ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys wants NRL clubs to actively target Wallabies stars – and they will be given a financial incentive to do so.
V’landys has revealed an audacious cut-price Wallaby plan to counter Rugby Australia’s intentions to chase the best players in rugby league.
Max Jorgensen, Peter V’landys and Suliasi Vunivalu.Credit: Getty
V’landys is sick of NRL stars being linked to rugby – correctly or through their managers trying to drive up their prices. He is also clearly frustrated by the aggressive approach of his rugby counterpart, Hamish McLennan, who is gaining plenty of traction with his combative style.
“We have been looking at bringing in salary cap exemptions for players from other countries for some time,” V’landys said. “It was about bringing in players from America and other nations. It would also apply to players from other sports. And, yes, other sports includes rugby.
“If a Wallaby or an All Black wanted to come over, we’d look at cap exemptions for sure. We have been looking at this for quite a while, and it’s a good time to revisit this. It’s something I’d like to see come in and come in now.”
An obvious target is rising star Max Jorgensen, although he recently re-signed with Rugby Australia until the end of 2024. However, he is just 18 years old, and Kangaroos and Blues great Laurie Daley has already said the teenager is a $1 million player in league.
Jorgensen trained with the Roosters while a schoolboy, and players were impressed with his athleticism, some comparing him to skipper James Tedesco at a similar age. If he was a discount buy under the NRL salary cap, he would have even more appeal.
There are also a range of former league players in the rugby ranks, and All Blacks galore, NRL clubs could target, from former Storm star Suliasi Vunivalu at the Queensland Reds to Semi Radradra, who scored 82 tries in 94 games for the Eels and is now raking in the cash in European rugby.
Other names include Marika Koroibete, who played 74NRL games before winning the John Eales Medal in 2019 as rugby’s best in Australia, bullocking centre Samu Kerevi and Izaia Perese, who played two games with the Broncos in his younger years.
If V’landys gets his way, it could also impede rugby’s pursuit of NRL stars. Brisbane’s Payne Haas and South Sydney’s Cameron Murray are just two of the big names rugby bosses have an interest in. They may be forced to divert some of the millions from the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour and 2027 home World Cup into hanging on to their own talent.
HAAS HAS OTHER (GRID) IRONS IN THE FIRE
Rugby union may not be the biggest threat to Brisbane’s hopes of retaining star forward Payne Haas. His agent, Ahmad Merhi, has revealed that the NFL came knocking a few months ago.
Merhi has sat back and given no comment at all about what Haas is thinking. He has even seen ill-informed media say that Khoder Nasser is Haas’ manager. Merhi is his agent; he is part of Sportsplayer Management. Merhi has been happy to stay in the background, but some of the misinformation has been getting to him.
“The only concrete approach we have had recently is from the NFL,” he said. “If he [Haas] was driven by money he would have taken that offer up. People try and say money is his focus. He’d be in America if he was. Payne was sounded out about eight weeks ago, but the timing was not right with a lot going on.
“I won’t rule that out in the future, but it’s not for now. He is really enjoying his rugby league and not worrying about anything else in a signing sense right now.”
Payne Haas received an approach from the NFL a few months ago.Credit: Getty
Merhi also clarified how talks were progressing with the Broncos.
“We’ve had a preliminary chat, that’s it,” he said. “We have a long time to run on his deal [which runs until the end of the 2024 season]. I’m not in a hurry.“
And rugby?
“No one has contacted me from a national perspective,” Merhi said. “I’ve not heard a word from Rugby Australia. I’ve heard from rugby overseas at a national level and from a club level, but that’s it.” As the NRL’s best forward, Haas will have no shortage of options in any code.
STORM IN COFFEE CUP
Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan is staggered by the outrage that a well-intentioned coffee with Joseph Suaalii has caused some in the NRL. It was dressed up as a “bad look” in the lead up to the Anzac Day clash with the Dragons; that somehow a meeting six days before a game was going to distract a professional athlete from a big match.
