Down Under player drain still weakens our game

IT’S an exciting day for rugby league with important club games being played in England, Canada and France.

Perpignan, Toronto, Toulouse and sunny Salford will stage matches and for me that’s a terrific prospect for the sport.

I have some worries about the competition in Super League at the moment and the continuing player drain Down Under to the NRL.

Next year we’ll see Ryan Hall (right, top), John Bateman (right, centre) and Ryan Sutton join the list of players at Australian clubs.

I was lucky enough to play alongside a former Australian captain in Danny Buderus (right, bottom) at Leeds, but the prospect of Kangaroos star Cameron Smith finishing his career over here now is slim.

There are some factors outside of our control, such as the weakness of the pound, but what is in our control is bringing more revenue into our game to allow clubs to spend more on high quality players.

We need to find a way to buck the trend, and one would be increased TV revenue, which could come by taking the sport to other countries.

This weekend might provide a glimpse into the future of that potential, because we need to have matches played outside the stronghold of the M62 corridor. Traditionalists won’t like it, but if you look at our two main competitors, football and rugby union, they both have major competitions played across different countries that bring in major TV revenue.

We need to embrace that, and taking the sport to Canada and France is a step in the right direction. I understand that people will say that not all fans can afford to travel to Perpignan, Toronto or Toulouse, but for the good of the sport overall it’s a direction I think we need to take.

All four matches today have plenty at stake. At Hull KR we go to Toronto in the qualifiers after failing to get off to a winning start at home to Salford last week.

As Tim Sheens has said, there’s no excuse for us with the Wolfpack also having travelled back from Halifax this week, and we know we’re capable of winning if we play well. I think Salford will get a second win at home to Widnes, who seem to be in a continuing losing spiral at the moment.

In Perpignan, Catalans will be looking to run themselves back into some kind of form ahead of the Challenge Cup final, but I think Wigan will be too strong as they look to cement a top two place. And Toulouse should be a bit too strong for Halifax – I think that is going to be a difficult place for teams to go in the qualifiers.