Rugby Australia to target top NRL talent

[taste2taste]

These things often aren’t good for a sport but it could potentially be a huge injection of cash for union.

How could it be a huge cash injection for the sport?

The players will be very wealthy but how can the sport benefit?

 

[Wb1234]

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]

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

 

[shadowformz]

Talk about a revolution? Wallabies weren’t even aware of LIV-style rugby breakaway league

Wallabies players and coaches were playing catch-up on news they could be targeted to join a lucrative new global franchise competition.

www.smh.com.au

 

[taste2taste]

Talk about a revolution? Wallabies weren’t even aware of LIV-style rugby breakaway league

Wallabies players and coaches were playing catch-up on news they could be targeted to join a lucrative new global franchise competition.

www.smh.com.au

The organisers want the best Union players in the world, why would they contact anyone in the wallabies ?

 

[Wb1234]

The organisers want the best Union players in the world, why would they contact anyone in the wallabies ?

Wait they could be winning the “grand slam” whatever tf that is

 

[bazza]

Talk about a revolution? Wallabies weren’t even aware of LIV-style rugby breakaway league

Wallabies players and coaches were playing catch-up on news they could be targeted to join a lucrative new global franchise competition.

www.smh.com.au

maybe the rumour of this new comp started from the RU equivalent of the NRL expansion forum on here

 

[taste2taste]

Wait they could be winning the “grand slam” whatever tf that is

If none of the UK teams can beat the wallabies it shows what a dire place union is in over there.

Wales v wallabies had 20k empty seats, Up until recently millennium stadium was always packed.

 

[Canard]

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.

 

[Wb1234]

If none of the UK teams can beat the wallabies it shows what a dire place union is in over there.

Wales v wallabies had 20k empty seats, Up until recently millennium stadium was always packed.

Crowds for that urc comp are awful

 

[taste2taste]

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

 

[taste2taste]

Crowds for that urc comp are awful

Time for Super League to try for the upteenth time to expand into wales.

 

[shadowformz]

https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/11/21/code-violation-how-can-the-roosters-or-other-nrl-clubs-compete-if-english-rugby-poachers-target-dom-young/

 

[Wb1234]

“possibility of creating rugby league history by finishing as the game’s greatest ever try-scorer.”

Wtaf ?

 

[bazza]

https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/11/21/code-violation-how-can-the-roosters-or-other-nrl-clubs-compete-if-english-rugby-poachers-target-dom-young/

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.

 

[taste2taste]

https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/11/21/code-violation-how-can-the-roosters-or-other-nrl-clubs-compete-if-english-rugby-poachers-target-dom-young/

Young often looks uncomfortable under the high ball and defensively he resembles a new born baby giraffe.

would fit perfectly into union.

 

[Billythekid]

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.

 

[bazza]

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.

yes - just keep the NRL growing strongly. If the odd union player wants to come over then great. As long as the NRL money is similar to what you can get in other codes the crossing over will be small

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.

I think in Australia at least there is high quality competition at junior level in rugby league. If you are 6 - 12 year old in NSW/QLD playing junior rugby league you are playing against the best athletes in your area. If you are playing junior RU you will be playing against a subset of the best athletes so you can get a false sense of how good a player is. Then most RU for teens is limited to school based comps - which get a decent level of training but not many games. Teens playing RL at the higher levels will have games at club, school and junior rep level so getting much more game experience. If you are playing club RU as a teen you won't be even playing against the best RU players in the region as their school won't let them.

I would say that NZ RU would be the only place that would be similar to RL in NSW/QLD. In Europe the better athletes might be playing soccer rather than RU - and in places like England they have the similar issue of schools based competitions taking the better players. I think in the places in England where RL is relatively popular you might get the similar top level club/school/junior rep experience - but still losing players to soccer.

 

[gerg]

If none of the UK teams can beat the wallabies it shows what a dire place union is in over there.

Wales v wallabies had 20k empty seats, Up until recently millennium stadium was always packed.

I thought rugby union in the UK was pretty strong?

 

[taste2taste]

I thought rugby union in the UK was pretty strong?

Huge debt in England, they have reduced their competition from 12 teams to 10 teams and all 10 teams make annual losses in the millions.

Wales is a dogs breakfast both on and off the field, the national team can’t even fill thier stadium anymore on the back of 11 consecutive defeats. The upper bowl was nearly totally empty last week v Wallabies, that would have been unheard of a few years ago.

Scotland is seeing some success on a team heavily reliant on heritage players ( not that league fans can critique them for that ) and Ireland has seen growth on the back of being rated no.1 in the world.