The impression of Rugby Australia’s big-money poaching of NRL star Joseph Suaalii is being debated after the Wallabies’ horror loss to Fiji on the Rugby World Cup.
Eddie Jones’ facet suffered a catastrophic blow to their marketing campaign as Fiji gained 22-15 in Saint-Etienne on Monday morning (AEST0 to present the Pacific nation their first win over Australia since 1954.
Veteran rugby league reporter Phil Rothfield put to Wallabies legend Matt Burke on Monday that Suaalii’s signing — for a reported $5 million over three years from the top of subsequent season — had induced unrest amongst present Australian rugby gamers.
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And whereas he mentioned it was not the rationale for Monday’s dismal loss, he prompt the controversial transfer had created a unfavorable “mood” in rugby circles.
“I speak to a lot of agents who double up with NRL and rugby players as well and they started talking about the unrest amongst the current players that they’ve gone to rugby league and got a guy who hadn’t made it in league yet,” Rothfield mentioned on the Big Sports Breakfast.
“He has shown a lot of promise but he’s getting paid three times what a lot of the current Wallabies players are on.
“I don’t know if you can blame it for that last night. You can’t. But I’m just hearing there’s a mood there that they’re not happy from the boardroom down to the Wallabies., about the direction and the philosophies involved in rebuilding this team.”
Burke mentioned he had not heard that gamers have been “disgruntled” over Suaalii’s deal however conceded it had induced points by inflating rugby’s participant market.
“I heard they were excited over getting this guy across,” Burke mentioned. “But I’m sure there would have been a few guys saying ‘hang on’ that is a fair bit of coin. Where is my piece of the pie?
“Any good agent will go …. ‘if you’re paying this amount of money for this bloke, my number has just gone up, otherwise I’ll go overseas’. That’s the Catch 22 that rugby are in at the moment.”
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Rothfield added: “When the Suaalii deal was done a lot of agents were banging on (Rugby Australia chairman) Hamish McLennan’s door saying ‘what about us? What about our boys who have been loyal all the way through?’
“I’m told there was some unrest and I’m getting that from people who know.
“You can’t blame that for this performance but it’s certainly an interesting rebuild for the Wallabies.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
