THE back and forth between the RFL and the NRL about the future relationship between the two bodies boils down to three key questions.

1 Who should control Rugby League in the northern hemisphere?

2 How should the administration of the game be organised?

3 How much is the game worth?

To judge from the apparent offer made by the NRL to buy into northern hemisphere Rugby League, the answer to the first question in their opinion is that they should run it.

And the answer to the third question seems to be that the NRL values the game at around £35 million, which contrasts quite sharply with an estimate of value made, I believe, by the management consultancy Deloitte’s, which put a value of around £150 million on Rugby League in the northern hemisphere.

That looks like a far more realistic figure than the one being offered by the NRL, which gives the impression of a bargain basement price.

It looks as though Super League attendances this season will exceed two million for the first time in its history, which is hardly the sign of a competition that is on its knees.

Of course the second question of how the administration of the game should be organised, isn’t mentioned in the NRL’s very short offer document.

It seems that the NRL is asking British Rugby League clubs to simply place their trust in the NRL to administer the game well when it is given total decision-making powers.

Unfortunately, in the real world, that isn’t how things happen.

For the last twelve months the NRL’s agenda has been to talk down the value of British Rugby League with lurid references to car crashes and the like, which is hardly designed to win favour from the club owners in England.

After last Thursday’s meeting of Super League clubs, Wakefield Chairman Matt Ellis pointed out that there’s no vision for what to do with the British game if the NRL got hold of it at this stage. And an assessment of their track record doesn’t convince me that they understand the difference between the game in the two hemispheres.

The NRL has made impressive progress over the last decade on the back of record-breaking TV deals and increasing amounts of government funding for the Pacific region to fend off Chinese influence.

But let’s remember this is the country where football doesn’t exist in a meaningful way and where the big TV money goes to the two leading competitions, the NRL and AFL.

Even then, they don’t have a good track record with the international game, other than in the South Pacific.

Every year we wonder whether the World Club Challenge will take place, subject to the whim of the winning NRL club, whilst this year’s World Cup, which begins in less than two months’ time, might as well be invisible, having been limited to ten nations from the high-water mark of 16 in 2022..

Throughout its existence Rugby League has always struggled to make an impact against other sports because the two professional leagues have failed to come together to create a plan for a global game and a fixed and understandable international calendar.

Despite my reservations, however, any relationship with the NRL is better than none. But if it is truly to deliver for the sport it needs to be one that respects the challenge in both hemispheres.

Therefore, let’s hope that the RFL and the NRL can finally come together and produce a vision for the sport based on mutual respect in a partnership that delivers for existing and new Rugby League fans all over the world. 

A coup for St Helens

The last seven days have been good for St Helens.

Last Thursday the club announced that it has appointed the current Australian coach Kevin Walters as its new coach from next season for three years.

Walters still had another year to run as the Kangaroos coach, while he also has a remunerative career as a TV pundit in Australia.

So to draw him to St Helens away from all that will have cost a pretty penny.

But Saints have got their man and he will be the most experienced coach in Super League next season. I’m sure he will be able to get Saints back into contention for the major prizes.

But that wasn’t the limit of the good news for St Helens.

On Saturday they comfortably despatched Castleford Tigers before Toulouse Olympique did them a massive favour by convincingly defeating Hull KR.

With only three regular rounds remaining, Saints now sit just two points behind the Robins and they will host them in the final game of the season.

That could be a winner-takes-all game for sixth place in the table and a place in the play-offs.

What an end to the regular season that would be!