Rugby Australia to target top NRL talent

[taste2taste]

So you're suggesting the NRL top up contracts for a couple of Roosters players? I'm sure nobody would take issue with that.

Regardless if the players are from the Roosters or Tigers we shouldn't loose top players unnecessarily. In the future it could be Walsh, Haas, Cleary...etc

Do you think Pepsi would let thier brightest leave to Coke a Cola for a pay rise they could easily match ?

 

[gerg]

Rubbish, midfielders are way more involved in games now than "back then". I don't believe you've even watched a Top14 match.

But since you're being the internet tough guy I'll reply in kind, you go f**k yourself, I like both sports, watch both sports, and like you claim played both sports, and I'll keep calling out b/s comments like yours because we shouldn't give delusion a free reign.

Top 14? To quote the great one, never heard of the f**ker.

I'm not being an internet tough guy. I'm basing my comments on a sport that is dying a slow death in this country because it's fanbase is turning away from the sport at a significant rate. And that is based purely on the product. I'm no different to the droves of Australian's turning their back on the sport. The only difference is I turned my back years ago when the Northern Hemisphere sides refused the ELVs. I find the game boring and have done so for quite a while. I'm not being a tough internet guy by expressing that.

If you look back at this thread I've called out posters for hoping that rugby union dies. I don't think it's good for either code for rugby union to die in Australia. But I firmly believe that players from rugby league can extend their career by 3 to 5 years by playing in a comp and game that isn't as hard on the body as rugby league is. Manu has suffered over the last few seasons with leg injuries.

An added plus is of course a potential payrise and living overseas.

I'm sorry if my opinion hurts your feelings.

 

[Wb1234]

THIRD ROOSTERS STAR OFF TO RUGBY

NRL glamour club the Sydney Roosters could lose as many as three players to rugby union by the end of the season.

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has already signed with Rugby Australia and Joey Manu has indicated to the club he is heading to French or Japanese rugby.

Second-rower Angus Crichton will be next to go. Your columnist understands he is heading to France.

Crichton was on the verge of signing with Rugby Australia before the offer was withdrawn at the last moment late last year.

He has since attracted strong interest from French clubs.

The 28-year-old Blues State of Origin forward is determined to make an impact before he leaves. Roosters insiders say he has been super impressive during the pre-season.”

 

[Matua]

Top 14? To quote the great one, never heard of the f**ker.

I'm not being an internet tough guy. I'm basing my comments on a sport that is dying a slow death in this country because it's fanbase is turning away from the sport at a significant rate. And that is based purely on the product. I'm no different to the droves of Australian's turning their back on the sport. The only difference is I turned my back years ago when the Northern Hemisphere sides refused the ELVs. I find the game boring and have done so for quite a while. I'm not being a tough internet guy by expressing that.

If you look back at this thread I've called out posters for hoping that rugby union dies. I don't think it's good for either code for rugby union to die in Australia. But I firmly believe that players from rugby league can extend their career by 3 to 5 years by playing in a comp and game that isn't as hard on the body as rugby league is. Manu has suffered over the last few seasons with leg injuries.

An added plus is of course a potential payrise and living overseas.

I'm sorry if my opinion hurts your feelings.

Mate you specifically commented on the workload of backs in the French comp and now you're claiming you've never heard of it. Make your mind up.

As for para 2 we're not discussing the state of rugby in Oz, it's a shit show, we're discussing Manu's workload in France.

Your opinion doesn't hurt my feelings, why would it? I think it's wrong and I'm watching both sports anyway. I'm watching preseason rugby right now, and will be watching the All Stars matches next week.

 

[gerg]

Mate you specifically commented on the workload of backs in the French comp and now you're claiming you've never heard of it. Make your mind up.

As for para 2 we're not discussing the state of rugby in Oz, it's a shit show, we're discussing Manu's workload in France.

Your opinion doesn't hurt my feelings, why would it? I think it's wrong and I'm watching both sports anyway. I'm watching preseason rugby right now, and will be watching the All Stars matches next week.

Oh I see. My mistake.

Going from one of the toughest competitions in the world across to a new code that I find boring is probably a good career move for him. He will probably extend his career switching like Tiquiri and Sailor did as IMO his workload and chance of injury decreases in rugby union.

