The League Union players will not be afraid of the campaign

Last week was a historic day for the Rugby Union when it was announced that Australia would host the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup and the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup.

This indicates a real opportunity for rugby and gives the game a chance to revive Australian rugby fans. Opportunity is very much needed.

As a sports fan, my observation in recent years is that rugby has become stagnant.

Despite being an avid consumer of sports media, I know very little about what’s going on in Super Rugby and will struggle to name five current Australian Wallaby.

While women’s sport continues to improve with pressure on key codes to professionalize and expand their women’s sports leagues, I don’t see enough pressure on Rugby Australia to increase their Super W competition or even to pay competing players.

Why is that? Probably a factor as to why they’re doing so poorly.

With these observations in the background, it is not surprising that instead of focusing on their own backyard, Rugby Australia Chair Hamish McLennan decided to comment on the intention to try to hunt down some of Rugby Australia’s male rugby league players before the 2027 World Cup. .

His focus was on the outside, not the inside.

My message would be, if you want those players, come and take them.

In the beginning, I found the concept of code war like a child. For someone who loves and supports a variety of sports, it is childish when administrators use their time in the media to take shots at a game that is not their own.

It was particularly prevalent in the rugby league and the AFL in the past and served very little purpose.

According to McLennan, there is no player in the Rugby League that I would be afraid to lose to Rugby Union. There is no player who is bigger than the game and there is no player who cannot be replaced.

There is a lot of talent in the rugby league and the search for a lot of new players continues which is a matter of concern.

This year we got a chance to see new talent like Jeremiah Nanai and Toby Sexton following a rookie class in 2021 with Sam Walker and Reese Walsh.

While Rugby Australia has had some success in smuggling league players over the past few years, including Suliasi Bhunivalu and Tepai Moerro (who has since returned to the league), the league has done exactly the same thing as Angus Crichton, Joseph Swalli and Cameron Marr. .

While playing for Wallabis can be a big drawcard, the rugby league has its own lot of followers, with opportunities to play State of Origin and earning potential.

Another Rugby League World Cup awaits in France in 2025.

I further question why Rugby Australia would be looking to current Rugby League stars for a World Cup five years away – can you imagine how many more talents would emerge at that time?

The focus should be on the grassroots, especially when you consider that hunting down rugby league players in big deals must have contributed to the challenging financial situation that Rugby Australia found itself in and is trying to recover from now on.

When McLennan made his remarks, I guess he was referring only to male players.

At this stage, in terms of the relative position of Super W and NRLW, I cannot imagine a situation where a player would move from NRLW to Super W.

Leading the most recent Super W season, Western Force has announced as the second Super W team that they will pay their players. Additional bonuses by Force were also included for players representing Wallaro.

My understanding is that the rest of the franchises do not pay their players at all (except for Varata, who take the initiative to raise funds to pay some of their players).

Although the money that our NRLW players earn is not enough at the moment, as part of the expansion of the competition next year, the players will increase their salaries.

In the men’s competition you might argue that the drawcard must be played by the Wallachians to get into rugby, but in the women’s space, the Australian Wallarians are now beginning to have the opportunity to play more consecutive Test matches.

There is still a long way to go for Wallaro to lead in the 2029 World Cup and I hope this team continues to lead the way.

In the women’s space, not only are players interested in coming to NRLW (including Grace Hamilton’s choice) from the XV version of the game, but we’re seeing players from successful Australian women’s rugby sevens programs.

Evania Pelite and Emma Tonegato have made headlines in the NRLW competition this year and are both in contention for the State of Origin game.

It tells me something that players like Pellet and Tonegato are coming to play in a competition that is not a full-time professional from a full-time professional program.

McLennan might have hoped that his remarks would have caused some controversy and put the rugby league on notice, but there is nothing to worry about.

Springboks prop Frans Malherbe joined Roar rugby expert Brett McKay and Harry Jones to talk about the story of his unusual rugby origins, the United Rugby Championships coming out of Super Rugby, and what surprised him at the call of an expert scrum referee from Rossi Erasmus.