Most players have far greater distractions with family issues, injuries, form and contract concerns on a daily basis. McLennan was actually doing the right thing by a 19-year-old who has been through a lot recently.
“League need to chill,” McLennan said. “As rugby union is very pro-player, I was just checking in on Joey after all of the flak he was copping from the NRL. The good news is that he’s in great form and doing well.”
McLennan has sat back and watched all the sideline sniping from journalists, particularly from some angry News Corp reporters with too much time on their hands.
“It’s a bit laughable how some angry league commentators have sledged rugby when they’ve previously benefited from and enjoyed Rugby World Cups and Wallaby tours,” McLennan said. “Selective amnesia I would say, and a bit hypocritical, but we know they had a good time. A very good time.”
BACKING SAM
Axed Rooster Sam Walker will see how much support there is for him from the club when he runs out for his NSW Cup appearance on Sunday.
His mum is flying in from Queensland to watch him and will join Roosters coach Trent Robinson and some senior players.
Most significantly, the club’s billionaire chairman, Nick Politis, will be watching the clash with the Dragons at Wentworth Park, and that’s as strong a show of support as the young man can get.
While the players will be there to cheer Walker on, privately they know Robinson made the only call he could after disappointing performances. They have backed the coach. They also know about the history between Cooper Cronk and the Walker family.
I reported during the week that the Walkers are not happy with the structured style Sam is being asked to play, and they believe Cronk is driving that style. Cronk is a once-a-week halves coach with the Roosters and there are no plans to change that.
Bailey Hayward is making his mark at the Bulldogs.Credit: NRL Photos
BAILEY’S HIS OWN MAN
There’s a fascinating story developing at the Bulldogs: the emergence of Bailey Hayward as a potential first-grader.
It’s not just because he is a contender to play in the halves, where Kyle Flanagan is fighting for his position.
It’s also because he is the grandson of Paul Hayward, the Newtown Jets half who was jailed in Thailand for trafficking heroin.
Paul Hayward was arrested in Bangkok in 1978 and convicted of attempting to export 8.4 kilograms of heroin to Australia. He was released in 1989 and died in Sydney in 1992.
It was a huge story at the time, but Bailey was born after Paul died. Bailey is his own person, and a good one at that. Like his grandfather, he is a tough, old-school player.
GOOD SIGNS FOR NRL
The Panthers have been accused of being arrogant and having a bad culture, but the actions of Brian To’o, Nathan Cleary and Stephen Crichton following their loss to the Rabbitohs on Thursday night couldn’t have been further from it.
Instead of storming into the sheds after letting a win slip from their grasp, the trio were the last players off the field at Accor Stadium, signing autographs and taking selfies with fans 25 minutes after full-time. And here’s why.
“Sonny Bill [Williams] said when he was a kid he looked up to someone and he came and signed his shirt and motivated him to get to where he is now,” Crichton said. “If I could just touch one little kid’s heart, it’ll make my day, regardless of the score.”
Remember, too, that it was a Rabbitohs home game.
CUDDLE BUNNY
Sam Burgess was an enforcer on the field, but he’s turned into a defuser off it. While Rabbitohs players and fans celebrated a breakthrough win over their bogy side, Penrith, the Souths assistant coach stopped a potential brawl in the stands on Thursday night.
Watching from the coaches box, Burgess took it upon himself to stop a Panthers fan from taking on Rabbitohs supporters. The 34-year-old restrained the fan, who was shocked when he realised who had intervened. Burgess is believed to have provided some wise words, as the pair hugged it out and went their separate ways.
WAYNE REACTION
Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett must have been aware Souths were making a bid to sign Jack Wighton, a player he was trying to woo. Or was he really just devastated by the loss to his old club?
According to onlookers, Jason Demetriou went into the Dolphins sheds to see Bennett after their clash on April 13, but the supercoach left straight after his media conference.
Souths players who are still very close to Bennett expressed surprise they did not get to catch up with him.
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