 

[taste2taste]

Anyone got access to Fitzys article ?? Cheers

Why Manu won’t be the last league player signed by French rugby

Told yers! The expected signing of Roosters star Joey Manu to a French rugby club will be the first of many.

www.smh.com.au

 

[Chimp]

Let em go - but put a clause in that any player leaving league cannot return within 2 years - that way we can be sure that clubs won’t use it as a way to circumvent the cap eg 6 months in Japan/France earning a squillion (that may or may not be subsidised by rich Australian benefactors of an NRL club) and then back to NRL for remainder of year on a relatively modest contract (much below actual market value).
Also means that the players know there’s no quick route back to NRL if it all goes wrong - makes it much less appealing from a risk perspective to the player.
I’d also add, as Manu has a $1.2m offer on the table from St George, if he still chooses to leave league and go to Union, his cap value on return to the game should be a minimum of $1.2m wherever he ends up, and regardless of if the club he returns to pays him less than that.

 

[Vee]

Are you a Wb multi?

Them's fighting words!

 

[bazza]

Regardless if the players are from the Roosters or Tigers we shouldn't loose top players unnecessarily. In the future it could be Walsh, Haas, Cleary...etc

Do you think Pepsi would let thier brightest leave to Coke a Cola for a pay rise they could easily match ?

Can they easily match the pay though? According to reports Manu could earn about the same in the NRL as with French RU

In regards to future players leaving - again if there is bigger money in other competitions then that should mean that the NRL has to make their competition more popular. I think investing in marketing and juniors would probably get a better future return than investing it into a couple of established players who might go an play in another competition

 

[taste2taste]

Anyone got access to Fitzys article ?? Cheers

Why Manu won’t be the last league player signed by French rugby

Told yers! The expected signing of Roosters star Joey Manu to a French rugby club will be the first of many.

www.smh.com.au

Peter Fitzsimons article


Listen, I said. French rugby is going to start snaffling rugby league players, I said. Nah, you said. It won’t happen, you said.
It will, I wrote in March last year, ’cos I’ve just made a brief visit to my old rugby club in France, at Brive, to find that though “on the lower tiers of France’s Top 14 competition, it has a budget of about $A30 million to play with, mostly devoted to putting the best 15 players on the field every week they can.”

When the poorest club in French rugby more than double the Roosters salary cap to play with, I said, it can only be a matter of time before NRL players start turning up there in force. And on Thursday, of course, this masthead’s Michael Chammas broke the story that Roosters star Joey Manu is all but certainly heading to France at the end of the season.
What can the NRL, or Australian rugby for that matter, do to prevent such players from going to richer competitions? The bottom line is very bloody little. French rugby is rich beyond imagining, and only getting richer. And it is not just the money that will attract them.
Trust me I know, the life for a young man in France, foot-loose and fancy-free, is fabulous – particularly if they get into the language and culture – and both Australian rugby union and rugby league can expect ever more of their star players to be heading that way.
Bonne route, Joey Manu, et bien joué!

 

[gUt]

f**king hell his writing style is insufferable.

 

[Vee]

f**king hell his writing style is insufferable.

Read his books. I can't stand the prick but I love his books. A great storyteller.

 

[firechild]

Regardless if the players are from the Roosters or Tigers we shouldn't loose top players unnecessarily. In the future it could be Walsh, Haas, Cleary...etc

Do you think Pepsi would let thier brightest leave to Coke a Cola for a pay rise they could easily match ?

Plenty of players have left the NRL for rugby, boxing, ESL and other opportunities. None of them were greatly missed and the competition carried on. Allowing hypotheticals to give players another way of leveraging bigger contracts when the reality is most of them won't leave, will simply do more damage than if a few players leave. Every time the ARU buys an NRL player a coffee, clubs will be putting their hand out to stop the player leaving the NRL.

 

[taste2taste]

Plenty of players have left the NRL for rugby, boxing, ESL and other opportunities. None of them were greatly missed and the competition carried on. Allowing hypotheticals to give players another way of leveraging bigger contracts when the reality is most of them won't leave, will simply do more damage than if a few players leave. Every time the ARU buys an NRL player a coffee, clubs will be putting their hand out to stop the player leaving the NRL.

