League players tempted by RU and NRL, survey reveals

Given the far higher salary cap recently introduced by the Australian rugby league competition and, more traditionally, in the 15-man code, it has been feared that many domestic rugby league stars could be lured away.

Statistics now prove this after the first poll of top-flight players in the summer era was carried out by players’ association 1eague3 in conjunction with Rugby League World magazine.

The success of the Dewsbury-born Burgess brothers at South Sydney has opened the eyes of many Super League players with Wigan’s Sam Tomkins and Lee Mossop set to join them in the NRL in 2014.

“It’s certainly an issue for Super League,” said St Helens and England international Jon Wilkin, the chairman of 1eague3.

“To have 75 per cent say that they have an interest in leaving the competition is very significant. We knew it was an issue, with the amount of press that the Burgess boys have been getting in Australia, and everything around the England RU set-up with guys like Chris Ashton.

“There seems to be a lot of positive momentum towards leaving the game in this country, and that’s something we need to 
address.”

The poll attracted responses from more than 150 players, almost half of the total number involved in Super League at present, and over 60 per cent of 1eague3’s membership. Another question was whether they had ever suffered depression to which more than 40 players answered ‘yes’.

Wilkin admitted: “To see 34 per cent of the players that replied have had an issue with depression, and it’s played a part in their professional rugby career, for me was a shockingly high statistic.

“It underlines the relevance of the State of Mind round, and their campaign, as well as all the great work that both Sporting Chance and the RFL are doing.

“It also shows that being a professional sportsman is not all peaks – there are plenty of troughs in there. This statistic has certainly highlighted that.”

However, the most emphatic response surrounded the questions on the sport’s marketing in this country with 97 per cent of those polled saying it is inadequate.

“Not all players are expert marketers and understand how it works, and that should be said,” said Wilkin.

“But on the flip side, one of the biggest tools we have is the players’ ability to engage with people, and that has to be the way forward for us. If the players think that the game is not being marketed adequately, that should certainly be a concern for the people attempting to market the game.”

He added: “One of the big issues for us is that players’ opinions have never really been taken seriously in the game.

“Individual players have been asked their opinion, but they are usually the high-profile players who’ve had good careers.

“This survey gave us the opportunity to cover all bases, and hear what young and old players alike think about the big issues in the game, whatever their profile is.”