League getting nervous of Union "buy out"

Elias hits panic button

Jim Tucker and James Hooper
Queenslands Courier Mail

April 29, 2006

QUEENSLAND product Willie Tonga is the new prize in a bidding war which one rugby league great fears could escalate into a destructive $10 million raid on talent by rugby union.

The Western Force, Super 14's aggressive newcomers, on Friday signalled its intent to go head to head with the Queensland Reds to grab the signature of Tonga.

The Bulldogs NRL star has fanned the anxiety in his code by claiming he's "achieved what I wanted to do in league" and would be tempted by the right rugby offer to switch.

Wests Tigers director Benny Elias, the former Kangaroos hooker, hit league's panic button on Friday because the scramble for Tonga comes on top of rugby's formal offer to marquee player Mark Gasnier and interest in Roosters flyer Ryan Cross.

"Watch out NRL and David Gallop, the Australian Rugby Union is coming to do a Super League," Elias said.

"They've got $63 million in the can and former Manly chief executive Pat Wilson (the ARU's new high-performance manager) has been given $30 million to recruit players.

"He can go and decimate the rugby league world tomorrow. Rugby will do it slyly and then all of a sudden we'll wake up one day like Super League and you've got 20 players signed over."

The Force is also expected to make a strong bid to woo Reds weapon Drew Mitchell, already the No. 1 target of the ACT Brumbies.

Force chief executive Peter O'Meara last night confirmed asking the ARU to put together a contract package for Tonga, with a $300,000 sign-on offer. The Reds have made similar moves.

The Perth-based franchise's prize $4.5 million recruit Matt Giteau has endorsed Tonga as his ideal midfield partner, predicting the schoolboy rugby performer would be a sensation in Super 14.

"I think he'd make a fantastic outside centre in rugby and would compliment my game," Giteau said.

Elias has implored the NRL to introduce loyalty contracts for top-tier NRL stars to stem any further drain of stars like Lote Tuqiri, Wendell Sailor and Mat Rogers.

"Rugby union is our biggest threat," Elias warned.

Reds coach-in-waiting Eddie Jones spoke to Tonga's manager David Riolo in London this week and gauged a "genuine rugby interest".

Tonga has said in Sydney: "If I was to go over it would be to try and play for the Wallabies. I wouldn't go over just for the Super 14, it's not worth it really.

"I played rugby as a schoolboy and I thought I was going to play it when I got older but league came in first.

"I'm not sure what I want to do.

"I'm looking for new challenges because I've achieved what I wanted to do in rugby league."

The Giteau super-deal and the Gasnier pitch from rugby at $650,000-plus a year has registered on the Richter scale in league.

"If someone offered me that you wouldn't see me for dust," Melbourne Storm ace Matt King said on Friday.

"I'd be in Perth, Canberra, wherever. That's a lot of hamburgers."

"Seriously, you're only playing for such a short time, you've got to look after your future."

Jones said the third-party deals now available in rugby had changed the contracting landscape completely but warned "provinces could go bust trying to compete".

ARU chief executive Gary Flowers remains firm that there is no widespread plan to raid rugby league.

Thanks Burgs, read same paper today and article, which follows up on last weeks Giteau 'Weekend Australian' reports. Heady days for Union and with 30million to spend (each year?) and an assurance from GFlowers that "there is no widespread plan to raid rugby league", I've found the following piece of history to throw light on the current "RAID OF THE CENTURY !"
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(from site: NSW RL-history of)

History of Rugby League
Rugby League Timeline

1895---- The game of Rugby League was born on August 29th, 1895 at an historic meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield when England's new Northern Union was formed. The first round of Rugby League matches was played in Great Britain on September 7th, 1895. The only media report was in the PALL MALL GAZETTE which stated "Professional Rugby League set in on Saturday - no deaths were reported".

1897---- The lineout was replaced by a punt kick from touch. All goals were reduced to two points.