I'd argue with you that "none of them were missed " Sonny Bill, Radradra, Lauiti'iti were all on course to be the GOAT in thier positions but left in or before thier prime. So that's 3 of the games GOATS we've lost unnecessarily.

Agents are already on the phone to Union, Super League and every NRL club trying to maximise thier players contract . If a player has a legitimate offer on the table I've got no problem with the NRL topping up thier contract to keep stars in the NRL.

Luckily we havnt lost too many stars in thier prime but what happens if Walsh, Turbo, Cleary get a legitimate offer ? do you think it's in the games best interest to let them leave for an extra 300k pa ? That's ash tray money for the NRL

The other way to keep the games best players would be to copy the Super League model and let each team have 2 'marquee' players that can be paid above the cap. That way the top 36 players will be on big money and not even Japan or France could match thier NRL pay.

 

[firechild]

I'd argue with you that "none of them were missed " Sonny Bill, Radradra, Lauiti'iti were all on course to be the GOAT in thier positions but left in or before thier prime. So that's 3 of the games GOATS we've lost unnecessarily.

None of them were overly missed, you could possibly make an argument for SBW but the game went on at full strength. Radradra was entertaining but hardly a GOAT, Parramatta hardly missed anything putting Siva in his place. Most casual fans won't even remember the name Lauit'iti.

Agents are already on the phone to Union, Super League and every NRL club trying to maximise thier players contract . If a player has a legitimate offer on the table I've got no problem with the NRL topping up thier contract to keep stars in the NRL.

Luckily we havnt lost too many stars in thier prime but what happens if Walsh, Turbo, Cleary get a legitimate offer ? do you think it's in the games best interest to let them leave for an extra 300k pa ? That's ash tray money for the NRL

I say this as a Manly fan, yes, absolutely. Every above average player will be having a coffee with someone from the ARU every time their contract is up and then the clubs will be putting their hand out for some of that retention cash. $300k isn't a lot but even if it's capped at 1 per club, that's $5.1mill that the NRL have to fork out. You mention Turbo, but what about Koula? The ARU wanted him this year, he's a player with massive potential in either game. If the bonus was capped at one per club, does Turbo get the bonus (when he's realistically unlikely to go, but could use it as a negotiating tool to bump his value) then Koula misses out, then he jumps to rugby because there's no retention bonus on offer. The result is the NRL forked out $300k to retain a player who wasn't going only to lose the bloke that was.

The other way to keep the games best players would be to copy the Super League model and let each team have 2 'marquee' players that can be paid above the cap. That way the top 36 players will be on big money and not even Japan or France could match thier NRL pay.

But why? The NRL isn't haemorrhaging players, so there's no need.

 

[taste2taste]

None of them were overly missed, you could possibly make an argument for SBW but the game went on at full strength. Radradra was entertaining but hardly a GOAT, Parramatta hardly missed anything putting Siva in his place. Most casual fans won't even remember the name Lauit'iti.

The fact most casual fans don't know who Lauiti'ti is only proves my piont. At age 23 was the games best forward and left before his prime, Peter Sterling has said from all the players that left the NRL Lauiti'ti was the games biggest loss. And are you seriously comparing Sivo to Radradra ? The only thing they have in common is they are Fijian. Semi was without doubt heading to be Rugby Leagues greatest ever winger ( Youtube his NRL highlights if you've forgotten what a phenomenon he was ) I'm glad we agree on SBW but the fact the NRL let 3 of potentially the greatest ever players leave for a messily 300k pa is flat out embarrassing

I say this as a Manly fan, yes, absolutely. Every above average player will be having a coffee with someone from the ARU every time their contract is up and then the clubs will be putting their hand out for some of that retention cash. $300k isn't a lot but even if it's capped at 1 per club, that's $5.1mill that the NRL have to fork out. You mention Turbo, but what about Koula? The ARU wanted him this year, he's a player with massive potential in either game. If the bonus was capped at one per club, does Turbo get the bonus (when he's realistically unlikely to go, but could use it as a negotiating tool to bump his value) then Koula misses out, then he jumps to rugby because there's no retention bonus on offer. The result is the NRL forked out $300k to retain a player who wasn't going only to lose the bloke that was.

