Calls for rugby transfer system grows in wake of Izack Rodda, Harry Hockings, Isaac Lucas sagas
With Aussie rugby potentially about to lose three prized assets, RA’s director of rugby Scott Johnson says northern hemisphere clubs should pay the countries that develop the talent they poach.
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Rugby Australia’s director of rugby Scott Johnson believes World Rugby must press ahead as a matter of urgency to develop a working system of transfer fees to curb growing raids on players such as Izack Rodda, Harry Hockings and Isaac Lucas by overseas clubs.
World Rugby already is investigating the problem of an unregulated international transfer market, primarily at the instigation of the Pacific Island nations who are preyed upon mercilessly by the so-called Tier One nations, Australia among them.
But increasingly, Australia is finding it has more and more in common with nations such as Fiji, which has populated the backline of just about every major rugby country with wingers.
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If its current economic problems do force Australia to become a net exporter of players – as have South Africa because of the weakness of the rand – then one of the few solutions open to it would be a system of hefty transfer fees.
“World Rugby is looking at that now and it’s time … even internally,” Johnson said.
“If you produce a player you should get rewarded.”
Johnson envisages that an age limit of, say, 24, should be imposed to stop clubs helping themselves to young players that have been developed – often at considerable expense – by other unions.
The fact that Johnson also sees value in creating a domestic transfer system could well cause problems for clubs such as the Brumbies and Melbourne Rebels, who draw the bulk of their players from the heartland states of NSW and Queensland.
“Even if you look at (World Rugby’s) ancestry laws …. you may have developed a kid for 10 years but because he has, say, British heritage, he just walks across. No, no, no. You should pay for their development.”
Clubs wanting to secure young talent potentially could pass on some or all of the transfer fee to player agents who, at present, are able to fully exploit all the coaching poured into a young player by effectively selling them to the highest bidder on the international market.
The volume of player movements would be substantially curbed if transfer fees had to be paid out of an agent’s commission.
Johnson still is hoping that, as he puts it, sanity will prevail and the three Queensland players who were stood down this week for refusing to accept a pay cut during the COVID-19 pandemic will reconsider their stance.
He believes they have dramatically underestimated the rugby public’s reaction, with former Reds and Wallabies fullback Greg Martin claiming the trio had “dogged their teammates” by acting as they have.
“It’s a team game and everyone thought everyone was rock solid,” said Martin on Triple M.
“They should have talked about it a while ago and talked through it but no, they’ve tucked their head in the sand, listened to their manager who’s gone, ‘You’re not going to get paid enough here … I can get you that in Japan’. That’s what it seems to be about.”
Johnson insists that there is a way back.
“What Australians do accept is an admission that I got it wrong. We can accept that. If they said ‘I think I got this wrong. I want to be part of this. I never wanted not to be’, then we can all get on with it and there would be no ill will. But they have to make the next move.”
The irony is that all three players have been advised they are of significant interest to the Wallabies selectors.
Rodda has already played 25 Tests but when Johnson, who is one of the three national selectors, looks at Hockings and his fellow Reds second-rower Angus Blyth, he sees a world-class lock pairing in the making.
“I think he and Blyth can have significant international careers,” Johnson said.
“Significant. They could be a better combination than a Bakkies and a Matfield. That’s how I think they could be. I reckon they would be international class.”
That is praise of the highest order. Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield were the lock combination for the Springboks when they won the 2007 World Cup. Matfield was regarded as one of the world’s best lineout jumpers. Botha’s talent lay in other areas.
‘We want them to stay’: RA’s olive branch to rebels
Wallaby Izack Rodda, Harry Hockings and Isaac Lucas have been pilloried as self-centred and out of touch with the code and community for refusing to accept their agreed pay cuts, writes Jim Tucker.
The trio were stood down from the Queensland Reds on Monday for a mutiny which has perplexed coach Brad Thorn and stirred disdain from others in a game riven by financial uncertainty.
The deeper drama is yet to unfold with the drums already beating that young lock Hockings and utility back Lucas are eyeing deals with Japanese club Suntory to beat the post-pandemic rush for security.
Lock Rodda’s case as a 25-Test fixture, who captained the Reds for a game last year, is as hard to fathom unless he has somehow fallen out of love with the four-year contract extension he signed eight months ago.
He may have hyper-anxiety that the deal just won’t be honoured at the full figures, with the likelihood that the new five-year broadcast deal will be brokered below the current level.
Rodda did flag to Rugby Australia that he would be one of the six players to pursue short-term possibilities overseas from 2021-23 when the Rugby Union Players’ Association fought to have that clause included in the recent negotiations.
Under the average pay cuts of 60 per cent struck in that deal, Rodda would be more than $100,000 out of pocket for the six months of the agreement to help save Australian rugby from ruin.
A rogue hint that surfaced elsewhere was that Rodda was interested in a move to the NSW Waratahs, a former suitor.
Stunned former Wallaby hooker Brendan Cannon said the trio’s actions were “in complete contradiction with what a team stands for’’.
“It’s a really sad situation to have them thumbing their noses at the game and the community, and the poor advice they must have taken to do it,’’ Cannon said.
“It’s a grave error ... they are looking after themselves above everyone else.’’
The Queensland Rugby Union has no intention of turning this into a flashpoint for any of the trio to exit contracts early to play elsewhere.
The major drama unfolded on Monday morning when QRU chief executive David Hanham explained why the trio were not at Ballymore for the resumption of Reds’ training.
The situation had been bubbling away uncomfortably for about 10 days, with discussions between the QRU, the players and leading agent Anthony Picone.
Picone last year signed former Reds skipper Samu Kerevi to a lucrative deal with Suntory.
“They are good young men we rate highly in our long-term plans but clearly we are not in a position we wanted to be in,’’ Hanham said.
“Players have got their agents but, at the end of the day, it is the players who make the decisions.’’
QRU staff in multiple departments have been on reduced working hours and pay for more than six weeks, and more than 100 RA staff have been stood down.
“Care for the cause is one of our values at the Reds, and people put heart and soul into it,’’ Hanham said
“In uncertain times, other people deal with emotions and situations in different ways.’’
RA director of rugby Scott Johnson added: “We want the players to remain in Australia and honour their contracts.
“This is an unfortunate situation given we have an agreement while the game navigates the COVID-19 situation.
“Approximately 190 of the other players (in Australia’s professional ranks have triggered JobKeeper), all except these three.”
Originally published as Calls for rugby transfer system grows in wake of Izack Rodda, Harry Hockings, Isaac Lucas sagas