Young stars shouldn't be criticised for taking NRL chance

[Tommygilf]

17 hours ago, AB90 said:

And a lot of those people that complain about player drain from the northern hemisphere seem to convienently forget about the significant player gain we get from the NRL.

Each SL club on average has 6 estsblished NRL developed players in their respective squads with roughly 95% of those players making the starting, full strength, match day 17's. Which equates to circa 35% of the entire SL competition full strength 17 match day squads being made up of NRL developed players.

That seems like a bit more of a player drain than SL losing a handful of players.

True, but lets talk about the relative quality of those trades.

In Super League we have to offer marquee wages for top international talent, increasingly even our own. In the NRL, I doubt many recruits from Super League are on megabucks initially (relative to their average). Its not an equal relationship.

We've been somewhat circling the maelstrom for a while of being a competition that relies on imports to sustain quality, but is losing some of our own brightest and best at the same time. Therefore making us more reliant on the quality of import too which hasn't been consistent.

I actually don't think the competitions on field are vastly different. The physicality might be bigger in the NRL but Gold Coast or whoever wins the wooden spoon are usually only as bad as the worst couple of super league teams. The simple fact of the matter is that the NRL, in a virtuous circle, makes more out of the resources it has because of the culture it thrives in. It means they can pay an average player an average wage that surpasses most in Super League.

Its up to Super league to solve that problem by allowing investment and growing revenues.

[whatmichaelsays]

13 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

True, but lets talk about the relative quality of those trades.

In Super League we have to offer marquee wages for top international talent, increasingly even our own. In the NRL, I doubt many recruits from Super League are on megabucks initially (relative to their average). Its not an equal relationship.

We've been somewhat circling the maelstrom for a while of being a competition that relies on imports to sustain quality, but is losing some of our own brightest and best at the same time. Therefore making us more reliant on the quality of import too which hasn't been consistent.

I actually don't think the competitions on field are vastly different. The physicality might be bigger in the NRL but Gold Coast or whoever wins the wooden spoon are usually only as bad as the worst couple of super league teams. The simple fact of the matter is that the NRL, in a virtuous circle, makes more out of the resources it has because of the culture it thrives in. It means they can pay an average player an average wage that surpasses most in Super League.

Its up to Super league to solve that problem by allowing investment and growing revenues.

This is pretty much what it comes down to. 

If you want to sell the idea of RL being a "brilliant product", you have to invest in the product - which is predominantly the players themselves. 

If you want to keep the players, you need to pay them competitively. If you can't afford to do that, you need to find other, more creative, ways to keep them engaged, fulfilled and feeling valued. 

But instead we have club chairmen slagging them off in the press, supressing their earnings, making them train on "dog **** park" and throwing them under the bus when clubs want to wiggle out of their contracts. 

[Barry Badrinath]

46 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

True, but lets talk about the relative quality of those trades.

In Super League we have to offer marquee wages for top international talent, increasingly even our own. In the NRL, I doubt many recruits from Super League are on megabucks initially (relative to their average). Its not an equal relationship.

We've been somewhat circling the maelstrom for a while of being a competition that relies on imports to sustain quality, but is losing some of our own brightest and best at the same time. Therefore making us more reliant on the quality of import too which hasn't been consistent.

I actually don't think the competitions on field are vastly different. The physicality might be bigger in the NRL but Gold Coast or whoever wins the wooden spoon are usually only as bad as the worst couple of super league teams. The simple fact of the matter is that the NRL, in a virtuous circle, makes more out of the resources it has because of the culture it thrives in. It means they can pay an average player an average wage that surpasses most in Super League.

Its up to Super league to solve that problem by allowing investment and growing revenues.

it's not even top international talent, and i can say that as a warrington fan, having used marquee allowances on tyrone roberts, and austin.

That's maybe, above average NRL talent, possibly not even that for roberts

[steve oates]

On 28/02/2021 at 09:58, Damien said:

Who criticises them? I have literally heard nobody ever criticise them for taking the opportunity.

Absolutely Damian, it's a great opportunity for them, and we benefit from loads of Aussies coming this way.  The idea of much closer ties with the NRL in the other thread makes great sense. Isolating ourselves doesn't.

