Why Rugby Australia shouldn’t break the bank for Joseph Suaalii

There is no doubt Joseph Suaalii is an exceptional talent, but he is not unique.

Last week I argued that the administration of Rugby Australia is deaf. I am told there is a move towards constitutional change; but the rugby establishment do not want to empower the people who own the game because they fear they will lose the very power they now enjoy.

I said last week we should tell New Zealand Rugby there is no way we will be sending two teams to play in a new Kiwi-dominated trans-Tasman competition. How hard is it to say no?

We are pretty slow to utter the words. Paradoxically, the best thing for Australian rugby would be that New Zealand ignored us. We then might wake up to the fact that we have to improve quality and performance and that will only come with a better and knowing administration.

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Your responses last week were astonishing; but, presumably, Rugby Australia take no notice.

Geoff said: “Time to apologise for the Folau debacle and invite people of faith and Pacific Islanders back to the game. Make rugby everyone’s game again. Say sorry, start again and we will come back in numbers.”

Simon says, amongst other things: “Time for you to lobby for an ARU board seat and usurp the tired people running the show … we need fresh ideas and yours sound good …”

Simon, rest assured, I am the last person they will listen to.

Joseph Suaalii with Wayne Bennett and John Sutton.

Wayne says: “Agreed. Forget Super Rugby, focus on club rugby that has been popular and successful for over 100 years. Players then get selected, not contracted, to play for their state and paid handsomely for each game played; then players get selected for Wallaby honours and are paid handsomely for each Test as well.

“No need for state and national bodies to run massive balance sheets with player contract liabilities extending over many years into the future.”

How come the rugby punter understands this and the rugby administration does not?

As Fred says: “Spot on. Is anyone awake at Fort Fumble?”

Martin: “These suggestions seem so practical that only a fool would not try to put them into action.”

Well, where to now? You would have seen the film Jerry Maguire, in which Tom Cruise plays a once cocky sports agent, who is out of a job and desperate to hold on to his last remaining client.

The client is NFL wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals, Rod Tidwell. Played by Cuba Gooding Jr, Tidwell colourfully expresses his unhappiness with his existing contract on a phone call with his agent.

Gooding Jr repeats the phrase, “show me the money”, and insists Maguire scream it back at him.

The celebrated scene was ­career-altering for Cruise and made Gooding Jr an instant success, propelling him to a best supporting actor Oscar win.

It would seem Rugby Australia have shown 16-year-old King’s schoolboy Joseph Suaalii “the money”.

If reports of a $3 million deal are true, or even half of it, the signing would make a mockery of the Rugby Australia board and their current financial concerns.

Joseph Suaalii has been at the centre of a tug of war between rugby league and union.

There is no doubt Suaalii is an exceptional talent, but he’s not a unique talent.

There are a number of very talented “Izzy Folau-type” players currently breaking through in both rugby codes, including Stephen Crichton at the Penrith Panthers, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow at the Cowboys, Xavier Coates at the Broncos, Mac Grealy at the Reds and Mark Nawaqanitawase at the Waratahs.

Jordan Petaia was the young gun in the headlines last season. This season he’s been broken with serious injury.

Do the people at Rugby Australia understand Suaalii has unstable shoulders?

It would be wonderful if Suaalii were to stay in rugby union. But the financials must stack up.

Remember, RA recently sacked 70 full and part-time staff and over 250 staff have been cut across all professional teams.

The players have all been forced to take massive pay cuts and all 12 of the development officers in NSW have been laid off.

In addition, the current $10 million broadcast deal will bring in one-fifth of the budgeted television revenue.

It’s not the first dumb decision our game’s decision-makers have made in recent times.

In 2017, they betrayed the Western Force and in 2018 they undermined Michael Cheika by appointing Scott Johnson as director of rugby.

Suaalii is a good signing, at the right price.

Then, in 2019, they turned the Folau issue into a fiasco through poor management.

The reckless pursuit of Suaalii appears to be the work of Johnson, again. In my opinion he is scrambling to justify his four-year contract and has made a seriously bad judgment call. Again.

What does it say to the current Wallabies when a 16-year-old unproven schoolboy is offered a deal as big as that of the current Wallaby captain?

Remember, as coach of Scotland, Johnson won five out of 16 Test matches and, of the five wins, three were against Italy.

Good leaders are able to think clearly under pressure. Rugby Australia is clearly under siege, for a host of reasons, and this latest recruitment move reeks of desperation. If the new chairman doesn’t focus on constitutional reform, competition structures and raising revenue, there may not be a professional game in Australia. It won’t matter who Johnson signs up to play.

A large number of players are voting with their feet and taking deals overseas. They clearly have little belief in Johnson’s vision or Rugby Australia’s ability to provide a future for them.

But back to Jerry Maguire. Later in the film, Cruise, playing Jerry Maguire, pleads with Gooding Jr’s character, Tidwell, to stop being a showboat as he fights to get him a new contract.

Cruise utters the famous line: “Help me to help you.”

That’s my message to Rugby Australia. Help me to help you.

Signing Suaalii is not a mistake, but breaking the bank to do it is. A multimillion-dollar deal for a 16-year-old schoolboy with dodgy shoulders doesn’t pass the pub test.

I’m happy to share my thoughts honestly in this column.

I won’t win friends at RA for doing it, but someone has to tell it like it is.