Money or the Box....or NRL
Peter Roy - NRLnews.com
As the NRL season swings into full gear for 2007, much of the talk in the media has been about the Australian Rugby Union offering big money to entice NRL stars into their game.
Discussions recently regarding the futures of Lote Tiquiri, then Timana Tahu and now Eric Grothe - are very similar to several years ago when a Rugby raid netted NRL stars Wendell Sailor, Matt Rogers and of course Lote Tiquiri.
Last year also saw the defection of Ryan Cross and Clinton Schifcofske from NRL to the ARU. Why is the NRL losing so many stars? Is it just the money? Has the salary cap restricted the earnings of players so much they have to look elsewhere? Are players not being tested enough in the NRL? Is the training and preparation too demanding?
To put it bluntly the decisions of the majority of these players to defect to the ARU revolves around money. With players having a career playing period of around 10 years barring major injury, most wish to earn as much as possible in this short space of time. Whether this ideology makes sense depends on who you talk to.
Some believe the players have every right to chase the big dollars, even to the point where they defect to Rugby Union to play a game that may not be as enjoyable, have as much exposure or provide an overall satisfaction equal or better to the NRL.
Players would never admit this publicly for fear of repercussions, however it has been reported that Timana Tahu even stated he thinks the game of Rugby Union is boring. So Timana is happy to take a huge pay paypacket but sit in cruise control and put up with a boring job.
The same is true of the regular workforce, there are many employees in jobs simply for the money - willing to take up a role of no enjoyment what so ever just to collect the big money.
The flip side of this argument is the group that are prepared to find the role that not only remunerates well but is an enjoyable challenge with an ultimate end game.
A few players in this mould are: Steve Menzis, Nathan Hindmarsh, Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler and Craig Gower. All respectable club men who have been chased hard by Rugby Union moles and other international outfits. Sure, these players are on large paypackets - but could have earned considerably more by jumping ship.
While it is a sense of disappointment and frustration when certain players choose the Money over the Box, I believe the ones that leave are only hurting themselves.
The NRL, unlike the ARU has a breeding ground that continues to produce quality juniors. The NRL also has a competition at club level that competes with the ARU at an International Level - and has a quality package of exciting attacking league with close contests between all teams.
So it's 'Tally Ho' to Union Defectors - because the future of NRL is brighter than ever and if you don't want to be a part of it - many others are lining up for the chance, and money isn't their motivator.
