A heated debate ignited on NRL360 regarding a potential method for the NRL to block Rugby Australia’s poaching of the game’s best young talent.
Roosters star Joseph Suaalii signed a whopping $5 million three-year deal to make a shock cross-code switch after his current contract expires after the 2024 season.
Suaalii will likely take part in the Wallabies’ British and Irish Lions series next year, before he plays in a World Cup on Australian soil in 2027.
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Rugby Australia are also reportedly chasing the signature of Manly young gun Tolu Koula who also has a background in the 15-man code.
Rabbitohs superstar Cameron Murray and Sharks gun Toby Rudolf also both revealed they’d be open to a potential switch.
In the past, big name players such as Israel Folua and Semi Radradra have defected from rugby league to sign lucrative contracts.
Now, NRL360 host Paul Kent has a solution, explaining that NRL contracts should have a clause that will see contract become “null and void” if you join rugby union.
He believes by “accepting those terms” players are agreeing to the potential poaching block, however The Daily Telegraph’s Michael Carayannis had a different opinion.
He explained that clause only gives disgruntled players an easy way out of their contract and opens a “can of worms” that could cause major headaches.
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Read below for the full heated debate!
KENT: They come in, they learn the game at a young age in rugby league and then rugby union just comes in and picks the eyes off them.
At some point the NRL has got to say ‘look we are not going to be a recruitment ground for rugby union’.
CARAYANNIS: How do you fix that Kenty?
KENT: You fix it by saying to Suaalii ‘all right mate, time to go’, you’ve signed with rugby union, right now you can go.
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CARAYANNIS: I couldn’t disagree more because that would be an easy out for someone that’s got an agitation, so you are quite happy for him to go, and you’re happy for our best players to walk out on the game.
KENT: How else are you going to stop them though?
HOOPER: We’ve seen this before, we say Israel Folua leave the game, we say Semi Radradra leave the game, rugby league is so rich in terms of its talent pool.
HOOPER: There will always be another superstar, they are already after Tolu Koula at Manly so there will always be another Joseph Suaalii, he’s only played a handful of NRL games.
CARAYANNIS: But you can’t encourage players to break their contracts, that is what you are saying Kenty, you are encouraging them to break their contracts.
KENT: I am saying the NRL should have a clause in their contracts, like it was at one point for players to go and trial for the NFL, there should be a clause the minute you sign a rugby union contract, your NRL contract is null and void.
Now when you sign your NRL contract that clause is in there, so you are accepting those terms.
CARAYANNIS: But that would be absurd because then we are going to allow our best players (to leave), Suaalii we have 18 months left, you are happy for him to be bang, gone, out of the game.
KENT: I don’t think the game misses him, look we all fell over and grabbed our chest and said ‘what are we going to now Sonny Bill (Williams) has gone to play rugby union?’
The game survived, the game survived and will survive.
CARAYANNIS: So you are encouraging players, players who have fallen out of love with a coach, easy option I’ll just go play rugby union for 12 months and get out of my contract.
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ANASTA: So you are saying it opens a can of worms?
CARAYANNIS: For sure, it would.
HOOPER: I disagree, how many times have we seen this? How many times have we seen this set of circumstances?
CARAYANNIS: That’s not my point, my point is you are basically encouraging players to break their deals.
KENT: No, you are not breaking your deal. The deal is when you sign your contract it has a clause saying if you sign to play rugby union, you are immediately dispelled from the game.
CARAYANNIS: So you want Suaalii to keep it a secret? Say you knew he was going to rugby, they had a wink, wink, nudge, nudge, we won’t sign the official deal until the end of 2024.
KENT: There’s no doubt that will happen, and that is a fair point… but the fact is for the next 18 months, Suaalii and every part of his development will be constantly referenced alongside the fact he is about to leave the game and go to rugby union.
Let’s see if we can get agreement among the media that no one will mention it, because that’s like trying to herd cats.
