ship in the four years leading up to the Rugby World Cup in Australia as the Wallabies look to use their expected revenues from that tournament and the British and Irish Lions touring here to poach particular players.
Long term, the concern for the NRL will be if Rugby Australia spends its pennies wisely to revive the sport to its peak of 20 years ago while remaining financially strong after the two big sugar hits on the horizon.
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Instead of worrying about outlandish ideas that won’t boost their overall player depth in a meaningful way like making foreign rugby imports exempt from the salary cap, the NRL should look at a marquee system to ensure their elite stars stay put.
You know, the ones who actually get fans through the turnstiles and eyeballs to the broadcast deals that are the lifeblood of the sport.
If each club had a salary slot that sat outside the salary cap, it would not only ensure the best 17 players remain in the NRL it could also act as a way of levelling out the playing field so that each club is able to sign a superstar.
It would in theory help a team like Canberra keep Jack Wighton by making it possible for them to throw the National Mint at him to stop a team like South Sydney, who already have a few marquee names on their roster, from tempting him away from the club that developed him as a teenager.
Brian Westlake
Roar Rookie
Maybe do the grammar instead?
Brian Westlake
Roar Rookie
Thats not a very high benchmark D... Please watch wests/canterbury/ et al for reference.
KenW
Roar Rookie
I'm sorry scrum, my point clearly fell flat there, I think that McLennan and V'landys love the media jousting, and will happily ham it up for as long as people keep paying attention. I don't believe for a second either of them believe that this is the highest priority of their sport. Meanwhile Gould is on his horse every week yelling about some 'abomination' or another. A single outburst from him on a panel show about Union is akin to the attention he gives for a high tackle he didn't think should be penalised. It's what he does.
Gus O
Roar Rookie
Would returning players be eligible? Players returning from RU late in their career like Sonny Bill, Wendel, Matt Rogers… would this provide a golden parachute to subsidise their return to NRL? Did RTS decide too return just a bit too soon?
Adz Sportz
Roar Guru
The NRL could have killed off Rugby Union in this country years ago if they were more ruthless, including setting up pathways and opportunities and convert their juniors, putting a team in Perth when the Force were originally booted from Super Rugby a few years ago and formulating a plan for cap exemptions to recruit Union players years earlier. Unfortunately V'landys was too busy picking fights with the AFL rather than putting Union out of its misery and increasing the talent pool for rugby league.
KenW
Roar Rookie
I'm confused about what you are trying to argue. RU players are as far from those benchmarks as RL players. Why aren't you including Union in your rant? Pretty much only Soccer (through worldwide popularity) and Basketball (through American media power) can match up their in team sports. So I guess as true sports fans you'd only need to follow 2 sports? But I probably won't reply again, I have significant plans tonight. I'm going to drive the world's best car (Toyota Corolla) to the world's best restaurant (McDonalds), and then come home and watch Avatar (the world's greatest movie). Anything less popular must be inferior.
Matt
Roar Rookie
I enjoy both codes. NRL for its competitive nature and rugby because I grew up playing it. While rugby dominates in NZ still, that is weakning each year as more and more kids get NRL scholarships in NZ and in AUS. I think the article underplays that out of 500 odd NRL players probaly 80 would be an option for Rugby and guessing less than a third of that would be interested in playing rugby here or OS. While every code champions they have the better athletes i think there is a gap AFL/NRL to rugby. Rugby is fixated on NRL being the enemy when in facts its AFL that have got their claws in the private schools in QLD and NSW, league has survived 100 years without private school as a feeder system. So while Rugby play this cat and mouse game with League AFL are going to steal their pathway.
scrum
Roar Rookie
Agree it is a priority but the impact on the NRL is insignificant in the big picture. V’landys and Gould’s reaction borders on bizarre. McLennan is ramping up his media statements on the back of the OTT response. NRL completely dominate the east coast media, why they would react like this is weird.
KenW
Roar Rookie
McLennan is the number one man in the RA - by his appearances you would have to assume that priorities 1, 2 and 3 for Union in Australia is to try and attract a handful of NRL players.
scrum
Roar Rookie
V’landys is the number one man in the NRL and Gould one of its most prominent personalities both at Club level and in the media. Hardly unimportant people.
