The dawn of the $200,000 player

8.45am - By GREGOR PAUL

The Rico Gear saga has opened a new era in New Zealand -players earning more than $200,000 for playing provincial rugby for the first time and players' agents starting to rule the roost.

Professional rugby was never supposed to head down this road.

But that is unquestionably what is happening in New Zealand rugby now, with players dictating terms that only a few years ago would have been laughable.

Agents are becoming power brokers, making deals that are squeezing the provinces.

Gear's move to Nelson Bays from North Harbour is believed to have earned him a sign-on fee close to $100,000 and an annual salary of about $100,000.

His younger brother Hosea has signed for Wellington for a similar $100,000 salary. Sione Lauaki, Nick Evans and Mose Tuiali'i, who have shifted province this season too, are all understood to have picked up sign-on fees of around $30,000 plus salaries of about $80,000.

Byron Kelleher and Tom Willis shifted from Otago to Waikato last year for packages believed to be in the region of $90,000.

The chief executives of the major unions insist they are not being held to ransom, yet offer no valid explanation as to why they are now paying massive signing-on fees and wages that are almost double those paid a few years ago.

Some blame other unions, but every wage bill in the first division has soared since 2001. Others say it is the inevitable outcome of being in a global market, but again that is not convincing.

Would, for example, paying someone $80,000 instead of $50,000 really make them think twice about turning down $500,000 a year to play for an overseas club?

The reason the unions play dumb about wage inflation is they don't want to reveal that they have lost the whip hand.

Agents, like the players, are far more savvy beasts than they were a few years ago. It is their job to notice that revenue streams in the major provinces have increased steadily since the inception of professionalism and to ensure the players get a bigger slice of that action.

The sign-on fee is one effective way of ensuring that. A few years ago, unions refused to pay them. Now they are such a significant part of the deal to secure top players that one chief executive of a major union who didn't want to be named, said: "It is the sign-on fees that are really killing us and driving the costs up."

Why the unions caved in remains unclear. The most feasible explanation is that with their coffers bloated by Super 12 income, the bigger unions, desperate for NPC success, saw an opportunity to capitalise on their position. They started paying sign-on fees simply because they could afford them.

What didn't feature in their calculations was that money is no longer a taboo subject in the dressing room.

Rob Nichol, the executive manager of the Professional Rugby Players' Association, says that players are just like workers in any other industry and discuss what they are earning.

That wasn't the case when Lee Stensness was playing for the Blues, Auckland and the All Blacks in the mid-to-late 1990s. "The guys didn't talk about money," says Stensness, "I didn't really think it was any of my business what other people were being paid. Back then the New Zealand Rugby Union offered you what they were going to offer you and if you didn't like it you could go overseas."

Just as the unions were loosening their purse strings, the players were loosening their tongues and individuals became aware of their worth.

Pandora's box is open and in a free market there is no way to shut it. NZRU deputy chief executive Steve Tew says: "The unions are free to pay sign-on fees. We have not provided any benchmarks. Players are free to negotiate and unions can structure packages so they are offering a point of difference."

The NZRU, however, knows it has to drop its laissez faire stance as even the unions with the deepest pockets are facing sustainability issues. Hence, the decision to put in place a salary cap as of 2006.

With that mechanism looming, agents are aware the halcyon days are numbered so have explored innovative ways to get the best deal before the shutters come down.

While it may seem ludicrous that an in-form outside back of the quality of Gear is joining a second division side, the whole package has to be considered.

All Black positions for the June tests and Tri-Nations series are won on the back of Super 12 form. Gear believes that he will be a guaranteed starter at the Crusaders and only a squad man at the Blues.

North Harbour pulled out all the stops and are believed to have offered Gear a modest re-signing fee and a salary of $60,000.

With that deal sitting on the table, Gear's agent, Lou Thompson of GSM, came back with the higher offer from Nelson Bays. The money was more than double that offered by North Harbour and, as Nelson Bays chief executive Peter Barr says: "Rico came down here and really liked it. He and his partner saw the lifestyle they could enjoy and that there would be potential business opportunities for him." The only downside was joining a second division side. But if Gear makes the All Blacks as his move to the Crusaders is designed to ensure, his NPC involvement will be virtually nil.

These considerations are also why Gear's Harbour team-mate, Craig Newby, was looking at signing with North Otago. Controversy will simmer about Gear's transfer for some time with everyone except the player, his agent and club expressing uneasiness. The natural tendency is to brand the player a mercenary and thrash the NZRU for not having more rigid rules.

But Gear can justify his move will enhance his All Black chances and the NZRU cannot regulate a free market. Those who reckon the situation is a farce should question why a club like Nelson Bays are prepared to fork out a six figure sign-on fee, plus $100,000 a year for a player who may not play a single game.

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