Greg Inglis

[Brutus]

George Gregan admitted this morning on 2KY that the French RU comp is really not that popular. A caller quoted a crowd average of 9,500 (boosted heavily by 2 clubs) and a TV deal far less than what the NRL gets in Australia.

He admitted rich benefactors are where all this money is coming from. I was surprised he was so honest about it. Good on him.

He also said the NRL should look at opening up the salary cap and allowing rich people into our game.

I tend to agree.

 

[Ice777]

Inglis sounds dumb, but he's not that stupid. As if he's going to come out in the media and say "give me more money or I'm going to union or ESL":lol:

Err that's exactly my point, he hasn't said anything like that and until he's directly quoted as saying it you're just guessing.

f**k me Cameron Smith has said he's going to weigh up everything next contract and that includes maybe returning to be closer to his family, is he threatening the Storm as well by saying he'll weigh up his options? :sarcasm:

 

[bartman]

He also said the NRL should look at opening up the salary cap and allowing rich people into our game.

I tend to agree.

Fine in theory, but I can't think of many rich people that are currently "not allowed" to be part of the game - Packer and Murdoch certainly were, Delmege is with Manly, PHaC and Rusty came in with Souths, Brisbane has it's crew of local identities...

The only rich guy I can think that wanted to be involved was Singo, and that wasn't to be a benefactor for the love of the game, but rather as a mere business decision that would benefit his other investments on the central coast. And we need to remember he's been involved in teh game before anyway.

The issue is more are there enough rich people not involved but that would want to be, or is this higher player salary stuff (mostly coming from the mouths of players and their managers with vested interests) just pie in the sky stuff? I'm yet to see much evidence of the supposed marketing demand for our game or players coming from elsewehere too.

 

[Eels Dude]

George Gregan admitted this morning on 2KY that the French RU comp is really not that popular. A caller quoted a crowd average of 9,500 (boosted heavily by 2 clubs) and a TV deal far less than what the NRL gets in Australia.

He admitted rich benefactors are where all this money is coming from. I was surprised he was so honest about it. Good on him.

He also said the NRL should look at opening up the salary cap and allowing rich people into our game.

I tend to agree.

If rich benefactors go into french rugby, then what's to stop them walking out just as easily. It's just a hobby to them and as soon as a lot of them get bored they'll move onto something else. French Rugby could be a genuine threat to the NRL, or it could just be a trend which will last a few years at most. These rich blokes are not going to keep throwing money into it forever when all it does is lose them money.

 

[Perth Red]

That happened at Hull. A rich backer came in, spent a couple of seasons and then walked away and left the club bankrupt, same with london. Rich sugar daddys are not always the answer!