KenW
Roar Rookie
For the purpose of the argument I can accept all the issues you've pointed out, but the proposal you're making would distort the cap far worse than any other factor we have now.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
Australia sucks at Rugby Union & has been going backwards for the past 30 years. Barely surviving & lucky not to be totally bankrupt as a sport here. Where does Australia even rank at an international level? Behind Italy perhaps, as they couldn’t even beat them . It’s lucky that the club rugby players are supposed to be amateur players, as no one could afford to pay them. So doesn’t really matter what happens in Rugby Union elsewhere. Here it’s dying a slow death.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
The cap obviously doesn’t function the way it is now. Clubs that all of a sudden have wealthy backers , can suddenly afford the best of the best players. No matter what the cap says. Such as the Bulldogs pre & post Laundy . Then clubs like the Roosters / South’s can always afford more top line players, without shedding any real top names . Regardless of whether they win multiple premierships , make the 8 every year & whatever else. Yet some other clubs who look to produce their own first graders , have problems even keeping their locals in first grade. Then we’re supposed to believe that players such as Wighton will take $1 million less over 4 years to go to South’s ( as he’s a top bloke ) , just looking to win a GF . I call BS! Ricky Stuart as a first grade coach currently at a club now, would have a far better understanding of player payments & contracts . Than those on here who’d try to argue a point against what he’s saying. He may not always be right, but would still know far more than the media & supporters.
Lazza
Roar Rookie
Everyone around the world knows who the world's top athletes are. They're global superstars, household names around the world and earn 50, 100 or more million dollars per year. Does that sound like NRL or AFL players to you. Sorry, I'm just a sports loving, patriotic Aussie who doesn't like being a sporting backwater. If only we had some true sports fans who can appreciate and follow more than one sport. We could have the best of all world's.
KenW
Roar Rookie
Wrong Bet I wasn't. A quick google didn't turn up your list but I would bet 100-1 at least 7 of their top 10 were from the USA, all from sports barely anyone else plays seriously. But really, is this your yardstick of what sports like or whether there are high class athletes in Australian sport? Whether foreign journalists put the players in the top 10 lists they run off when they have nothing more important to write about?
Lazza
Roar Rookie
Wrong. America's Sports Illustrated had Lebron and Cristiano Ronaldo, a soccer player, as the world's top athletes in team sports. My comment was directed to the clueless who write articles or post comments here on the ROAR claiming that NRL and AFL have some of the most 'elite' athletes on the planet. Don't pretend you haven't seen them.
David
Roar Rookie
Hi G Money, I'm 100% Ok with your opinion. The facts don't lie and i'm not trying to convert you at all. There is a space for both sports. All I was trying to do is allow League follows to know the real stats, not what they making up. The truth can really hurt. As you said most NRL fans couldn't care less about Union and the rest of the sporting world couldn't care less about league or the NRL. If it was so boring, then why is it so popular around the world? Far bigger than League. You obviously haven't watched a Union game in a long time. By your comments of ball in play. As I said in my first post, I was only introduced to league late in life. I don't know much about it, but admire your players. Would still love some NRL on our Teli her in SA to watch.
KenW
Roar Rookie
Few League supporters are under any delusion about how small their world is but many Union supporters appear deluded about how big their world is. Why do you think a small nation in NZ has dominated the sport for decade after decade? If Union was a big deal around the world this would not be feasible. Australia, where the sport is the 4th ranked football code, is still a heavyweight of the code.
KenW
Roar Rookie
So the NRL and the AFL have a huge advantage because absolutely no one outside Australia likes your sport and you don’t lose your best players? Except that there is a whole other professional RL comp on the other side of the world. It isn't as rich as the NRL so we don't lose top line players, but then again, there's not many Union comps that could compete with the NRL either. You won’t find one overseas sports site that has NRL or AFL players in any list of the world’s top athletes. So what? Show me an overseas (or local) sports site that includes any RU player as one of the world's top athletes. In team sports, the Americans would barely consider anyone that isn't an NBA or NFL player, most of the rest of the world would barely consider anyone that isn't a soccer player. If all you care about is how many people like your sport worldwide then what are you doing with RU? It's a minnow compared to soccer - you don't want to be a sporting backwater do you?
KenW
Roar Rookie
The purpose of the cap is to ensure talent is distributed and evening out the teams. It's not a perfect system, but if we don't like it the answer is to come up with a new system, not poke a bunch of holes in the cap so it just doesn't function.