Time for league to pick the eyes out of vulnerable rival code, says Ben Elias

[El Diablo]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...e-says-ben-elias/story-e6frg7mf-1225907488177

Time for league to pick the eyes out of vulnerable rival code, says Ben Elias

* Brent Read and Bret Harris
* From: The Australian
* August 20, 2010 12:00AM

THE NRL and its clubs have been urged to launch a Super League-style attack on rugby union while the rival code is at its most vulnerable.

With Wallabies star Quade Cooper still considering his future amid an approach from Parramatta, and the NRL expected to receive a significant cash injection via its next television deal (up to $1 billion), two of rugby league's greats yesterday encouraged the game to direct some of that money towards rugby union's best.

"The ARU is very vulnerable at the moment, absolutely vulnerable," former Balmain and NSW captain Ben Elias said.

"If they're fair dinkum, what they could do is a Super League on the ARU. They don't have to buy too many players. The NRL could do it on its ear.

"If the game of rugby league wanted to be ruthless, they could stand on union's throat and cherry-pick their best players. Tactically I would, behind the scenes, be very cleverly accumulating.

"Make a statement."

Dual international Ray Price added: "I agree with that. They pilfered our blokes. Dog eat dog."

Of the current Wallabies, only a handful would be in the sights of NRL clubs. Cooper is at the top of a list which includes former Brisbane Bronco Berrick Barnes, Waratahs centre Rob Horne and Queensland outside back Digby Ioane.

Sydney Roosters recruitment manager Peter O'Sullivan has been a long-time admirer of Horne and Ioane and believes both would be league stars.

"Horne is an absolutely natural league player," O'Sullivan said.

"He's tough, aggressive and a good defender. He would be an ideal league centre."

As for Ioane, O'Sullivan attempted to lure the Reds winger to the Melbourne Storm on more than one occasion.

"Rugby union players would be the exception rather than the norm. You would pick the eyes out of them."

Elias claimed union was heading down a dangerous path if it was using the World Cup to convince players to stay.

"They're not going to get the money like we are," Elias said.

"It only seems to be going one way at the moment. If they're putting their hopes and heart on the World Cup, well please."

At the same time, the ARU is tightening its belt.

While revenue from sponsorship and gate-takings have decreased, the ARU has to honour existing contracts, which means the national union is effectively spending several million dollars more on salaries than it budgeted for.

The ARU is expected to address the issue when the collective bargaining agreement is re-negotiated with the players union, but if it results in lower salaries, it would make rugby more vulnerable to a raid.

 

[El Diablo]

saw backdoor saying this on Thursday Night Live last night

he sure as sh*t doesn't like the way the media ignore the good things players do in our game.

 

[Paullyboy]

Benny says some good things for league, and I agree with his sentiments, we should be kicking the union blokes while they are down - you know full well they'd kill us if they had the slightest chance.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

That's right. They'd do it to us in a heartbeat if they could.

 

[RHCP]

I don't see the point in targetting Union players whom we will have to pay ridiculous salaries, and who may not even excell at the code, just as a get square. I'd love to get some payback on Rugby Union on their player poaching over recent years, but the money could be better spent.

 

[taste2taste]

Clubs should get a salary cap exception for players from rival codes.

When we get our cash in 2013 we'll be in a postion to offer union players more than the ARU could match.

Theres no reason we cant go after All Black and Springbok's as well.

Union doesnt have many superstar players, we'd only have to poach a few of them to make a serious dent in their code.

 

[zombie jesus]

Ioane would be a gun.

 

[Ronnie Dobbs]

The RU propaganda machine actually believes its own hype re the RWC. Its a tournament held every four years and many of the teams are still minnows full of amateurs.

In the non RWC years, the players play in Oz to small audiences and nothing on FTA TV. You know you've got problems when any number of hack "comedians" & Hey Hey Its Saturday are getting regular runs on the box and you're better known in South Africa and Otago than you are in your home town.

The NRL has the lure of week in, week out tough competition. Any pro athlete worth his salt would want to be tested like that. The Wallabies are a mollycoddled group mummies boys by comparison. IF Cooper jumps ship, then it could lead to another couple coming across in coming years, but there'd only be a handfull you'd be interested in. Year in, year out RL produces the best athletes and footballers without fail. As long as this continues t be the trend & so long as the ARU continue to turn their noses up at everything outside the big end of town, then the trend as it has been for the last 102 years will continue & RU in this country will become less and less relevant as the AFL & NRL continue to be the monsters of Oz sport.

