As yet, we do not know to what extent the NRL assisted in closing the Sam Burgess deal with South Sydney. But to what extent should we care?

On Sunday night, NRL head of strategy Shane Richardson told the Sydney Morning Herald :”I am not involved in any negotiations to bring Sam Burgess back, although if I can help in any way I will.”

No doubt in the days ahead, as this messianic event is deconstructed, we’ll find out if he was able to help. Maybe someone else at League Central lent a hand. Maybe not.

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But if so, there is sure to be criticism. The AFL and ARU and any number of overseas leagues can centrally contract players and dole them out to clubs they are propping up financially, and fans either say nothing or congratulate them for doing this.

But not rugby league.

We are so selfish and petty that the contest between clubs is regarded as far more important than the one between ourselves and other sports. If there is a ‘greater good’ in rugby league, it’s not very great and not very good.

The fact is that South Sydney will not be given salary cap concessions to reclaim Sam Burgess. He is not going to be a beneficiary of David Smith’s mythical bag of cash.

So if the resources of the NRL or England’s Rugby Football League went into snaring him, what of it?

Maybe rugby league has found a way to fight fire with fire when it comes to united action, but without sacrificing equity and fair play like others have. If so, it’s a wonderful development.



More of it, please.

Personally, I have more of an issue with another announcement made by the NRL this morning – about the new resources being sunk into the Australian Kangaroos.

The NRL is a competition that includes a club from New Zealand and players from at least a dozen countries. But the NRL has no compunction about showing its overwhelming support for one country.

I can remember just after the Commission was formed, attending an Eden Park Test where the Kiwis were dismayed that not one commissioner visited their sheds afterwards. They were all next door with the green-and-golds

The entire rugby league world relies on the NRL so much and yet it admits it is focused on getting Australia back to number one. What hope does that give anyone else when it’s down to the NRL to improve eligibility rules, release players for Tests and fund the Pacific?

Surely we should have ‘church and state’ style separation, like that between the FA and Premier League.

Can’t the Australia team be administered by an autonomous performance unit? Can’t the team be read out by the coach, not John Grant?

The NRL saying it’s going put Australia back on top is like Microsoft or Coca-Cola announcing it plans to act like a big corporation and make a lot of money at the expense of small business.



Are we supposed to cheer?

And as for claiming in the press release there has never been more interest in the international game… ever heard of any year from 1908 to 1986?

The key word for the NRL today is statesmanship. Helping get Sam Burgess back fits the bill.

Trying to simultaneously support international football while openly seeking to have one team win more than anyone else does not.