Fitz File 1/8/09

Big money talks and Hunt walks

Peter FitzSimons
August 1, 2009


http://images.smh.com.au/ftsmh/ffxim..._300x486,2.jpg Illustration: Michael Mucci





FASCINATING. A lot of commentators have been opining that one of the big reasons Karmichael Hunt made his stunning defection this week from the NRL to the AFL is for the money. Gee, do you think so? Do you really reckon that more than doubling his pay-packet from a reputed $400,000 a season to $1 million a season, locked in for three years, was a large factor in his decision? Well, if you say so. Far more interesting is the illustration of the economic forces currently at work in this war of the football codes. We have recently had Lote Tuqiri coming off an annual $750,000 or so in rugby union, apparently unable to garner any more than $150,000-$250,000 in offers from rugby league. Even allowing for the ARU’s insanely over-generous contract to Tuqiri in the first place, it is a fascinating indication of just how much bigger union’s economic engine is these days than league’s when it comes to exerting pull on coveted players. And now the same with Hunt. Of course league wants to keep him but as it is, it simply can’t get any closer to the AFL’s economic firepower when it wants a particular player than it can to rugby union’s. What can rugby league do? I say: Gentlemen, lie back, and think of Australia. And then maybe spare a thought for what it was like for Ken Arthurson and John Quayle when Super League was launched at them.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/big...e#contentSwap1

A good column this week! Mind you, it's been a week of rich pickings.