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Rugby Australia to target top NRL talent

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
33,512
I don’t think there is much to be worried about just yet, right now this thing still doesn’t really exist and at least the article I read seemed to imply the players have signed on in principle but that’s different to actually signing and jumping ship.

If this does get off the ground I do think it’s more of a threat to the NRL than some are suggesting. This isn’t the super league, as we saw with LIV golf they’re willing to splash around a f**kton of money even when there is no chance of making any of it back and they’re willing to stick to it.

In terms of the impact of union it’s kinda hard to say. These things often aren’t good for a sport but it could potentially be a huge injection of cash for union.

Time will tell how it all plays out. Right now it’s a nothing burger with the potential to really shake up union and league worldwide.
If they take over the sport any profits will go to them

This is a million times worse than super league

This is an attempted hostile takeover. These aren’t passive owners

If the irb are smart they will go back to them and agree on the champions league proposal

Nip it in the bud before it ruins their sport
 

Kurt Angle

First Grade
Messages
9,723
They get the profits hey?

From an 8 team league, and part of their global revenue will be down to the TV ratings on Stan... 😄😄

Union has absolutely exhausted it's latent sources of commercial revenue;

World cups
Lions tours
Convincing the Epstein set in Japan to hand out unwarranted company dividends

No one is going to pay so much overs for an 8 team comp that will produce a yield of 0.025%

I mean $1 million per player, for a squad of what? 40?

$300+ million p.a.a in wages alone 😄 😄

How is union going to earn annual income of $1.5 billion p.a. minimum in an 8 team league 😄 😄

Saudis may be worthless degenerates, but they're not that stupid
 

taste2taste

Juniors
Messages
2,462

Canard

Immortal
Messages
35,576
Pretty sure Matt Rogers is a fairly heavy recreational drug user these days.

Last season, he announced on this very same show that the solution to Wests Tigers woe's was getting Michael Morgan back out of retirement and to play for them in 2024.

Michael Morgan medically retired in 2021, and somedays struggles to get out of bed without extreme pain due to his chronic shoulder injury.
 

taste2taste

Juniors
Messages
2,462
Pretty sure Matt Rogers is a fairly heavy recreational drug user these days.

Last season, he announced on this very same show that the solution to Wests Tigers woe's was getting Michael Morgan back out of retirement and to play for them in 2024.

Michael Morgan medically retired in 2021, and somedays struggles to get out of bed without extreme pain due to his chronic shoulder injury.
You could be onto something here, Rogers carries himself as someone who is highly under the influence
 

bazza

Immortal
Messages
30,664
the comments in that one seem actually fair and balanced.

If someone in Japan decides they are going to offer a League winger who’s never played Union $2m to be their highest paid player and switch codes then there’s not much defending against that. Seems pretty unlikely though. The NRL salary cap is ~10% less than Top 14, about ~20% more than English Premiership, Japan is an uncapped wildcard and has some outliers but appears to have on average lower salaries than Top 14 or NRL.

If Young wants to play Union then he might switch, he might even get a pay bump in the right circumstances, but it’s not like the NRL is uncompetitive with the highest Union comps.
 

Billythekid

First Grade
Messages
6,825
I think I have a few main problems with discussions like this. As I’ve mentioned previously the NRL is more cashed up now than it’s ever been in its history. Union coming to buy up all our players is no more a threat now than it has been over the past few decades. No doubt we’ll lose a few players as we always do but it won’t really impact the NRL.

To me it just doesn’t feel sustainable. Ultimately if you’re poaching talent from another code like the NRL it means you’re paying massive overs and as the NRL continues to grow I’m not sure they have the money to keep doing that. At least lot on a scale that will really impact the NRL.

It also misses the fundamental question, what is the NRL doing so well that union feel like they have to come to us for talent? They have professional comps all over the world and yet they have to come and try and poach talent from us. Could it be that the way the games currently look means that league simply produces better more exciting athletes? I think that is definitely possible and as such it doesn’t matter how much they try and poach from us we’ll keep on producing better talent.
 

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