[whatmichaelsays]

8 minutes ago, Barry Badrinath said:

it's not even top international talent, and i can say that as a warrington fan, having used marquee allowances on tyrone roberts, and austin.

That's maybe, above average NRL talent, possibly not even that for roberts

There was an interview with Kevin Sinfield last week about the situation with Matt Prior where he talked about "what we're offering isn't what was sold to Australian players in the brochure". It was a comment made in the context of COVID and I seem to recall Kris Radlinski making a similar one about trying to convince Bevan French to sign new terms at Wigan. 

What is being sold to these "marquee" Aussies is a lifestyle move - mostly because playing in the UK gives these guys a chance to travel around and see Europe very cheaply, whilst earning a decent wedge in the process. Konrad Hurrell's and Trent Merrin's Instagram feed were full of trips to European capital cities whenever Leeds had a long weekend / week off and that's clearly what is drawing a lot of players here. 

Clearly, with the current travel restrictions, those travel opportunities aren't there and instead, clubs are asking these guys to uproot their lives and families (or leave their families behind), play in a competition that isn't necessarily as good as the one they're in, arrive in the UK when it's still snowing / raining and the only thing they can really offer these guys in return for that is more money. 

So yeah, the "marquee" allowance isn't going to ever get A-list talent coming to Super League from the NRL. In the most part, it's going to get those who fancy doing a bit of European sightseeing for a couple of years whilst, hopefully, playing their way to a decent NRL contract. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

True, but lets talk about the relative quality of those trades.

In Super League we have to offer marquee wages for top international talent, increasingly even our own. In the NRL, I doubt many recruits from Super League are on megabucks initially (relative to their average). Its not an equal relationship.

We've been somewhat circling the maelstrom for a while of being a competition that relies on imports to sustain quality, but is losing some of our own brightest and best at the same time. Therefore making us more reliant on the quality of import too which hasn't been consistent.

I actually don't think the competitions on field are vastly different. The physicality might be bigger in the NRL but Gold Coast or whoever wins the wooden spoon are usually only as bad as the worst couple of super league teams. The simple fact of the matter is that the NRL, in a virtuous circle, makes more out of the resources it has because of the culture it thrives in. It means they can pay an average player an average wage that surpasses most in Super League.

Its up to Super league to solve that problem by allowing investment and growing revenues.

The salary cap gulf is huge now, Super League’s marquee players are anyone earning more than £150k ($270k) whereas in the NRL $1M a year contracts are now common and over 50 NRL players are earning at least double the Super League marquee benchmark figure. The top 50 earners in NRL are here.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.zerotackle.com/nrls-highest-paid-players-50-1-updated-59523/amp/

[Tommygilf]

32 minutes ago, Barry Badrinath said:

it's not even top international talent, and i can say that as a warrington fan, having used marquee allowances on tyrone roberts, and austin.

That's maybe, above average NRL talent, possibly not even that for roberts

Yeah in fairness its not been that elite tier Kangaroos and Kiwis for example, but it has been the level just below that: Tongans, fringe Kiwis, Origin level players for example. Its going to take some time to reverse essentially 10 plus years of wage depression and its impact on the competitions status too.

 

[Tommygilf]

1 minute ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

The salary cap gulf is huge now, Super League’s marquee players are anyone earning more than £150k ($270k) whereas in the NRL $1M a year contracts are now common and over 50 NRL players are earning at least double the Super League marquee benchmark figure. The top 50 earners in NRL are here.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.zerotackle.com/nrls-highest-paid-players-50-1-updated-59523/amp/

Its not anyone earning over that, though that is the point of eligibility. Some of the bigger spenders and those with savvier knowledge of the cap (home grown player dispensation etc) can eek out more from it and have a handful of players on or near that amount.

I agree the disparity is now ostensibly massive. What is more worrying is less the disparity in top wages, but the difference in the bottom wages in the NRL vs Super League. That's where in particular reference to the topic raised by the OP, the difference is huge, meaningful, and if more NRL clubs woke up to the reality, no contest.