I think that the press and interest in the game generated by such signings will likely earn us more money than we put in, allowing those things to be paid for.

Think about the press a Catalans side with (for instance) Freddy Michalak, Aurelien Rougerie and Mathieu Bastareud in will get, and the increased attendances/sponsorship attachments that will become available to them with those names.

Similarly, a Five Nations competition where Scotland aren't whipping boys. Or a London side that suddenly has a host of well-known southern players in.

I'm all for expanding and promoting the game but the RFL should not be paying half his wages. Will they pay half the wages for one of our players please?

If the RFL are subsidising his wage then it could set a dangerous precedent. Would a side get support if they want to bring Eastmond or Ashton back to league? How about if Tom Briscoe goes to Union for a a year, comes back to Hull and half his wage is now off the cap?

So now we can no longer afford to take semi-retired Australians from the NRL, the replacement is to provide a pension pot for older RU players? Is a retirement home for RU players what we want to position Super League as?

I really doubt such players are going to bring us that much attention, fans, and income. If they do, why aren't the Craig Gower led London Broncos getting five figure attendances, blue chip sponsorship and significant news headlines?

Ian Lenagan is one of my heroes. He is doing so much to develop the game in south Wales, as you have described. Of course I am especially pleased that he is also a staunch advocate of having Toulouse in Super League. He is an expansionist who puts his money where his mouth is.

Easily avoided - any player that's played more than 20 games of professional RL can't have there wages subsidised.

Produce a Sam Tomkins or sign a top RU player and maybe they will.

Take Andy Farrell as a classic example of why RL should do this. RU signed Farrell from Wigan. He'd been crowned the best player in the world a year earlier - he was a figurehead for the sport. Highly respected and admired throughout RL. His wages are subsidised by the RFU and he plays a few matches, a few international matches, but ultimately he was shot after years in RL and didn't do too much. Silly RU eh? Or not.

Owen Farrell, Chris Ashton, Joel Tomkins, Kyle Eastmond all moved over to RU. Owen Farrell and Chris Ashton current RU internationals. Sam Tomkins has already played RU, his brother is already playing the game and inevitably he will probably leave for RU next year. That's the most high profile player in our game I'm talking about and I'm readily dismissing (as are the majority of people) the likelyhood of him ever staying in our game. Andy Farrell's move set the precedent for RU clubs to poach RL players and it set the precedent for RL players to seek to move to RU.

Look at Gareth Ellis. He moves to the NRL. Massive success. The NRL then are keen on English players. English players are inspired by Ellis' success in the NRL. Sam Burgess and James Graham all move over. The entire Burgess brothers move over. And now Gareth Hock and Lee Mossop are set to moves to the NRL. Can you see the pattern occurring here?

How can it not be good for the game if a high profile name came the over way for a change?

Comparing Craig Gower is silly. He was an RL player who had a spell in Union and came back to League. He didn't have anywhere near as much as the profile as Gareth Thomas or Andy Powell. Two big names in Welsh RU. Imagine though if London had recruited Manu Tuilagi. London Broncos have been struggled for decades. We've tried everything. Maybe a few big name RU converts might attract some interest in what is primarily an RU stronghold?

Andy Powell is a big name in Welsh Rugby. Bigger than any Welsh RL player we have. Bigger than any RL player we have never mind whether they're Welsh or not. We have a World Cup coming up, Wales are in it. You honestly don't see the increase in PR generated from having Andy Powell playing as opposed to not playing? Wigan have a link with South Wales RL and the Wales Governing Body. Wigan want to help develop Wales as a nation and provide a pathway for Welsh kids to make it into Super League following the collapse of the Crusaders. Can you still not see the benefit of Wigan signing Andy Powell?

According to Sam Tomkins, in his Daily Mail column, it's not happening anyway.

The moves of Ashton, Tomkins, Eastmond had nothing to do with Farrell. You might guess from my location and sig that I've got a bit of an inside line on Ashton in particular. As to Owen Farrell, great, lets offer deals to retired players with good genetics between them and their partners, to live in RL areas, on the condition they procreate.



Was Ellis the first English player to go to the NRL?





Craig Gower was an Australian RL SOO and international, and Italian RU international. A great name in both sports. Particularly compared to Andy Powell.
Interesting you should mention Gareth Thomas. We got some press headlines from him, but did he cause great success at his club?



Andy Powell is a past it has been. I would rather we did not waste the limited financial resources of our sport on his pension pot.

There has to be marketing, youth development, community coaching, etc i.e investment in the future, and a product to sell now.

Some of the best rugby players in the world aren’t playing in our comp. If we want the best rugby comp we need to bring some of them in.

