Re: NRL off contract for 2014 season : Sun Mar 10, 2013 3:37 pm
Dux wrote:
People say that, and they may, to an extent, mean it. But ultimately money talks, especially if you're in an industry where your top wage-earning lifespan is limited to about ten years.
It is no coincidence that so many top British players are suddenly so keen on 'trying out a new lifestyle' and 'testing themselves in the best competition in the world' at a time when the Aussie dollar is strong and the NRL is cashed up beyond belief. Despite all of the attractions that playing in the NRL and living in an antipodean climate has, we only lost about three good players to Australia in a decade when the pound was strong.
Similarly, I can hardly think of a singe high-profile overseas import to SL in the years 1995-8, which happened to be the time that big contracts were being handed out down under because of the Super League war.
I'm not suggesting that players are obsessed with money. I'm just saying that however exciting the idea of a change of scenery and a new challenge might be, a move overseas is still a very difficult decision to take, and one that very few people will go for if it puts them at a financial disadvantage.
We may be able to get Aussies to come over, but ultimately we'll have to overpay them and they won't be of the calibre that we've grown used to over the last ten years.
It is no coincidence that so many top British players are suddenly so keen on 'trying out a new lifestyle' and 'testing themselves in the best competition in the world' at a time when the Aussie dollar is strong and the NRL is cashed up beyond belief. Despite all of the attractions that playing in the NRL and living in an antipodean climate has, we only lost about three good players to Australia in a decade when the pound was strong.
Similarly, I can hardly think of a singe high-profile overseas import to SL in the years 1995-8, which happened to be the time that big contracts were being handed out down under because of the Super League war.
I'm not suggesting that players are obsessed with money. I'm just saying that however exciting the idea of a change of scenery and a new challenge might be, a move overseas is still a very difficult decision to take, and one that very few people will go for if it puts them at a financial disadvantage.
We may be able to get Aussies to come over, but ultimately we'll have to overpay them and they won't be of the calibre that we've grown used to over the last ten years.
They will still come though. The one club thing is an important factor. A lot of players, having been with a club for most of their life and suddenly cut by that club, would rather come to the UK and play in SL than play for another NRL club.
We'll still pick up the odd sex pest, alcoholic or alround naughty boy as well, provided they haven't broken too many actual laws.