 

[Quidgybo]

I think it'd be a good move to pick off a couple of high profile Union players - if for no other reason than to fire a warning shot across Rugby's bow of what we're capable of if they screw with us. That said, I wouldn't want us to waste our resources buying every Union star we can. We can't afford to ignore our own development paths in favor of buying expensive imports from a rival code - that's how Union got into their present mess. $10m-$15m spent annually on funding an open age second tier comp (in addition to the NYC) would be an infinitely better investment than spending it buying the top 20-25 Union players.

Leigh

 

[Gaba]

Union players would be coming from an weaker (International) competition to a stronger domestic competition.

Would most of those players be able to play upto nrl standards

 

[aussie_q_factor]

We have enough stars and players coming through without worrying about buying union players. Honestly, the only player I would even contemplate would be Quade Cooper. The other poor darlings would be royally torn to shreds playing NRL week-in, week-out.

Only reason would be to stick it up Rugby. But hey, what goes around comes around........

 

[christopher]

rob horne is tiny... he's like a 88kilo centre.

He looks like a good all round athlete with ball skills and I'm sure he would be a solid first grader, but there's 8-10 NRL centres that are better than him.

Digby Ioane would have rep potential as would Quade, but that's about the only players worth targeting. Perhaps Kurtley Beale as well as his style is more accustomed to league.

Berrick is more a union player. He doesn't have the speed, strength or ball skills to play at the lin like league halves do.

Again, he would be a solid first grader but not much more.



They seriously do not have any stars outside of Cooper worth poaching.

 

[Goddo]

^ I think with a bigger TV deal, and two more squads to fill with expansion, the clubs will definately look at raiding union ranks.

I think splashing out on the odd high profile player who is key for the ARU like Cooper is ok, but for everyone else let market forces bring them to us.

The NRL is the most attended and watched Rugby competition in the world of either code. We have had problems for the last decade or so due to Super League, but now the game is slowly getting its sh!t together, watch out Union.

 

[RHCP]

Beale and Ioane could be decent.

Sione Lauaki could also go alright if we're looking at New Zealand Rugby, in fact I think a lot of there forwards could have the potential to make the transition.

 

[Thomas]

Ioane has been hounded by NRL clubs since high school. The Storm offered him a contract when he was in Grade 12 but joined the Reds.

And every single player in the Wallabies (the two porky front rowers and the two 2m tall second rowers aside) would make excellent rugby league players. The question is, would they be worth the money that would be required to lure them across?

Probably not.

Poaching established players for large sums of money didn't work for the ARU and it won't work for the NRL. Better off investing that money in the gun juniors coming through thr system than guys who have been playing another game. This goes for both codes.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

We don't need to poach any wallaby players to get one over them, we are already the big dog out here.

What we need to do is poach a few players from other nations which will give RL some much needed promotion in their home land while also helping their national side at the same time.

Pinch a Frog or two and a Saffa here and there ;-)

 

[Goddo]

^ but I really like the nail in the coffin that signing the few blokes they have like cooper.

It would destroy them. They wouldn't be able to win against decent oposition like the All Blacks. No classy star for kids to follow, sponsors would turn away, crowds would nosedive.

If we bring in a second NZ NRL side, bagging 1 or 2 All Blacks should be a priority.

 

[Thomas]

That's a much better option.

 

[Knownothing]

^ but I really like the nail in the coffin that signing the few blokes they have like cooper.

It would destroy them. They wouldn't be able to win against decent oposition like the All Blacks. No classy star for kids to follow, sponsors would turn away, crowds would nosedive.

If we bring in a second NZ NRL side, bagging 1 or 2 All Blacks should be a priority.

Cooper has looked pretty good this year, and he would be a big loss to RU in Australia. However, the most important players in RU are actually the forwards: the loss of a player like David Pocock, or any of the first choice front rowers, would be even more devastating. However, these players would not be worth their equivalent salaries to an NRL club, let alone hundreds of thousands more.


For every RU player who is poached, one NRL player would be displaced. Some of those players would likely end up in RU. A sort of musical chairs.



If NRL clubs throw huge money at RU players, the only winners will be player agents and the ATO. The salary structures in the NRL would be thrown totally out of whack, the average player would feel cheated and at worst the ARU would loosen the eligibility criteria for the Super 15 sides to allow more Islanders, South Africans, and Argentinians in - and they would qualify residentially to play for Australia in three years or so.


In the interim period, you can be sure that the IRB and corporate Australia would fill the void, just as happened when David Clarke bailed out the Waratahs to the tune of several millions a decade or so ago.

 

[Eels Dude]

Australian rugby players would just go to Japan and Europe where'd they'd earn twice as much as they would in league. I wouldn't want to se the NRL targetting rugby players as part of a spending spree... there's only so many that would cut it in league.