Japan a threat to rugby, not NRL: Searle

[charlie]

He is, unofficially.

it's no point talking positive about rugby league if you've sit of reality. get real people he is talking out of his arse.

 

[Loudstrat]

FFS. Michael Searle groupies. :lol:

Gallop was talking the game up last week. Everyone bagged him for it. FFS.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

wallaby jerseys are worth more than cash

I'm sure the Wannabes will be happy to be paid in piss-soaked rags for their upcoming contracts...

the REAL threat to the nrl might be if this proposal gets up and running

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,25116599-5002381,00.html

You can be sure that it won't suit Murdoch to dilute the playing strength of the Australian provinces and he'll want to ensure that the Jap team is a success from day 1 ( just like melbourne storm ) so where do you think he'll source the players from ...

at the end of the day the power of tv subscriptions will always win in today's world .

:lol: Seriously :lol:

Back in the real world: SA want to leave SANZAR to play in Europe, the ARU is seriously struggling to support just four professional teams, Japan is in a depression and NZ's players are all heading to Europe.

 

[RL1908]

Jap Rugby is no threat to the ARU .

Australian players are already there but only those whose international careers are over ... like George Gregan , Stephen Larkham , Nathan Grey , Toutai Kefu & Joe Roff ... because the selectors cannot pick someone to play for the wallabys who doesn't play for an Australian province .

It's not directly impacting on the ARU contracted Wallabies squad (yet), but the loss of RU players to Europe & Japan from Aust, NZ & SA is eroding the player depth of the Super 14 teams.

Sure some players lost to Europe & Japan would have retired if the offers weren't there, but by far the majority who have gone were still of a standard that Super 14 teams could well have made use of.

The NRL has lost players too, but that loss is spread over 16 clubs - Aust RU only has 4 Super 14 teams, and there has been plenty of admissions in the media since the Force came in, bleating about the lack of sufficient quality players to serve four Super 14 teams.

 

[Perth Red]

I like Searle, whenever he talks he bigs the game up and refuses to take cr4p from other sports. If we had an NRL CEO and more club CEO's like him RL would be seen as a lot stronger code!