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Rugby Australia to target top NRL talent

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,211
People saying that a smaller number of signings won't have an effect need to look a little closer.

A lot depends on what team you support.
No secret who my team is so.....

Union
Wendel Sailor
Lote Tiquiri
Brad Thorn (to a lesser extent because he wanted to leave the first time he had little choice the second time)

afl
Israel Folau
Karmichael Hunt

These are star players and very difficult to replace especially in the short term. I sure as shit noticed them missing. Supporters of other clubs not so much .

The afl signed Hunt and Folau to stop them playing league. Cost them a bit of money but imo that was the main reason for their signings.

The NRL is Mike Tyson. The aru is Trevor Berbick. What happened there?

Lote and Dell came back to RL.

Lets say a club wants to get some Rugby winger and throw like $700k at them. There is no way you are re-signing them on the books for anything like that.

Not to mention current players who would get the shits at a ring in getting more, So clubs I don't see doing it generally
 

taste2taste

Juniors
Messages
2,343
If they put in cap exemptions I'd like to see it for over seas players only, there's too much potential for it to be rorted if it includes Australian players.

The area we need to be concentrating on is signing the best players out of school. If we continue getting the best it will keep union in our rear view mirror. As others have pointed out there are few If any Wallabies who would be stars in the NRL, that's because we already get the best talent at school boy level.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,111
If they put in cap exemptions I'd like to see it for over seas players only, there's too much potential for it to be rorted if it includes Australian players.

The area we need to be concentrating on is signing the best players out of school. If we continue getting the best it will keep union in our rear view mirror. As others have pointed out there are few If any Wallabies who would be stars in the NRL, that's because we already get the best talent at school boy level.
Yep getting the juniors is the best approach

Quade cooper will be playing half back for the wallabies in their next world cup
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,111

This looks like another Israel Folau situation.

“Meanwhile, the other half could be dependent on the size of the 15-man code’s next broadcast contract.”
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,111

In recent years he has played rugby, AFL and rugby league, all at the highest levels of school sport and elite junior academies in these respective sports, all at the same time. There is no doubt he has a future in any one of these sports. We actually went and met with the Sydney Swans development staff to discuss his future. We both agreed he could make it in either code, but the time had come for him to specialise in one game.

guys looks like a future star
 

THE CHAMP

First Grade
Messages
8,359
Lote and Dell came back to RL.

Lets say a club wants to get some Rugby winger and throw like $700k at them. There is no way you are re-signing them on the books for anything like that.

Not to mention current players who would get the shits at a ring in getting more, So clubs I don't see doing it generally
I wonder how Darius Boyds team mates felt about him getting 800k + for doing f**k all when he finished at the Broncos
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,211
I wonder how Darius Boyds team mates felt about him getting 800k + for doing f**k all when he finished at the Broncos

Well he went out with a spoon, Not sure if that played into it but him and Milford stealing a good salary wouldn't of helped
 

THE CHAMP

First Grade
Messages
8,359
Well he went out with a spoon, Not sure if that played into it but him and Milford stealing a good salary wouldn't of helped
As you can see the situation you are talking about is going to happen anyway.

The afl signed Hunt and Folau to damage rugby league. The damage wasn't severe but damage.
 

Canard

Immortal
Messages
35,547
Darius has taken shits that have achieved more in RL then 90% of anyone that ever played the game, let alone the Broncos.

340 games of NRL
28 ganes for QLD
23 games for Australia

Take your hand off your dick if you think he is anyway comparable to signing some numpty from Union.

Hunt and Folau leaving had zero impact on RL, and hugely damaged the AFL reputation wise. Both ended up being total basket cases anyway.
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,211
As you can see the situation you are talking about is going to happen anyway.

The afl signed Hunt and Folau to damage rugby league. The damage wasn't severe but damage.

We are pretty much only talking about wingers that could make the change. The odd forward but that would be on the cheaper scale.

Not sure any NRL team is making an untried winger the highest paid in the game,
 

gerg

Juniors
Messages
2,481
The downward spiral of Union was the increased quality of the NRL in comparison, the signing of those players actually halted their demise and that’s why they went balls deep trying to replicate it.