1906---- Two significant rule changes were introduced. Teams were reduced from 15 to 13 a side on the suggestion of the English Warrington Club and the play the ball was introduced after much debate and experimentation.

1907---- Rugby Union forward Alick Burdon broke his arm playing for New South Wales and received no compensation for time lost from work.
--------- Test cricketer Victor Trumper, leading sports enthusiast James J. Giltinan and other identities met to discuss a breakaway movement from Union.
--------- Australian Union star Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger was signed by the "Rebels" and the New South Wales Rugby League was formed.
-------- The first Rugby League games were played in Australia at the Agricultural Ground on August 17th, where New Zealand defeated New South Wales 12-8.

1908---- The Sydney Premiership kicked off on April 20th with nine teams competing. These were Balmain, Cumberland, Eastern Suburbs, Glebe, Newcastle, Newtown, North Sydney, Western Suburbs and South Sydney. Souths won the first premiership.

--------- The first Kangaroo team left Australian shores to play 46 matches in England, winning 18 and drawing 6.
-------- Australia played their first test match against New Zealand winning 11-10 at the Showground.
-------- At St. James, London, England and Australia drew 22 all in the first England/Australia test.
-------- Fortitude Valley were victorious in the first Brisbane Premiership Competition.
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Please note the developments 1906,07,08 and compare them to 2006,07,08.

The Stellenbosch rule changes being currently made '06 (With Rod McQueen's help) will come into effect after the WC 07. :) McQueen has also said words to the effect that 'when union gets rid of some of its (complicated) rules, it will give league a run for its money.

All of this puts the backpage article of the QLD paper into perspective- as WTonga is the thin edge of wedge only.

ARU is coming to do MORE than a Superleague. Its the RAID OF THIS CENTURY !

I am wondering...how can a province go "bust" when the there is a maximum they can pay a player with the top up to come from ARU and the corporate stuff coming out of the interested companies pockets........much the same as it was prior to rugby becoming "professional" without the clubs and ARU paying salaries...

wonder what David Campese's view is?? he's been very quite for someone normally so vocal..

Geez Gerry, don't wake him :S
Probably one aspect worth considering is that, unless there is a significant APC rapidly developed, there is only four fully pro teams in Australia, all with forty maximum players including Apprentices.
That's 160 Players in Rugby Union in Australia.
Compare that to NRL (35 Playersx 14 Aus Teams = 490 Players) and AFL (44 Players x 16 Teams = 704 Players).
No matter how much Union "plunders" league, there is still only 160 positions available and, in reality, there are probably only ever going to be a maximum of around 10 "marquee" players per team, that's 40 elite players competing for top dollar in Australia from the combined pool of players in Union and League.
From a Union point of view I would say open it up, forget any form of salary cap because the market will determine who the chosen few are and many of them will be coming from within the ever growing Union Club ranks as they have for generations.
For the Leaguies, I think you might be jumping at shadows!

Yes , the APC is the next tier to develop. A lot of grassroots players who play both codes as juniors will be looking at the current state of rugby's professionalism, and making their future choices as to which code to play. This is the real threat to league at the moment as Elias would know (AFL also huge devs in Sydney too). In five to ten years time, the above juniors will be swelling the ranks of both APC and S14.

The big names now as per Sailor are just the 'showcase'. The names who'll come through are on junior lists around the country right now, unknown possibly to rugby.

As an example, talking to the plumber the other day about footie codes- he played union at school and league on weekends for junior club- both as a prop!

Anyone at TWF aware of how players here and in the east are brought thru the "Rugby Schools" system? Are promising young players offered scholarships to these schools? This is one area where RU may grab some great prospects. I have heard that the Force Academy has already poached a couple of kids from RL in Western Australia. True or false?
RL clubs in the east have long had aasociations with colleges, usually catholic schools, which run RL programmes. But they don't seem to put as much emphasis on the educational outcomes as do the rugby schools. That factor might be attractive to parents ( like Blocker Roach and Ron Giteau )