That example you've used is nonsense. If Manly had 2 marquee players paid outside of the cap ( Turbo and DCE currently on a combined 2mil ) it would allow Manly to spend that 2mil on other players. Manly could offer Koula a contract that would blow Union out of the water. The NRL is the only competition in the world that doesnt tap into its millionaire owners pockets. Politis, Laundry, Penn, Robinson, Cannon-Brookes could easily pay these players thier true worth and it wouldn't cost the NRL a cent

But why? The NRL isn't haemorrhaging players, so there's no need.

It's true we aren't haemorrhaging players and hopefully never do but the Top 14 has a cap of 30mil per team and rising, if Manu and Crichton are even half successful you don't think every Top 14 club is going to be sniffing around the NRL?

 

[Perth Red]

Well this thread hasnt aged well! Its gone from how Vlandys is going to bring in cap concession for some serious raids on Union talent to three NRl stars heading to Union lol.

 

[firechild]

The fact most casual fans don't know who Lauiti'ti is only proves my piont. At age 23 was the games best forward and left before his prime, Peter Sterling has said from all the players that left the NRL Lauiti'ti was the games biggest loss. And are you seriously comparing Sivo to Radradra ? The only thing they have in common is they are Fijian. Semi was without doubt heading to be Rugby Leagues greatest ever winger ( Youtube his NRL highlights if you've forgotten what a phenomenon he was ) I'm glad we agree on SBW but the fact the NRL let 3 of potentially the greatest ever players leave for a messily 300k pa is flat out embarrassing

That example you've used is nonsense. If Manly had 2 marquee players paid outside of the cap ( Turbo and DCE currently on a combined 2mil ) it would allow Manly to spend that 2mil on other players. Manly could offer Koula a contract that would blow Union out of the water. The NRL is the only competition in the world that doesnt tap into its millionaire owners pockets. Politis, Laundry, Penn, Robinson, Cannon-Brookes could easily pay these players thier true worth and it wouldn't cost the NRL a cent

It's true we aren't haemorrhaging players and hopefully never do but the Top 14 has a cap of 30mil per team and rising, if Manu and Crichton are even half successful you don't think every Top 14 club is going to be sniffing around the NRL?

I don't agree with you on SBW, I said you could possibly make an argument.

You talked about the NRL topping up contracts to players that the ARU or some other organisation is trying to poach, now you're changing it to marquee players. Fine. Your argument is still dumb. 2 players move to marquee player contracts and the salary cap then gets spread across 28 players instead of 30. You don't think the average contract just bumps up a bit. Clubs aren't going to hold out a few hundred k waiting for one of their players to get approached by the ARU.

So what if they do? The ARU tried to raid the NRL in the past and got Sailor, Rogers, Tuqiri, Cross and maybe another 1 or 2 that I don't recall. The impact on the NRL was nil, no loss in revenue, no loss in game quality. Players will leave to try something different, history tells us that a lot of them will return. Most players aren't interested in leaving the game they've played their whole lives for an opportunity to move away from family and friends to play rugby on the other side of the world. Some players will be offered that opportunity and a small number of those that are will take it. Leaving the country to work is a big decision for any person, being an athlete doesn't make that decision any easier. For many players that do leave the NRL, the opportunity is as much part of the decision as the money. The NRL can't stop all the factors in the decision and players leaving for money are not enough of an impact on the game to throw significant money at it.

 

[Brian potter]

Well this thread hasnt aged well! Its gone from how Vlandys is going to bring in cap concession for some serious raids on Union talent to three NRl stars heading to Union lol.

Seems like money isn’t the deciding factor and that international competition is for most union players.

to be fair Im not a fan of raiding the professional ranks of rugby union and would instead concentrate on the junior/schoolboy union level.

 

[Maximus]

It's true we aren't haemorrhaging players and hopefully never do but the Top 14 has a cap of 30mil per team and rising

10 million pounds isn't $30m, and hasn't their salary cap been reducing.