The success of League players in Rugby Union

[wamberal]

hmm, that's odd. just happened to catch Paul Kent (?) last night and if I did not get the wrong end of the stick, his point seemed to be that because the blues released him he was in effect paid out for his contract.

Unless I misunderstood him (tho I can hardly see benji being paid out for what he did)

I think the point is that he would have earned a lot more in the NRL. (That is not my point, but my understanding of the point that was being made).


An exacerbating factor is that he is obliged to compensate his former NRL club if he plays for another club. And his former club does not want him back. That will apparently account for a few hundred thou or so.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Just caught Gus Gould on the SMH website in his weekly interview: "people need to understand that rugby and league are vastly different games".
We all know that's true but its nice that they have to find a slightly different angle to justify what happened.
In answer to the poll at the top: I don't want league players who come over to fail, but its good that some do because it lends credibility to our game in the eyes people who never give it a second thought.

 

[terry j]

I think the point is that he would have earned a lot more in the NRL. (That is not my point, but my understanding of the point that was being made).


An exacerbating factor is that he is obliged to compensate his former NRL club if he plays for another club. And his former club does not want him back. That will apparently account for a few hundred thou or so.

ahh, maybe that was it then.

Kent did go on to make the point that (think they were suggesting cronulla) balmain could very well 'ask' cronulla for some compensation if benji did end up there.

He made the point that cronulla would be within their rights to ask to see the clause in his contract that showed they needed to make compensation, and if it did not exist then they could tell them to sod off.

That sounds to me that benji personally would not be forking up much dosh.

But to be honest, I did not pay it that much attention as after all it is only league. I was curious about what spin might have been put on him coming back from union, they actually did not 'do a tallis'

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Made myself watch The Footy Show last night to see how they'd treat the Benji thing esp as he was a regular on the show. They showed clips of his going-to-union & going-back-to-league interviews & a montage of the skits of he & Beau Ryan taking the piss out've each other. On the whole, the vibe was that he'd given union a crack, found it wasn't his game & was coming home to league.

Recorded Rugby HQ & will be interested to see their take on it.

I'll be looking out for his re-appearance on TFS, hoping that he won't do a Sailor/ Tuqiri & basically shit all over our game. I'm confident that he won't.

Oh BTW Gordon Tallis is shambling, stuttering proof that head knocks cause brain damage. Makes Marto look like a fucking genius.

 

[Pfitzy]

Oh BTW Gordon Tallis is shambling, stuttering proof that head knocks cause brain damage. Makes Marto look like a fucking genius.

LOL right on. Such a frothing mungo

 

[Tomikin]

It's an odd comments because there has been a number of quality converts who have had great success. Failures seem to be the minority, not the majority.

The Reds had Sailor who showed his quality at times despite struggling to adjust to the nuances. They also recently have had Chambers, McLinden and Shicofske who were all very good players for us. Had they stuck around longer in Chambers case or some across earlier in the latter cases they could have all potentially been Wallabies.

The Tahs had Rogers, Tuqiri and Izzy who have all been highly successful, whilst Blacklock and Tahu were failures. Tahu would be the only one to be considered a massive flop simply due to the fanfare and cost associated with him.

Saffy at the Rebels really wasn't much chop, primarily due to injuries limiting his performances, yet as a former Aus Schoolboy, he's hardly a convert anyway.

Tomane has been great at the Brumbies and Peter Ryan was great in their early years.

Brad Thorn did the hard yards early and has arguably been a greater success in rugby than he ever was in league.

People don't deathride the player's success. It's just when they come across on a big pay day with large fanfare there is scepticism about how quickly they will hit the ground running and therefore if they are worth the money. If a guy's on a 3 year deal and he's performing well below that for the first year that's a big percentage of the contract duration.

Andrew walker was a gun as well

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[wamberal]

Andrew walker was a gun as well

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He was a gun who played first grade rugby at the age of 17, before switching to loig.

 

[Tom Ando]

Just caught Gus Gould on the SMH website in his weekly interview: "people need to understand that rugby and league are vastly different games".
We all know that's true but its nice that they have to find a slightly different angle to justify what happened.
In answer to the poll at the top: I don't want league players who come over to fail, but its good that some do because it lends credibility to our game in the eyes people who never give it a second thought.