Like they've said, it will be limited and delicate. Likely limited to 1 or 2 players for a maximum of 1 million.
Basically, the players we've only just missed out on we won't miss anymore. Jona Lomu toured the Gold Coast in a helicopter with the Titans ceo... if this were in place back then Lomu may have been on the wing for the Titans...

Disagree. The union downward spiral had / has more to do with their own stubbornness and incompetence and very little to do with the NRL. The NRL has really only got their shit together recently. I touched on it earlier but rugby union went from focusing and encouraging 'running rugby' to 'set f***ing pieces' and referees that blew 40+ penalties a game. It has made the game unwatchable.

I played for 7 years when I was younger and my old man played when he was growing up and neither of us understand the rules anymore. How would a person new to the sport understand it? In rugby league if the absolute letter of the rulebook was applied the referee could blow a penalty every second tackle for an infringement. Instead we've all realised how shit that is and applied some common sense. Rugby union hasn't and here we are.
 

titoelcolombiano

First Grade
Messages
6,571
People saying that a smaller number of signings won't have an effect need to look a little closer.

A lot depends on what team you support.
No secret who my team is so.....

Union
Wendel Sailor
Lote Tiquiri
Brad Thorn (to a lesser extent because he wanted to leave the first time he had little choice the second time)

afl
Israel Folau
Karmichael Hunt

These are star players and very difficult to replace especially in the short term. I sure as shit noticed them missing. Supporters of other clubs not so much .

The afl signed Hunt and Folau to stop them playing league. Cost them a bit of money but imo that was the main reason for their signings.

The NRL is Mike Tyson. The aru is Trevor Berbick. What happened there?
I'd add Jarryd Hayne and Sam Burgess to that list. It's not a good look when stars are leaving the game.

I don't want us to waste money on established Union stars. Out of this new rule (if it does become a new rule), I'd like us to use the money to look at promising juniors more in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, NZ, England and France. They won't cost much but could not only pay off as a player source for the NRL but also benefit the international game immensely.

The other benefit is that even if we land zero established stars (which as I said, shouldn't be the goal here), the RU player managers will play RU off against the threat of RL making them overpay for their players.
 

titoelcolombiano

First Grade
Messages
6,571
It's guys like these that AFL will target in Qld and NSW. Thankfully Bulldogs snared him
AFL will continue to lose the 50/50 prospects in NSW and QLD because money can't buy hearts and minds. So happy that the NRL is at least considering a SEQ Western Corridor side at some stage down the track to play in the NRL alongside the Broncos, Dolphins and Titans. It ensures the NRL continues winning the hearts and minds in SEQ for generations to come against any code, not just the AFL.
 

THE CHAMP

First Grade
Messages
8,359
We are pretty much only talking about wingers that could make the change. The odd forward but that would be on the cheaper scale.

Not sure any NRL team is making an untried winger the highest paid in the game,
Isn't this bloke talking to the chooks on 500k?
 

THE CHAMP

First Grade
Messages
8,359
Darius has taken shits that have achieved more in RL then 90% of anyone that ever played the game, let alone the Broncos.

340 games of NRL
28 ganes for QLD
23 games for Australia

Take your hand off your dick if you think he is anyway comparable to signing some numpty from Union.

Hunt and Folau leaving had zero impact on RL, and hugely damaged the AFL reputation wise. Both ended up being total basket cases anyway.
You are the idiot stating team mates will get the shit with what these union signings are getting but I have already given you an example of how it's been happening internally for years.

If we sign their elite talent we are crippling their product which is only good for rugby league. Hunt and Folau leaving did have an impact you're just too stupid to see it.
That and you're a union fan that wants the NRL to stop beating the shit out of it
 
Last edited:

gUt

Coach
Messages
16,935
Hunt and Folau leaving generated headlines and not much else. It was a feed-the-chooks exercise to encourage the cultists south of the border that the AFL is worth a damn north of it.

As players, Hunt & Folau were among the best of their generation, until they weren't and someone else was. RL fans barely noticed and when they both failed at AFL, the whole thing was recognised to be an embarrassing own-goal.
 
Messages
11,890
True pioneer. Had he stayed in League he would of have had a better chance in the media league after life. But now he's made the L.U. headlines due to the summer season.
True icon of the G.C. Suns and future immortal


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