With the ever widening salary cap between the two codes, is it ever a wonder when a league player jumps ship to take on a more lucrative position in a rugby union side. With the news that Saints' scrum-half Kyle Eastmond is moving to pastures new at Bath, and that the National Rugby League (NRL) is to land a new television deal which has been estimated to be worth around $1 billion over five years, should we be resigned to the fact that we are going to witness a mass exodus from the Super League?
The current annual salary cap for the rugby union stands at around £4.2 million per club, compared to the Super League which is currently set to £1.65 million. Clearly the huge difference in salaries is worrying and the game could lose a lot more than just its top players if the gap increases. And now that the NRL looks destined to land new television rights, which will enable it to almost double the amount in grants given to the clubs, it's likely to push salaries up even further. The Herald Sun reports that some senior NRL players could increase their earnings by $100,000 (£65,866) per year by 2013.
Over the last few years we have seen some of the Super League's most talented players depart for sunnier shores. The southern hemisphere is certainly an attractive proposition for any of us. Couple this with a higher wage and playing in a league with some of the world’s greatest stars, who wouldn’t want to go?
I’m sure many of the players that have taken the decision to ply their trade away from the Super League will most certainly discover that their game has improved, and this can benefit the national sides in the long term too. This in itself is great for individual player development but what about the quality of our home-based leagues? Surely the departure of some of our best players can only mean one thing: a weaker league where the backbone of it is stripped away. As soon as any talented homegrown player is thrust into the media spotlight we could stand a good chance of losing them.
The Rugby Football League (RFL), to its credit, is always looking to keep the franchise alive and fresh. it listened to the fans regarding the Magic Weekend and decided to stage it back at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. And this year it has introduced the international Origin match between England and the newly formed Exiles team, made up of overseas Super League players. The concept is thought to be able to give the national team a sterner test to enable it to be more competitive against southern hemisphere sides instead of the annual match against France, which to be fair was not much of a test for the England team. This is the first time in U.K. sports history where the public will be able to influence the team selection, as they will be able to vote for 13 overseas players to be selected for the 22-man squad. The Exiles coaching staff will select the remainder.
I actually like the concept of the Origin games and believe that it can make our game stronger, but we also have to understand that England will not be fielding its first-choice team, since the players who play in the NRL will naturally be excluded due to travelling distances and match commitments for their club sides. This now creates an opportunity for some fringe players to step up and make their mark on to the international scene, which will be great for the overall health of our game. If we lose any more players to the NRL, then this fixture could end up being labelled a "B" side match due to the lack of availability of the first team players, but at the same time offering "big game" experience to the younger players that are moving through the system.
The future of the Super League looks bright, but if we cannot compete in the salary department soon, then we really do run the risk of losing the cream of the crop to the rugby union or to the NRL. The knock-on effect of this could be quite devastating in this country and one that we may never recover from for some time.
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