Warriors ’most valuable club’
The Warriors may have never won a title, but they arguably contribute more to the NRL than any other club from ‘‘financial and development’’ point of view, says an article on the NRL’s official website.
Brad Walter, a senior writer for NRL.com, claims the Warriors were ‘‘one of the most valuable clubs in the NRL’’ before their role in allowing the 2020 season restart to proceed with their willingness to relocate to New South Wales.
‘‘The sacrifices made by the Warriors have enabled the NRL to fulfil contractual commitments with broadcasters that provide the bulk of the revenue used to fund each of the 16 clubs in the Telstra Premiership,’’ Walter wrote.
‘‘However, the Warriors have always made a significant contribution to the game in ways that most other clubs aren’t able to because of their location in New Zealand.’’
Walter, a longtime former AAP and Sydney Morning Herald rugby league writer, said the Warriors had played a vital role in the NRL ‘‘securing a lucrative broadcast deal with Sky NZ, reportedly worth more than $75 million’’ and in a 500 per cent increase in the number of New Zealand-born players in the NRL.
The Auckland-based club had provided the NRL with access to a market of five million people and had aided in ‘‘the rise of the Kiwis to be the International Rugby League’s No.1 ranked team and emergence of Tonga as genuine World Cup contenders’’, Walter said.
The NRL.com article was hailed as a ‘‘great piece’’ by New Zealand’s This Warriors Life website, which claimed on its Facebook page that Walter’s assertions ‘‘make a mockery’’ of two News Corp sports writers ‘‘calling for the club’s axing late last year’’.