League: Faumuina's naked ambition

Sione Faumuina

The short-term deals for Sione Faumuina, Andrew Johns and even Adrian Morley to play in the UK Super League has raised serious questions about the future of international rugby league.

While the number heading over to the UK for a short stint is hardly of epidemic proportions, it opens the door for many more players not involved in the NRL playoffs to exercise that option at the end of the 2006 season.

Faumuina has already made himself unavailable for the Kiwis for October's Tri Nations and Johns will ask for dispensation from Australia's first test with the Kiwis on October 15, should his new club Warrington make the Super League grand final.

The latest controversy comes on the back of a battle between the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) and NRL clubs over the release of players for the Tri Nations because of long-standing injuries. The Kiwis stand to lose a handful of players. Warriors utility Jerome Ropati and the Bulldogs' Matt Utai are the latest who might miss the Tri Nations - Ropati with a groin injury, Utai with a shoulder - joining the uncertainty over the availability of Benji Marshall, Sonny Bill Williams and Roy Asotasi, among others.

The emergence of players seeking short-term contracts in the UK is a situation that has rugby league chiefs on both sides of the Tasman worried, given international rugby league needs to become a more attractive proposition to develop the game worldwide and prevent top players switching to rugby union, because of the attraction of a more global game.

"These guys have set a dangerous precedent and we have to be careful that it doesn't start snowballing," NZRL chairman Selwyn Pearson said of Faumuina and Johns.

Faumuina stands to earn $10,000 a game for Hull and Johns can expect twice that figure for each game he plays for Warrington. Morley indicated he would join Bradford if the Roosters failed to make the top-eight playoffs.

The move also has serious implications for the NRL salary cap, given clubs might be open to offering lucrative stints in the UK as an inducement to players.

Faumuina is understood to have demanded a pay rise to top up his $275,000 salary at the Warriors but, instead, he was given permission to pick up a short-term contract to supplement his income.

In contrast, playing for the Kiwis is done on a love-of-the-jersey basis because the NZRL can't afford to pay their players. Australian test players receive around $10,000 for each game they play.

The responsibility for addressing short-term contracts seems to lie with the UK's Rugby Football League (RFL), which accepts the late registration of players.

It has also been steadfast in its refusal to stage the Super League grand final on the same weekend as the NRL grand final - the NRL grand final has traditionally been held on the first weekend of October, which is a long weekend in New South Wales.

"I think the RFL would have concerns about the number of players taking up short-term contracts as well," Australian Rugby League chairman Colin Love said. "A particular team might do well throughout the season and all of a sudden in the last few weeks another club can bolster their ranks - I don't know whether that's fair and it's something that needs to be looked at."

Pearson was more bullish in his assessment. "I'm going to get hold of the RFL and say, 'you're underwriting the Tri Nations so how is this helping by allowing your clubs to pick up players at the end of the season which then eliminates them from the Kiwi test team? How is this helping the international game?' The answer is, it ain't."

The Kiwis already won't be able to call on UK-based players involved in the Super League finals for the first two Tri Nations tests against the Kangaroos because of the crossover.

Johns' desire to be excused from the Kangaroos squad caused a furore in Australia, with former internationals Tom Raudonikis, Gorden Tallis and Steve Renouf saying that it cheapened the jersey.

The Tri Nations will certainly be cheapened if more players opt out of it in the future.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY