sidelined

Craig Emerson is the federal Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy, and the Minister Assisting on Deregulation. He has some opinions on rugby league post the SBW saga as outlined in The Australian.

I have no idea how is performing as a minister, but as a league pundit he needs some work. Taking the chicken little approach Emerson cries:

The Red Sea has parted and the exodus from league is on for young and old. Four members of the present Wallabies team are league converts: Lote Tuqiri, Berrick Barnes, Ryan Cross and Timana Tahu

Of those four players, Tuqiri would be the only one who could get a spot in the current Kangaroo squad. Tahu and outside chance. Barnes and Cross never played for Australian in their league days and never were likely to. The fact that they have made the Wallabies is an indictment on the depth of rugby talent in Australia than anything else.

Having been so destructive, the salary cap must have enormous benefits, right? Well, the salary cap is supposed to equalise all the clubs. But it could easily equalise them out of existence. Rugby league is losing its fan base, with many games being played in echo chambers. Official figures of a small increase in crowd numbers this year are hard to believe and anyway, crowds simply won’t hold up as the exodus of marquee players gathers pace.

Emerson seems to forget the reason why the cap is in place. Without the cap, league would more than likely tear itself apart and clubs would die. Sorta like the Super League all over again. That is not to say I’m against tinkering and eventually the salary cap. It should be done in a careful and controlled manner in conjunction with other efforts to grow the game.

Get rid of the salary cap and allow players to be paid what economists call their opportunity cost: their value in other uses. That’s their market value in rah-rah here and overseas and in English Super League. Properly paid, the players might be able to afford a bit of club loyalty.

This is just plain stupid. Again, Emerson ignores the pragmatic reasons why the cap is in place. A free for all would damage league as clubs would go to the wall. The future of league depends clear-minded practical measures not blind allegiance to pie in the sky appeals to market forces.

There are lots of advertising opportunities for sponsors out there, including white knights who would pay the Benji Marshalls and Robbie Farahs to stay with the club just to feel good or to curry favour with local consumers.

I actually agree with this statement. This should be allowed by the NRL.

Some clubs might fold with no salary cap. But how sustainable is it to persist with nine Sydney-based teams in a national competition? League administrators would be naturally inclined to want to decide which teams go and which ones stay. But in the end the market would decide, one way or the other

Emerson needs to read some Phil Gould. Specifically this article on the lesson that needs to be learnt from the exclusion of the North Sydney Bears. Appeals to the powers of the “market” ignore the complexities of league fandom and the issues facing Sydney clubs. Emerson is from Queensland anyway so that alone should make you wonder.

Surely administrators have confidence in the game they love to sustain itself without a cap on player salaries and business sponsorships. Australia has lots of wealthy companies and private individuals who are sports mad and who would jump at the opportunity of taking ownership shares in league teams.

Aaaargh. The ignorance, it burns. I can see the game getting to a stage where it will be able to live without a salary cap. But this is a long term goal. Rushing into this would hurt the game far more than taking a measured approach. Still, I do like the idea of private ownership of NRL clubs. That would bode well for long term viability.

How’s this for a possibility: major mining companies sponsoring a Darwin-based team?

This is a supremely silly idea. Throwing a team into Darwin, without establishing a foundation for the code would be a recipe for failure. Especially given the strength of Aussie Rules. Just because mining companies have money, it doesn’t mean they stupid enough to waste on ill-advised sporting ventures.

Remove the salary cap. And go the Dogs, to a kennel on the Central Coast!

A wonderfully succinct encapsulation of Emerson’s ignorance of the league lanscape. The Dogs moving to the Central Coast would be the Northern Eagles revisited. I’d like a team on the Central Coast but I’m a little tired of teams (and ignorant politicians) raising the Central Coast as a solution without considering what the people of Central Coast would like.

And they wouldn’t like the Bulldogs. The Dogs do have a strong fan base. But they are team that people love to hate. Up here at Gosford, they would be as popular as Belinda Neal. Souths or even the Sharks would be a better bet if an established Sydney team was to move. Even better would be the Central Coast Bears. In fact, if Belinda Neal could help get the team going, I’d say she’d even have a chance of being re-elected.

The salary cap is some thing that needs to be addressed. But it can’t be done in isolation to the other issues the NRL needs to address.

And as Sonny Bill does a runner, we see the emergence of Jordan Rankin. Still plenty of life in the old game.