David Moffett, during a distinguished career in sports administration, got to move freely between the rugby codes. His grandson isn’t so fortunate.
“He was playing for a rugby club in the middle of the north shore in Sydney, but he is now playing rugby league because they couldn’t get enough numbers,” says Moffett, whose resume includes stints as chief executive of the NRL, New Zealand Rugby Union, Welsh Rugby Union and Sport England, as well as executive director of NSW Rugby.
“That is the biggest issue. I know in speaking to people over there that there’s a real anger in community clubs, the amateur game if you like, who are struggling like you wouldn’t believe.
“To turn around and see $4.8 million spent on this guy is not the right message to them. It’s about Rugby Australia desperately trying to look relevant in a marketplace in which they are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
“It’s, ‘Here’s a low apple, let’s grab that one’, when they should be trying to grow a new apple tree.
“If that’s how they want to spend all their money on one player, then that’s their decision. I don’t think it has gone down well with everybody.”
Joseph Suaalii makes a break against the Eels on Thursday.Credit:Getty
The player Moffett is referring to is Joseph Suaalii.
Rugby Australia needed a scalp and the Roosters wunderkind is the big beneficiary, agreeing to a deal reportedly worth $1.6 million a season that commences once he completes his NRL commitments at the end of next season. It is an extraordinary investment in a player still in his teens, although Suaalii underscored his incredible potential with another sublime performance in Friday night’s win over Parramatta.
It is the most audacious raid by rugby authorities on league since Wendell Sailor, Lote Tuqiri and Mat Rogers defected before the 2003 World Cup in Australia, just after Moffett had left his role at the NRL. The trio proved box office gold. Sailor famously walked through the turnstiles at Ballymore and said: “When Dell sells, watch these babies swing!” It was a boast he backed up, as rugby officials reported his presence alone resulted in an additional 5000 fans streaming into Reds home games.
Only time will tell whether the investment in Suaalii proves to be madness or a masterstroke. From a purely marketing perspective, his signature – and that of returning Wallabies coach Eddie Jones – has already generated unprecedented coverage for a code otherwise struggling to move the needle.
Eddie Jones with Lote Tuqiri and Wendell Sailor in 2005.Credit:Getty
Like Sailor, Tuqiri, Rogers, Sonny Bill Williams, Sam Burgess, Benji Marshall, Timana Tahu and Karmichael Hunt, Suaalii will likely return to the 13-man code at some point. However, this is a player the NRL never wanted to lose. To keep him out of rugby’s clutches while he was still at school, the NRL bent its own rules to allow the King’s School product to play first grade at the age of 17.
“The NRL would be looking at it as slightly disappointing, but certainly not a major issue from where they sit,” says former NRL chief executive David Gallop, who was in charge when Sailor, Tuqiri and Rogers jumped ship.
“The first few weeks of the season have demonstrated the quality of the product again. Over the years, I’ve often thought the game keeps producing, even in moments of adversity.”
Gallop has seen this all before, and says Suaalii’s impending departure is not a time to panic.
David Gallop wasn’t concerned about rugby raids.Credit:AFR
“I remember it as a classic ‘keep calm, carry on moment’ for rugby league,” Gallop says. “We knew we were on the right track in regenerating the game after the Super League war by creating an intense week in, week out competition.
“While losing a few players to rugby was not ideal, we knew that rugby league was developing big pools of talent. In the long term, while playing for the Wallabies may have been attractive, it didn’t offer the week in, week out intensity of rugby league.
“Time has shown that players want to be part of the NRL and test themselves in that environment, which led to those players coming back. The NRL is, as [Roosters coach] Trent Robinson said, the undisputed rugby or league competition in the world.”
Now that the money has been outlaid for Suaalii, Rugby Australia needs to work out how to get the most bang for its buck. At this early stage of his career, the 19-year-old is the third-best fullback option at the Roosters. Whether he’s more potent at centre or wing in league remains a point of contention, let alone where he is best suited in rugby.
“All the talk is fullback in rugby league, and he did well on Thursday night when Teddy [James Tedesco] went off,” Wallabies great Matt Burke says.
“People are straight away saying he should play fullback in rugby union, but I don’t think so. I reckon he would be a massive body at 13, a good runner of the ball with a good step. He would get his hands on the ball there, more so, and complement the people who are around him.”
Regardless, he will be an X-factor in whichever team or code he plays, but his presence alone won’t solve all the problems of a Wallabies side that has slumped to No.7 in the world rankings. Nor can he alone be expected to revive a code suffering from dwindling interest.
“It’s more about Rugby Australia papering over the cracks,” Moffett says. “Neither code is going to implode as a result of Joseph Suaalii.
“In recent times, Rugby Australia and their coaches have gone back to the past; there’s a lot of old players and not a focus on where the next lot of players are coming from.
“They are going after Suaalii, who is potentially a good player, but he has not been tested at the top in rugby. I’m not convinced that he has made a big impact in rugby league; it’s more based on his potential than what he has achieved.
“But good on him, he’s managed to parlay himself into a multimillionaire at a young age, and he seems like a nice guy.
“What rugby league will do is they will find the next Joseph Suaalii, and they will most likely have identified two or three players that will fit the bill. Rugby Australia can’t do that.
“They have not invested enough in the development of their own players – they rely on older players.”
Privately, some in rugby circles feel RA chairman Hamish McLennan is following the same playbook of former chief executive John O’Neill, who ran the sport during its halcyon days. Both poked the bear that is the NRL by coming after its biggest drawcards.
“Forget the money, it’s a win for Australian rugby because the last four or five days we’re talking about rugby union,” Burke says.
“You want men and young kids to have a hero growing up, to be able to say, ‘I want to play union and be like Joseph Suaalii’, and there’s a path there.
“They wouldn’t know who I am or who David Campese is or Michael Lynagh or Mark Ella. They may know the names, but they don’t associate them with playing rugby. But if you have these young blokes coming through and they’re capturing the attention and minds of the young kids, then happy days.
“You can’t sell a secret.”
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