Another promising young player lost to the NRL ??

[Ant]

24 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

The main problem with the Superleague  salary cap is the fact it’s hardly changed since it was brought in meaning in real terms players are getting paid less these days.

I wouldn’t take young Pryce signing a contract extension as the end of things,it just means an NRL club might have to pay a fee,although I hope he stays in Superleague.

It also has to be remembered that wages across the whole population have been suppressed since 2001, well 2008 with wages failing to keep up with inflation in all but a few  cases

Everyone gets paid less in real terms now than they did since 2008 

[Davo5]

2 minutes ago, Ant said:

It also has to be remembered that wages across the whole population have been suppressed since 2001, well 2008 with wages failing to keep up with inflation in all but a few  cases

Everyone gets paid less in real terms now than they did since 2008 

Everyone doesn’t have such a short working career as professional RL players do  or have the ability to jet off to the other side of the world and receive such huge life changing pay increases for doing the same job.

The low salary cap & clubs inability or willingness to spend up to such a low figure is strangling the game.

 

 

[Wakefield Ram]

9 hours ago, The Rocket said:

Ask @fighting irish about coming to Sydney as a young man and his first visit to an Australian beach, I think the expression he used was something like ` bottom jaw-dropping onto ground `.

Mind you, bet the Aussies haven't forgotten his dad Leon Pryce's comment about preferring Blackpool Beach to Bondi Beach

[Ant]

1 hour ago, Davo5 said:

Everyone doesn’t have such a short working career as professional RL players do  or have the ability to jet off to the other side of the world and receive such huge life changing pay increases for doing the same job.

The low salary cap & clubs inability or willingness to spend up to such a low figure is strangling the game.

 

 

To play devils advocate, an RL career is no longer or shorter than anyone elses chosen gig, apart from a few careers 

Jobs arent for life any more, I dont do the same job or career i started at 18, for example. Very different, in fact. 

One thing we do know is that support and career planning for young players is hugely improved now, compared to when someone like Leon Pryce was a player.

The "short career" argument is a bit of a red herring these days imo. 

That's not to say I dont think RL players should be paid more, I really think they should (but then I think I should be paid more) 

[graveyard johnny]

12 hours ago, The Rocket said:

 

I remember there was a fashion around then when some of the more daring girls wore crocheted bikinis, phew !!!. How much can a koala bear !

Am assuming you have never holidayed in Maspalomas?

[unapologetic pedant]

On 12/08/2021 at 14:10, The Rocket said:

Well said. For all its` faults Rugby League as a game would be far, far worse off if we didn`t have at least one very strong, and well resourced Rugby League competition.

Believe it or not, the insular-leaning NRL does have a positive influence in France; unlike Super League or the domestic Elite 1, the Australian competition is easy to follow in this country. Much easier than any RL competitions organised on French soil to be honest.

With NRL on a national, although paying, channel, it’s very difficult to completely sweep “Rugby à XIII” under the carpet and hope that no one will watch it, even by chance.

The critique of the NRL in France over the WC postponement has been noticeably muted compared to here.

Only for pragmatic reasons of geographic proximity do the French pay much heed to England. Anyone who follows French RL will know that it`s to Australia they primarily look for inspiration. They can see in the NRL, far more than in SL, what RL could become with a fair wind.

Those TRL posters wishing ill on the NRL are ultimately wishing ill on RL. It`s fanciful to think English RL, left to our own devices, would be able to grow the game globally. 

[The Rocket]

7 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

The critique of the NRL in France over the WC postponement has been noticeably muted compared to here.

Only for pragmatic reasons of geographic proximity do the French pay much heed to England. Anyone who follows French RL will know that it`s to Australia they primarily look for inspiration. They can see in the NRL, far more than in SL, what RL could become with a fair wind.

Those TRL posters wishing ill on the NRL are ultimately wishing ill on RL. It`s fanciful to think English RL, left to our own devices, would be able to grow the game globally. 

It is a fair point.

I suppose in fairness though, one would have to consider, that French Rugby League in this case, are not the wronged party.

[The Rocket]

On 14/08/2021 at 00:59, graveyard johnny said:

Am assuming you have never holidayed in Maspalomas?

No, I have absolutely no interest in nuclear energy as an alternative energy source.

[DC77]

18 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

The critique of the NRL in France over the WC postponement has been noticeably muted compared to here.

Only for pragmatic reasons of geographic proximity do the French pay much heed to England. Anyone who follows French RL will know that it`s to Australia they primarily look for inspiration. They can see in the NRL, far more than in SL, what RL could become with a fair wind.

Those TRL posters wishing ill on the NRL are ultimately wishing ill on RL. It`s fanciful to think English RL, left to our own devices, would be able to grow the game globally. 

“only for pragmatic reasons of geography do the French pay much heed to England”...eh?

Without SL (and the Championship) there wouldn’t be a French professional RL team. They rely on England for their very existence at pro level, and given that their pro clubs play in an English competition it would be more than highly abnormal if they paid more heed to a competition they are not involved in. 

 

[DC77]

On 12/08/2021 at 21:53, Wakefield Ram said:

Maybe the chance to go and live in Sydney, play in the best league in the world, go to Bondi beach, is also a draw? It's not always just money.

The ultimate for any aspiring RL player in England must be to play in Australia, likewise the ultimate for any Aussie footballer must be to play in England. The Aussie players that do play in the Premier League tend to come over very early (Harry Kewell joined the Leeds youth system). The earlier you get them the better.

If there ever comes a time SL is more lucrative than the NRL the Aussie RL players would come flooding over here as the earning potential in Aus is quite limited. Geographically England is in a great central location (1 hour behind Central European time, 5 hours ahead of US eastern time, so a game that kicks off at anything from 4pm to 8pm is accessible to both markets (plus Africa directly below)...then there’s the Middle East/Asia market, so a 1pm kick off (a time Liverpool seem to get, this Saturday the next one) is prime time viewing there. Aus is extremely inaccessible as games there are predominantly very early morning here/Europe, middle of the night North America. England also has a cachet/prestige (as well as an anglocentric world) that results in the Premier League being the most watched league in the world, despite the like of Spain (and Italy before it) having had most of the major stars. 

[unapologetic pedant]

22 hours ago, DC77 said:

Without SL (and the Championship) there wouldn’t be a French professional RL team. They rely on England for their very existence at pro level, and given that their pro clubs play in an English competition it would be more than highly abnormal if they paid more heed to a competition they are not involved in. 

French reliance on England ultimately stems from geographic proximity. The heed naturally follows.

There is substantial interest within French RL circles in the NRL. Flip everything around - If the comp just to the North of them were the NRL, and the comp on the other side of the world were SL, French attention to the latter would be minimal.

If the NRL were as logistically within reach as SL, and Catalans were offered the choice of a place in either, they wouldn`t need long to think it over.