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The contracting process for Australia's top rugby players is a shambles and it must be overhauled immediately.
The saga surrounding Quade Cooper is embarrassing. It's a poor look for the game at a time it can least afford it.
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Cooper was announced as having signed a three-year extension with the Queensland Reds in June, yet now - two months later - we hear he might be off to the NRL next year because he hasn't signed the ARU component of the deal.
How on Earth has this been allowed to happen?
The NRL have received a massive free hit out of the publicity when Australian rugby is struggling to win the hearts and minds of sports fans.
And the contracting system is to blame.
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The way it works, Wallabies players must firstly negotiate a deal with a local franchise and sign off, before then entering into negotiations with the ARU for a top-up contract. But the catch is, the franchise contract is worthless until the ARU top-up has been signed.
That is a ridiculous scenario.
It simply does not make sense that a player of Cooper's profile can still be a free agent so long after his franchise signed him to a long-term deal.
Wallabies players are on another level to franchise players and must be treated as such.
The current system allows player agents to drag out the process and claim their clients are heading to badminton, basketball and ice hockey in Canada just to squeeze a few more dollars. It is a debacle.
Cooper should have been signed to the ARU the same day as he signed with Queensland; that is the commonsense approach.
The Reds stopped searching for a five-eighth in June when they signed Cooper. What happens if he leaves?
Queensland went through all the right processes, weighed up their options, and made Cooper an offer they believed would keep him at the club.
They were right at the time, but the situation is unclear now and that is grossly unfair to the Reds. If they lose Cooper, there is nobody available at this late stage with anywhere near his ability and drawing power.
Many fans who have purchased season passes for next season could also feel cheated, and rightly so.
The new ARU system helps them save significant amounts of money, because the greater the bidding between franchises, the less money they end up paying in top-ups. But surely there is a better way.
I want to see every player who receives an ARU top-up on a publicly named list. We don't need to see how much they're getting - I don't care - but a public list like Cricket Australia's top 25 will cease all the rumour*and innuendo surrounding who gets a top-up and who doesn't.
Those on the public list should then negotiate with all franchises until they make a decision. At that point, the franchise and the ARU should sit down with the player's representative and negotiate both deals in tandem.
If they cannot reach an agreement within seven days, the players should be given one more chance with another franchise under the same process. After that the player can look elsewhere. Would that be so difficult?
Franchises would have clarity at an early stage. If Cooper, or others, held out, at least they could move on and secure capable replacements.
We find ourselves in a situation where one of the most exciting players in the country may defect to a rival code, which would leave a leading Australian franchise exposed.
Our internationals are as much a franchise player as a Wallabies player, because both pay for his services.
If Cooper does leave, both will pay the price for a poor system that allowed such uncertainty to enter the negotiating process.
And if the system is not fixed we can expect to deal with this sort of farce every season, while rugby's rivals lap up the free publicity.
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Originally Posted by NTT