I tend to follow this train of thought because as mentioned previously, I grew up in league country, and I always copped shit for how much of a 'pussy sport' Union was, when in fact, the only union they watched was the news highlights on Channel 9 slamming the Wallabies for another Bledisloe loss. Whilst slightly off topic, this is why I can clearly understand people saying that the success of Rugby in Australia solely rides on the back of Wallabies' success. Not saying player development, tv coverage and a 3rd tier isn't important, but to convert the fringe players and possibly the RL supporters, (who as @Tip pointed out, with a bit of exposure to the game eg RWC 03, they start jumping on the bandwagon) we rely on Wallaby success. You will never tell a league supporter that 6 tackles and a kick every game, is more boring than penalty goals. Ever.

 

[wamberal]

You will never tell a league supporter that 6 tackles and a kick every game, is more boring than penalty goals. Ever.

A lot of NRL games this season have been decided by penalty goals (and/or dropped goals, of course). Aaaaah, but that's different, apparently.

 

[Polynesian Warriors]

There are some great points and post on this thread. I've also notice Tallis anti rugby union rants for over 15 years not only in television but also in his weekly write ups and always takes a punt at rugby when given a chance.
One thing for sure is that Australian rugby sometimes are a bit slower to deal with its "sports played by the rich" tag and can at times give guys like Tallis the will to have a shot. Rugby has got be for all here in Australia and as far as the top schools don't want to share the sport around then it would forever be tag as a rich kids sports or will never grow like the other two football codes.

 

[BeastieBoy]

it would be interesting to know how many current Wallabies played junior rugby league. I would suspect a good number. If you want to teach a kid how to tackle, run the ball and where the try line is, you have him play rugby league. Rugby league is our competitive advantage in developing players compared to overseas. We should be harnessing it more.

 

[Train Without a Station]

And also how many NRL players played rugby at a decent level. It would be interesting to look at the state schoolboy teams annually and how many ended up in the NRL.

 

[Ado Tornado]

And Wally was only a back up to Ella. And the only reason he got picked was because there were already 5 from Matraville High in the side so Lloyd Walker, who should have been there, missed out.

 

[terry j]

If you want to teach a kid how to tackle, run the ball and where the try line is, you have him play rugby league.

how does this work? something inherent in the game(s)?, if so what.

better coaching by league coaches at that age??

what makes this thought work?

 

[Polynesian Warriors]

it would be interesting to know how many current Wallabies played junior rugby league. I would suspect a good number. If you want to teach a kid how to tackle, run the ball and where the try line is, you have him play rugby league. Rugby league is our competitive advantage in developing players compared to overseas. We should be harnessing it more.

We are already teaching the kids all that many more skills playing rugby.

 

[The Wizard]

Boys who play both develop wonderful skills sets that compliment each other. I have seen league halves or locks deal well with playmaking at the line in union and the physical contact at the tackle. Going in high and wrapping the ball or driving hard at hips. The same can be said for Union boys going to league, the ability to off load or keep arms free and promote the ball. Many brilliant league players have played union at a young age and vice versa. Ricky Stewart, Matt Rogers played union and both managed reasonable careers in union. Berrick Barnes had his time in league and was a very skillful rounded Wallaby.

 

[Tom Ando]

With the inclusion of the NRC, I think there needs to be a restructure of the Pathway to Gold to include public high school participation. The quality won't be as high as say GPS to begin with, but inevitably they are going to improve. I'm not sure what you do about the finances of it all, but I think it's super important to start incorporating this now on the eve of the world cup, or on the backhand of Wallaby success at the World Cup?

 

[Tom Ando]

Start targeting some of those league nurseries. It's seemed to transform St Greg's in Campbeltown, NSW focus towards Union rather than the huge league presence it had.

 

[wamberal]

I am a little bit embarrassed that our latest convert, a reserve grader in the NRL, gets a game for the Tahs after just one club rugby appearance.

I wish him well, it would be great if he is a huge success, but it is still a bit embarrassing.

 

[qwerty51]

It would be embarrassing if he was good at Super Rugby. There's nothing to suggest he is. He only got a run because it was the Lions I'd say and Cheika wanted to see what he's got.