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I find that Jones position is not only biased by his past but is made up of a series of contradicting remarks attempting to make a position.
First he says that the Giteau deal has raised players wage expectation to unsustainable levels and we will now have to pay up or lose players to League.
Then he admits League cannot match the Union figures under their salary cap system so, for example Rogers toke a massive pay cut to return to the NRL.
Next the concern is "cashed up European Clubs". Well, they have always been there Eddie and players know that they forfeit the ability to play for the Wallabies if they head to Europe.
So really the argument (and the "enemy") isn't about the ARU getting in a bidding war with the NRL but how much do individual players such as McMeniman value playing for their country against a purely financial incentive of playing for a Club such as "English strugglers Northampton".
If the lure of the Test Cap isn't enough then either we need to accept that we will lose players, start playing overseas players in the Wallabies (with all the disruption in player access that involves) or accept the fact that we aren't paying market value for the second tier players and the Giteau deal will help us justify playing more to maintain the standard of our Australian player base.
The better the players the more the sponsors will pay for our product and therefore the more the ARU and franchises will have for payments, it's a win-win scenario.
I think it may be time for Eddie to just focus on the Reds and leave the politics alone.
ARU made rod for its back: Jones
By Jim Morton
January 02, 2007
FORMER Australia coach Eddie Jones believes Matt Giteau's record deal has made it tougher for the Australian Rugby Union to negotiate with Lote Tuqiri and other off-contract stars.
Jones said today Giteau's $4.5 million deal over three years had started the snowball rolling and the ARU now had to "face the consequences" in attempting to retain leading players.
Tuqiri last month knocked back an $810,000-a-year offer to remain in the code after this year's World Cup in France.
The ARU still remain hopeful the crowd-pulling wing will re-sign before the Super 14 starts early next month but it hasn't ruled out changing the expired offer.
High Performance Unit director Pat Wilson today admitted the ARU hadn't been helped by Giteau's windfall but highlighted that much of his contract, understood to be two-thirds, came from third-party sweeteners which lured him to the Western Force.
"We want to make it clear that the report about Matt Giteau money is not what we're paying him," Wilson said.
"That's not directly ARU funds."
But Jones, who has been a constant critic of the ARU since being axed as Test coach 13 months ago, said it was naive to think Giteau's salary wouldn't increase the financial expectations of his teammates.
"The scale's just been lifted and you can say whatever you want but they've allowed it to happen and now you have to face the consequences," he said.
"I'm sure (Tuqiri's) expectations have been guided with conversations with Giteau.
"We've allowed player payments to escalate out of the ordinary and now we're struggling to keep our players."
Jones, who called for the ARU to let go of Mat Rogers when he first wanted to return to league, said it would now be difficult to lower their offer to Tuqiri, who appears out of reach to NRL clubs operating within the confines of a salary cap.
He named young Reds Test forwards Hugh McMeniman, Greg Holmes and Stephen Moore, who come off contract this year, as current targets for cashed-up European clubs.
"Australian rugby has dug the hole," Jones said.
"Lote won't be the only one. I know for a fact there's some young forwards in Queensland that have been offered very good contracts from club teams in England and their expectations of what they get paid in Australia are on the basis of what Giteau has been paid and other players that are being paid."
McMeniman, who is bed-ridden with the flu and may not travel to Canberra tomorrow for a three-day Wallabies fitness camp, has been linked to English strugglers Northampton.
Wallabies coach John Connolly will sit down with Tuqiri over the next two days at the camp for his extended Australia squad of 47 players.
But he denied he would make a point of discussing his future beyond the World Cup.
Among other interesting meetings tomorrow will be the first between Jones and Alex Evans, the Wallabies scrum coach and former Reds assistant, who was a critic of Jones's appointment.
Evans has been assigned to help out Queensland's scrum throughout the Super 14, and will start his role at Ballymore tomorrow.
AAP