Some of the comments whenever things like this happen - "if he wants to go, he can go", "he was never that good anyway", "it's okay, we'll just develop another one" - remind me increasingly of the sort of comments that came out of Union when they were defending shamateurism in the face of RL raids on their home-grown talent.

They always put a brave face on it, but eventually they had to face the reality that market forces needed to be embraced, regardless of the nasties that would entail.

I wonder for how long we're going to keep putting a brave face on our 'salary cap losses' before reality bites for us?

I said it wouldn’t take long and here you go .

Surprising it’s a Saints fan that’s made the comment as well?

Wonder if you’ll be saying the same when Eastmond leaves?

As a Saints fan, I'll be gutted if Eastmond leaves. As a Saints fan, I'd be gutted if we lost Folau.

But a "massive blow to RL" generally? I don't reckon so.

All these recent player losses in Aus don't seem to have impacted the crowds, profile or excitement for the game over there much. If anything, the game in general has been getting stronger. Likewise over here.

Look at how much you lot were enjoying your RL earlier in the year - you weren't saying "this is great, but I wish SBW still played for the Dogs". He was a bigger star than Folau will probably ever be. Likewise Gasnier - his loss was meant to be the end of the world, but nobody cares anymore.

The salary cap is a red herring anyway - the RU clubs have more centrally available cash than us - we could do what we like with the cap and they could still outbid us except for cases where teams are backed by rich benefactors, which isn't sustainable.

It always amazes me how Wigan fans decry the cap so much, when they are a prime example of why it was brought in.

Quite possibly the Kangroos wouldn't notice the loss of players like Folau, Gasnier, Tuquiri, Rogers, etc, not to mention the rash of Storm players that will now probably leave as well.

We in GB of course would. But what protects us us that we rarely if ever produce players of that standard. The first time we actually do - and Union immediately comes knocking - we'll be in a better position to judge.

We still are, however isnt one player leaving and potentially being followed by 6 or seven more in aus, not a case of the straw that will break the camels back?

I still think it would be best if all our best tallent still played in RL. Plus you lot over the hill have never lost any players to RU, so you dont know how bitter it is to see the good players leave.

That’s the kind of major head in the clouds syndrome that infuriates me about RL. Things look ‘ok’ as we’ve still got plenty of quality players in RL but how much better would it be with even more quality players out there week in week out?

I can’t believe I’m arguing that some of the world class talent that have gone to RU in recent years hasn’t had a negative impact on the game? How can losing quality players not worsen the comp?

Honestly I’m speechless that you can even try to gloss over such losses.

From a SL POV I’d still love to be seeing players like Ashton, Hape and Big Les playing in SL as they are special top draw players.

Going back a few years I personally still feel gutted that someone like Robinson raised the profile of RU so much instead of raising the profile of RL. For years at the GB level we struggled massively for a top draw winger equal to Carney and Robinson could have been the man to fill that spot. We could have had a back three of Radders, Carney and Robinson now that is a line up any RL fan would have loved to have seen.

Another one is Farrell Wigan fell apart without Farrell and although some Saints fans laugh at our decline around that time they don’t realise that they also suffered. The collapse of Wigan hurt SL and Saints as SL lost another top team and it became a two horse race and Saints lost an intense derby fixture to bring in revenue. Now all of that isn’t down to the loss of Faz but I doubt we’d have dropped to the level we did with him around.

Having them in the comp means it’s stronger, having them eligible for the international scene means there is greater numbers to chose from even if they play for lesser sides outside of NZ or Aus.

I agree with the Saints fan, as some players in Australia are “incredibly” overrated
However that’s not a bad thing as the Aussie media are rightly talking up their sport in the face of some stiff competition from other “less attractive “ sports.

For Example Has Mark Gasnier been missed……? The answer is absolutely No,
Lote Tuquiri wasn’t missed, neither was Wendell Sailor,….and Sonny Bill Williams has been a source of great comedy flopping in France…even the Kiwis won a world cup without him and they aren’t blessed with the same numbers of quality player as Australia….

It’s a just a bit of a kick in the nuts when you unearth a gem and then in the blink of an eye he’s off for a million quid and the quiet life in Rugby Union..

I’m trying to think of Any Classy Aussie league player that has gone to Union….I’d probably say Tuquiri is the only one …Gasnier and $onny Bill were cocks of the highest order …Wasn’t Gasnier linked with Wigan every time a contract renewal came up? He’s rightly out of the game in my opinion…. But when your Cameron Smith’s, Billy Slater’s, Darren Lockyers and Jonathan Thurston* (*pay attention NRL) leave for Union then I’d worry…..

Foloau’s disappointing as he’s still a kid… but by kick off next season he will be forgotten…just like the feller that went to Aussie rules……..oh yeah Karmichael Hunt !!

