It is very concerning that the few stars we have in the UK RL game are still being lured away to the NRL & Rugby Union despite the fact the latter is now such a completely different game very few players in recent years have been able to make the cross over successfully. The latest confirmed loss is Ben Murdoch Masilla of Warrington to the NRL's New Zealand Warriors & Gloucester being linked with Wigan's scrun half Jackson Hastings. This is obviously not affecting the Championship clubs directly but it vastly weakens the game as a whole in this country which is bad for all of us. Good Australian players only come here either if they have been banned in Australia, had "problems" there or are at the end of their careers.
Much fuss was made about Warrington signing Widdop who IMO was never international standard & is now virtually finished as a player. Unfortunately it is hard to come up with a solution for this big problem as our game will never match the wages commanded by these alternatives.
And these new Canadian and American franchises are going to water it down even further at least in the short term. I don't get too concerned about it these days, the more I see of Superleague and the way they operate I think we may be be as well off where we are especially if we can get a winning team out on the paddock.
It is very concerning that the few stars we have in the UK RL game are still being lured away to the NRL & Rugby Union despite the fact the latter is now such a completely different game very few players in recent years have been able to make the cross over successfully. The latest confirmed loss is Ben Murdoch Masilla of Warrington to the NRL’s New Zealand Warriors & Gloucester being linked with Wigan’s scrun half Jackson Hastings. This is obviously not affecting the Championship clubs directly but it vastly weakens the game as a whole in this country which is bad for all of us. Good Australian players only come here either if they have been banned in Australia, had “problems” there or are at the end of their careers. Much fuss was made about Warrington signing Widdop who IMO was never international standard & is now virtually finished as a player. Unfortunately it is hard to come up with a solution for this big problem as our game will never match the wages commanded by these alternatives.
In fairness Murdoch Masilla was born and raised in Auckland came over here to further his playing career and has now been offered the opportunity to return home.
Jackson Hastings is from Wollongong and came over here because he wasn't wanted in Australia.
The bigger problem is that we are not producing home grown British Stars and those that we do produce we are unable to give any profile nationally outside of the immediate confines of the Rugby League game.
I would actually disagree, this close season was one of the best for signing NRL talent. Of the British players only George Williams went to the NRL and none to RU. Wigan signed a better player in Hastings to replace him, who decided to stay in Superleague. Two British internationals moved over to SL from the NRL in Widdop and George Burgess.
Murdoch-Masilla is going back next year but he's going home to NZ. This year we have seen Hull sign Sao, Satae and 2 big stars, Tongan international's Manu Ma'u and Fonua. Catalans have signed 2 big names in Maloney and Folau, Huddersfield have signed Sezer and Gavet. Feki has signed for Cas, Prior at Leeds, Kenny Dowell at Hull KR and the biggest name SBW at Toronto.
In terms of losses vs gains Superleague has gained a lot more NRL talent for 2020 that it has lost.