NAWAQANITAWASE DEFECTS TO LEAGUE | CIVIL WAR BETWEEN THE CODES?

is there a bit of a civil war Brewing between the codes down under and surrounding this guy Mark nangas who is going to be leaving the wbees and going to be going and playing rugby league for a few years in the NRL for the Sydney roosters it's there's a lot of layers to this story uh but fundamentally this is the latest bit of bad news in what has been an absolute shocker of a year for Rugby Union in Australia the worst World Cup ever hirings and firings of head coaches chairman leaving and um yeah just a mess financially the Grassroots rugby in tatters and all of this with a British and Irish Lions Tour on the horizon in what 18 months time and with uh with a home Rugby World Cup in just under four years time as well and to put it into context just what the people at the head of rugby Australia think about this guy Mark nangas he was the man that they chose to put on all of their marketing material for that British and Irish Lions tour in 18 months time he will not be wearing that Jersey in that tour because he's going to be playing rugby league and the the story for this one and the reason I said there's lots of layers to this it also involves another player it's a bit of um bit of a love triangle or I don't know a sort of push and pull between the unions and between NOA Nas and Joseph sui who is a Samo in rugby league International playing for the Sydney roosters described as a team Prodigy for the last couple of years one of the in terms of raw talents one of the most talented athletes in either code on Earth he looks to be an absolute superstar in the making and at the age of 20 rugby Australia announced that they had nabbed him and they were feeling really really chuff with themselves um at no small small expense I might point out they are going to be spending $ 1.6 million Australian dollars per year on the three-year deal that they have signed that's 5 million Australian dollars getting this guy across and make no m mistake 6'5 rangy Runner rapid hits hard brilliant under the high ball he looks like he could be an absolute Superstar fullback for Australia could be a gem and yes could be someone that could excite the interest of of a new generation of Rugby Union fans in Australia so I do get the thinking behind this signing but there were people as soon as it were an announc saying not sure this is going to go down very well this may well backfire and it appears to have done so because it ruffled the feathers of the NRL massively and rugby league fans in Australia massively bearing in mind that if you wanted to try and build the uh success of Rugby Union in Australia which is at a low web one one way you might do that is by just trying to tease a few rugby league fans who might be diard rugby league fans here just check out the odd wabby game will you go on just put us on this has driven a big wedge between the two sports and that's because in the NRL clubs operate under a salary cap so there's a limited amount of money they can offer to any individual player and rugby Australia just opened up the checkbook and threw money at Joseph suali 1.6 million Australian dollars a year which um the reports that I've been reading suggest that Mark nangas could have been resigned for $600,000 a year that is what he's being paid by the Sydney roosters allegedly and if that is the case that's a $1 million Pere difference and in mark nangan Australia have got a player that's done the the hard graph to bed himself into the international team 11 caps to his name and looking like he was going to push on this guy is going to have to start from scratch yes could be amazing but that's an extra million Australian dollars a year and now a whole load of ill feeling towards the Wes uh rugby team down in Australia and um and some of the NRL clubs going right we'll show you then so I hope the um the kind of tip Fort ends here because I I I you wonder if a few more wab bees could be tempted away uh as as a consequence and when you think about the difference between the money that they're spending you have to W wonder is spending $5 million on this guy the best use of the funds right now there are a whole lot of issues in Australian rugby not least the fact Grassroots rugby just seems to have evaporated there's no structure there's there's no scale participation numbers are dropping loads of kids from private schools that that would normally go on play rugby union and being taken away to the NRL cuz that's where the big TV deals that's where the money is uh rugby Australia's the one feather it's got in its cap the one thing it's got going for it is the fact that Rugby Union is a much bigger game globally than rugby league is and uh before he left it was heish mlen um at rugby Australia said that um Rugby Union is twice the size of rugby league globally and players get to travel twice the distance to twice as many countries and have more experience experiences that is true that is absolutely true and and that may well be what's attracted so e to to Rugby Union for a few years but um they've got some big issues they need to address um the one thing that there was one quote where was it here we go Brandon Smith who is one of uh his teammates at the roosters currently will be one of Martin noag to ask his teammates next year uh he said on the move when he was asked in an interview bearing in mind how most most athletes kind of sit on the fence give you cliches every now and again Brandon Smith said this when he was asked about this move he said go go for three years and get that easy money then come back and play a real sport at 1 Point uh 1.6 million on a Winger is not going to help you beat the All Blacks shots fired and that just gives you a bit of a sense about the sentiment from rugby league towards Rugby Union in Australia right now is it a move that is going to backfire have the WABE shot themselves in the foot do you think this signing is a great one and how disappointed are you at losing this guy no angan whose name I've just got good at saying without even thinking about it and now he's off see you on the next video