Who says? I'm sure NSW will be disagreeing with that one after being steam rolled by Inglis and Co for the past three years. What about St George I don’t think a player like Boyd is in his class either? Is that not being missed? Gasnier being coached under Bennett as well would have been a highlight. Looking at it from a purly AUS centre spot jersey is wrong imo.



Again saying none have been missed is an easy answer to make. All the players that replaced them i.e Adam Blair is the new star or NZ rugby would still have come through and we’d be even stronger wouldn’t we…. imagine Blair vs SBW or having both in the same squad as well?

It is worrying seeing players maybe leaving and the NRL is doing nothing about it. How many stars need to leave before the SC is chnaged??? NRL clubs cant currently legally compete with $1million a season offers from Union clubs.

Im not so worried about Folau, no way is he worth a million a year, i wouldnt even pay him $500,000. As for Gasnier, believe me he wouldnt have made a dam bit of difference for NSW these last few years.

But if we go too far we could have a problem were by players demand and get too much money and then what?? Clubs cant afford wages, drop out the league, etc. Whoever thinks it doesnt matter how much these guys get paid, clear has never worked within a business environment. Of course it matters, you cant spend what you dont earn and most clubs dont earn enough to pay stupid wages...

Regardless of if you or me think Falou is worth 1 million a year it’s irrelevant as that is how much he’s gonna get paid so someone must think he’s worth it right? If we want to keep our stars then maybe we’ve gotta realise that we’ve gotta pay the going rate for them? Ashton is another example maybe he wasn’t worth the money RU paid for him but they still paid it so that automatically becomes how much Ashton is worth.

Maybe it should be a question of why can’t the clubs afford these wages when their RU counterparts can? RU in Aus is pitiful compared to RL so why can’t we attract sponsors or even work ways out that sponsors pay a % of a players wage?

Sorry, but this post contains a number of amazing assertions, which Priestman has answered more comprehensively than I will, but which can't go without at least some comment from moi.

All these players who've not been missed - are you absolutely sure about that? Perhaps Australia haven't missed them (haven't they? - they recently lost their first world title in Heaven knows how long), but what about their club sides, what about their Origin sides?

A few years ago, non-Wigan fans kept making similar assertions - shouting that the cap must be maintained at all costs, and that Jason Robinson and Andy Farrell, to quote two examples, hadn't been missed. Well, they were certainly missed by Wigan, as Radlinski would have been, and Cunningham would have been by Saints, had Club GB not recognised this very real danger and promptly stepped in to help.

Just because you personally haven't missed these guys, does not mean they aren't being sorely missed somewhere else.

There lies the difference Cruncher.

Australia might not have missed Gasnier as they had a readymade replacement in Inglis to fill the void but once you scratch the surface and look a little deeper it isn’t so clear cut is it! As you say what about the SOO sides or the players club sides? At the end of the day they are all world class players and ANY team in the world would miss the skills and talents they posses.

Everything has an knock on effect. The more quality players you have the harder it becomes for average Joes to get a game and the stronger the comp becomes. Imagine if Big Les would have stayed at Bradford it’s not unrealistic to think that Halley would have been at Wakey now and players like Blanch could still be in the championship. That would be a major improvement for Bradford, Wakey, SL and the Championship wouldn’t it? (btw Blanch was just a name I picked out)

Just because a union club offers a million, doesnt mean we have to follow and doesnt means its the going rate just because the Melbourne rebals say it is. That will just get clubs into difficultly. If Falou gets a million then how many other players will want a million?? How exactly are many clubs going to pay this?

Clubs cant and wont just pay inflated wages because of Union. I accept we need to increase what clubs can pay but not to some stupid level. You clearly dont watch the NRL or the Toyota cup (under 20) becuase if you did you would see the talent that is there even when the big names you mentioned have gone. There have been other huge names gone that i bet you dont even know about. Particularly one stand out NSW origin player from last season.

I don't think anyone's saying they should. But it would be nice if they had a bit more leeway than they have at present. The cap in the UK hasn't even risen in line with inflation. Okay, that wouldn't resolve the problem on its own, but at least it would make us look less like a 'poverty row' sport.

As for the stuff about people over here not watching the NRL, etc, and not knowing as much about it as you - you're probably right, as most of us live here and not in Australia. That said, it seems a rather juvenile point to have made.

Maybe they will or maybe they won't but i can't see why we'd stop a club that would wish to pay those amounts? If Brisbane think it's a price they are willing to pay then why should we stop them?



I'll admit i don't watch the Toyota cup and that I don’t know who the ‘next big thing’ is going to be. I didn’t at any point claim that or say that RL doesn’t have a conveyer belt of talent it can produce.

I’m sure that you do watch the Toyota cup and if you say there are plenty of talented youngsters ready to come through that more than proves my point that we’d be in a much stronger position if we were to keep the guys like Falou and still bring these players through?

All I’m saying is that in order to improve the domestic and international game we need MORE quality player and the logical/sensible way to do this is by keeping the ones we’ve already got and then producing even more on top of that.

BTW are you talking about Craig Wing?