Weak leadership at the top in the NRL is a major concern, writes Paul Kent
THE NFL trials, Semi Radradra, the state of bush footy and the game edging toward civil war all point to someone being asleep at the wheel at the NRL.
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THE NRL and its clubs allowed two contracted players, Jason Taumalolo and Valentine Holmes, to happily go off and trial for NFL contracts.
Taumalolo and Holmes are both still being paid by their clubs, even as they practise NFL.
Nothing better highlights how out of touch the NRL is, allowing this to happen with not a murmur of concern from the governing body.
I can’t imagine my bosses letting me leave work for a fortnight, still paid, to see if I preferred a job at the Herald. Would McDonald’s let an employee trial at Hungry Jack’s?
Yet Cowboys coach Paul Green perfectly summed up the dilemma of clubs, saying: “We could have stopped him if we wanted to, but what are we going to gain out of that? He’s only going to have the shits with us.”
Green knows there would be 15 clubs ready to sweet talk Taumalolo if he fell out with the Cowboys over something like that, so the Cowboys did all they were left to do, which was nothing. The NRL should have stepped in on their behalf.
As custodians of the game, which is all they are, their charter is to protect the game.
And they are failing.
The NRL should have ordered both players back immediately. Then fined them.
Where is the onus on the players, being paid by the game, to protect the game?
And why is the NRL and the clubs so gutless?
Well, we know why the clubs are ... the league is allowing a practice to continue that strips them of their powers.
The absurdity is both players are inadvertently publicising NFL over their own code.
All this talk of unfulfilled dreams and just one shot is tacitly saying: “play NRL — but only if you can’t make the NFL”.
And with NFL games now beamed live into our homes every week, thousands who never thought twice about the game are now giving it a taste just to see what it is these NRL players are attempting to do.
It’s a wonderful free promotion for their code. This, in the same market that provides the NRL its greatest source of income — television. In a week where the game edges towards civil war over what?
Money.
Todd Greenberg is working hard at the moment to prevent the game from imploding but so much money has and is still being spent at League Central for reasons we were led to believe were to put in place safeguards to handle just these situations. But somebody has fallen asleep at the wheel.
This is one of the main problems the clubs have with headquarters. The NRL can’t help contradicting itself, cursed by its own spin. For months this time last year the game sprouted record participation rates.
It was a feel-good story, you beauty, a testament to the commission and all those highly paid executives.
This, even though the figures were actually false. For the first time the game was including women players, who are growing sharply from a small base, and touch players, which it bought and now works under the NRL banner.
Now, 12 months later, falling participation rates in real terms — which have been happening for years — are the reasons being cited for reneging on the promise to increase club grants to 130 per cent of the salary cap.
I wonder whether even that offer was ever genuine. It came at a time when the game was coming under intense heat for mismanaging the broadcast deal, with experts saying the game left between $300-$500 million on the table.
At the time the clubs and players were crucial in winning public opinion and this promise quickly bought their favour.
But now it’s gone, too.
Last week the game announced changes to the junior game to increase numbers, the key components being a smaller field, more tackles and other fluff.
Three more relevant reasons kids are leaving are it costs too much, the massive size discrepancy in age groups has them or their parents scared to let them play, and over-aggressive coaches.
The size difference in junior football is critical to its growth yet there is no appetite to address it. How does a smaller field help that?
Good grief.
When is somebody going to take a walk in the real world?
Bush football is dying, numbers falling. So they cancel the City-Country game.
Parramatta stood by its decision to allow Semi Radradra to return home to Fiji to visit his sick father even though he missed his court appearance for domestic violence.
Radradra’s own sister claimed Dad was not too ill. Magistrate Tim Keady soon showed Parramatta’s decision for what it was, initially saying Radradra’s letter explaining the illness “wasn’t very convincing”.
The backstory, of course, is the Eels want to keep Radradra happy at all costs, particularly after the intense interest from French rugby, and so they went soft on discipline.
Just like Green was forced to at the Cowboys. It took the magistrate to restore some integrity to it all, doing the Eels’ job for them.
While he ultimately accepted Radradra’s absence was legitimate after receiving further evidence from his father’s doctor, he still ordered Radradra to surrender his passport.
JUST ANSWER THE QUESTIONS — Mark Bosnich, Fox Sports football commentator. Laughs for the world
You’ve got the most famous laugh in soccer, but did it get you in trouble after the FFA Cup final on Wednesday?
Me? How so?
Tim Cahill was halfway through saying how he was not used to accepting individual awards because he’s such a team player and you burst out laughing.
I didn’t hear properly because of the crowd. I was just laughing because he is so successful at everything he does.
Great smother. He is worth everything they paid for him.
I was having this conversation with my hairdresser this morning. A lot of people have been getting on his back but the bottom line is whenever we need him, he always produces. And when you do that you’re a champion.
So the FFA Cup was another success?
It’s successful because, No. 1, we had more entrants. Two, crowds and ratings improved and, this is most important, a lot of people were feeling disjointed about football in general and this has built a wonderful bridge.
Why was that necessary?
It’s one thing to say you are growing participation but when you have 10 clubs with no promotion and relegation it becomes a bit like a boys’ club. This made everyone feel involved.
A GOOD WEEK FOR
NO doubt world sport’s greatest promoter is Conor McGregor, the UFC champion. This week McGregor paid $60 and filled out a boxing licence in California, which seemed innocent enough, except McGregor knew it would spark a wall of talk that he is preparing to fight Floyd Mayweather in a superfight between styles. It will never happen, but for $60 McGregor had his name discussed and promoted around the world. The big agencies charge millions for such exposure.
A ROUGH WEEK FOR
THE verbal baiting between Wallabies coach Michael Cheika and former Wallabies coach, and former teammate, Eddie Jones continues to make interesting reading. Well done to both, I say. They are bringing a tension to the sport that is often missing, with smart operators knowing that the tension is where the interest lies.
DON’T MISS
THE Test series is over so time for that other Australian team, the one-day side, to roll out. They take on New Zealand on Sunday (Channel 9, 2pm) at the SCG. Nine’s figures are well down on previous years, although there has been a bit of a spiral, and a big reason has to still be the continual changing of the line-ups. One thing TV types know is that regularity is the key. Different players under the umbrella of Australia don’t encourage familiarity with viewers.
CHILLS PILLS
DARREN Lehmann’s blunt advice to Glenn Maxwell “make some runs” was some good old-fashioned coaching from a guy who knows the only measure is to get the job done.
ANGRY PILLS
TOULON owner Mourad Boudjellal went off too early on Semi Radradra and got what he deserved. The man has little respect for those pesky little things the rest of us like to call contracts.
Originally published as Weak leadership at the top in the NRL is a major concern, writes Paul Kent
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