Money talks in sport but we have the better more marketable game (for the masses), swings and roundabouts, they both survive side by side like they have done for years Union will always be bigger and League will always get it's plaudits from the occasional neutral. I'm not worried.

Exactly. To be honest I don't particularly care all that much for the NRL. It's not that I don't enjoy watching. It's just that it is too far away to be socially relevant. It's not like I can just nip down to Brisbane to take in a few games here and there. And the NRL can stand up for itself. It is not under any threat.



Of course you can. There are thousands of British SL (and lower league) fans who haven't watched a single NRL game and have no plans to do so - just as there are millions of football fans who haven't the foggiest idea who the Dutch champions are.



You're confusing stardom with ability. A "star" is a media construction. You can be a world class player whilst never being a "superstar". To be honest, I could quite easily live with no stars at all. But a game without talent is at an evolutionary dead end.



Martin Offiah was a superstar. So was Ellery Hanley. Paul Sculthorpe wasn't too far away either with his regular appearances in the media. But don't try and convince me that the game never had outstanding talent. It did. The problem we face to today is talent is being leeched away from the sport. And THAT is something I cannot simply pass off as insignificant.



Why do you keep talking about "glamour"? I never mentioned it.



Alex Murphy was "second rate"? Tommy Voll, Billy Boston, Ellery Hanley, Kevin Ward, John Woods, Tony Myler, Brian McTigue - all "second rate"? These are some of the very people who DEFINED the sport of Rugby League.



For heaven's sake quit with the cod-Churchillian nonsense. It might stir the passions but it doesn't alter the facts.

What are these facts that you refer to?

I actually quite liked the way it was put .....and nowt wrong with passion

The number of players Union will target is probably lower than most would think. Despite some moderate success with league players (who were deliberately fast-tracked into the England side) there have been a fair few failures as well - Chev Walker, Danny Williams and Lee Smith from Leeds for example. If we get our s kicked by Aus/NZ again this year, it's hard to imagine Union falling over themselves to sign up players.

I do not rate Josh Tomkins that highly, is he is above average player but that is all, can you blame anyone at his age if he is offered the "rumoured" big money, I would take it!

So many Super League players have tweeted this last few days that they would love that type of money and also the chance to play international rugby in front of packed crowds!

There is not sadly the money in our game currently to throw around to keep players, so many clubs are running at a loss, gate receipts do not cover wages neither do the local lotteries that RL clubs used to run successfully, the Euro and UK Lottery has taken a lot of that cash flow!

Woah!!!! Great classical reference there. Probably only three people understood it though.

ANd now a Hebrew biblical reference. It's like being at Oxford on 'ere.

I would suggest that a rich NRL will mean that the idea of swapping to union for the reward of England money will be less inticing.
For every Chris Aston there is a Chev Walker, a Karl Pryce and a Lee Smith. RU isn't a cake walk any more.

Personally, I think we'll see Eastmond rip it up at club level for Bath, but struggle to impact internationally, due to his size not being what the Union selectors are after. If he doesn't, then he wont be any better off than he would of if he'd have been playing for Saints, except he's wasted a year of his career when he could have been developing, he's also written off whatever chances he had of building towards a golden goose contract with a new cashed up NRL, playing a game that he 100% know he can succeed at.

That's how a rich NRL will benifit SL in its resisting Union.

You also forget the influence of the media. Superleague is a big draw for Sky veiwers, i reckon (if anyone has relevant stats, I'd liek to see them). They won't want a prime product of theirs suffering, just so Rugby Union can waste money on more failed poaching experiments or because the Aussie have more cash.

Rugby League is a great game and I'll watch it until the cows come home, even if a few players are poached.

But Kyle and Joel both know that they will earn so much more in the next three years than they could have in RL. Then if it doesn't work out for them they will still be in their mid twenties and able to come back to RL and still get good money if that is their desire.

Their overall earnings in say an eight year period will be significantly more if they go the RL to RU and then back to RL route.

The figures being banded about are enormous (£250K - £400K) pa is what has been reported.

Good luck to them, I wish they had both stayed in RL but with those sort of salaries available (and the much higher profile International Game) can you really blame them?

The Salary cap in Rugby union is £4million, which is higher than I expected. A rugby union club needs to maintain a squad of around 36 players compared to 26 in league. Our salary cap is £1.65 (?)
So, their average allocation per player is £111,000 per annum, compared to League's rather dissapointing £63,000 a year. That is disturbing.

However, rlthis articlerl suggests a lot of union clubs aren't spending it and, when paired with articles like rlthisrl, it doesn't suggest the english union clubs are exactly flush enough to be throwing big money about.

Do we know the yearly figures that the Aviva Premiership and Engage Superleague receive from their Sky contract?

Stop presenting alternative viewpoints to hysteria. That kind of intellect isn't acceptable on apocalyptic RL message boards, you should know that. For heaven's sake don't post it on RedVee or it'll melt.

Dont like to make a habit of agreeing with pie-eaters but you got it spot on here...both Eastmond and Tomkins can go to RU, earn in 3 years what it would take them at least double that time to earn in RL, and if it doesnt work out can come back to RL and still be young enough to continue at to level for 8-10 seasons after

The cash in RU cannot be matched by RL and I fear if the RFL dont act soon we could lose a lot more of our young stars to the dark side