We cant always be planning for the future, there has to be both investment in the future and in the here and now.

because Gower was a league player to start off with, who couldn't get into the Australian side and so became a mercenary for Italy? He also wasn't (and isn't) particularly good.

compared to some of the players mentioned who a) are high-profile, b) are internationals from where they were from, and c) aren't just RL players coming home.

As for saying SL would be a 'retirement home' for RU internationals.

1. Some RU players can still be succesful & make the transition at 30.

2. Large numbers of players mentioned previously are much younger than that.

3. The publicity from their signings is probably more important than how well they play.

You could say exactly the same about NRL players. Is it what we want our competition to be?

How did you calculate the value of the publicity? Did you compare it only to "how well they play" or did you compare it to the cost of bringing them in, and compare that to the cost of the things we wouldn't be able to do because we'd spent the money on an RU pension fund?

Is bringing in an almost retired RU player really an investment in the here and now?

We've spent years trying to stop SL becoming a retirement home for NRL players, but now seem to want to just replace those with RU players

Don't have an issue with League clubs trying to lure big name Union players, nor do i have an issue with the RFL helping to fund this.

If we were talking about, say, Sam Warbuton for arguments sake, then great. I'm all for it.

The question I have is how big a name is Andy Powell nowadays? As far as i can see, the only things he has done of note in recent years haven't been on the rugby field, or generated good publicity.

If Wigan or anybody for that matter want to sign a 32 year old RU player, who is demanding wages so high that the RFL have to help out, then personally i would want a bigger name/better ambassador than Andy Powell.

Bringing the best players and biggest names is an investment in the here and now. You can disagree that Powell would be one of the better players or bigger names, that’s your prerogative, but its not really our decision to make. It is the decision of the club.

Bit on the older side but a good ball player none the less. Has had some very bad off field incidents but i cant imagine Wane being overly concerned about that. I imagine he will be on a decent wedge, interesting to see how they play their squad now.

Good spin for the RLWC too as he will be a big name straight into the Welsh team and no doubt used by Wigan to promote League more in South Wales especially with one of their feeder teams down there.

Good publicity for League!

Would it not be better for SL clubs to try and attract some of the younger players from RU (like Wigan already do). For example a 19 year old let go by say Saracens etc and for only half of their wage to count on the cap until they are 21+.

I think a few posters are getting irate at the idea of 'Wage subsidy for Wigan'

obviously were this done, it wouldn't be a case of 'here you go Wigan, have some money'. But rather that a pot was available to offer some support to clubs making signings from RU, and the RFL would dole that money out based on how critical it was for the signing to occur, and how good the signing would be.

So if Widnes could sign Dan Carter, but would need 250k of a 1m PA pot, it might well be right the RFL give Widnes 250k a year to sign the world's highest-profile rugby player.

Personally I think it'd be significantly less than that. Of those mentioned previously many will be happy to try a new challenge and won't take that much. It's getting the Manu Tuilagis & George Norths to come over to Super League that will take the money.

It's also worth noting that their signing will help establish, and require, a credible Five Nations tournament every year.

I wonder if they're just thinking of the ‘New Talent Pool Players Allowance’ exemption in the salary cap regs, but that doesn't apply to Powell as he's over 23.

In any case, it's not happening.

\The reason RFL have a pot of dosh to help keep top players in league (or even attract them) is because league(in this country) is so unattractive to the best rugby players in the world.
let's face it the sport is dying on its arris and IMO it will never recover, it had a chance in the 80s/90s (after the dark days of the 70s) but those in charge just never had enough about them to make the sport more popular on a national basis and it never will be.
Oh the game will carry on in its unprofessional bumbling way just as it has done for decades but won't ever reach the heights it could have done.

The youth/coming through system has been raped, there's feck all incentive for non SL teams to compete because the 'prize' of getting into SL now is a poisoned chalice.
There is no even playing field, there hasn't been since the 30's with just the odd hiccup now and again. Geographical location & historic reasons are way more important than having the same spending power.
London will never be a force in RL, great idea badly done and wrong location.

if there's dispensation froma wage/salary POV it should be given directly to all teams as an increase in the cap or not at all.

Aside from that everything is rosy and I'll still go to games because it is all that I know & love.

I wonder if the RFL could get Brian O'Driscoll to move to Salford to play for Ireland in the world cup.

Well if you want to sell the Ireland-Australia match, and the tournament as a whole over in Ireland, i couldn't think of anybody better to get on board.

This could be why Wigan are looking to sign a new prop www.foxsports.com.au/league/nrl- ... 6619286058

This could be why Wigan are looking to sign a new prop www.foxsports.com.au/league/nrl- ... 6619286058

I'd rather see the rfl spend 200k a year setting up a high quality RL schools programme in Wales with clear pathways for talent to progress to SL.

I wonder how this thread would have run if it was any team other than Wigan making the signing... I don't know of course, but i can't imagine there would have be many negative comments... and no, i'm not paranoid...