I saw half a dozen media articles last week that suggested that Nathan Cleary is considering a possible future career jump to the Super League. Really? The Super League? I doubt it. He’s a talented bloke and, no doubt, money isn’t everything to the best Rugby league player in the world, but do the pundits seriously expect us to believe that Nathan would be willing to halve his pay packet? Life as a professional athlete is relatively short and even a player as great as Cleary needs to make hay while the sun shines.
When asked about the possibility of a switch to the Super League, Cleary has been reported to have said… “I’m not against it. I have a pretty open mind to that kind of stuff.” He added, “I think just being able to experience different cultures and different experiences is something I enjoy doing. I’m not closed off to that idea.”
Super League that has a 2.1 million pound salary cap?
Sounds to me like Cleary is open to a change… a change that broadens his horizons and provides new experiences. As many reporters have suggested, he may also be interested in being closer to his equally talented girlfriend, Mary Fowler, who plays round-ball footy in Manchester. Bundle all those thoughts up and it certainly wouldn’t surprise to see Cleary deciding to move to England or Europe at some stage in the not-too-distant future. But Super League? The same Super League that has a 2.1 million pound salary cap per club? Really?
A top half back or fly-half in Rugby Union (the other rugby code) in England, France or Japan pay-packet makes up a substantial chunk of a Super League team’s entire salary cap. Owen Farrell, the Saracens star fly-half, by some sources, makes over half the entire per team Super League salary cap! Owen is supposedly suffering to the tune of 1.2 million pounds per year. I don’t believe that for a minute. Other sources suggest his annual take home pay is closer to 1.5 million bucks. This seems much more likely. The first estimate is double Nathan Cleary’s current salary at the Penrith Panthers. I wonder if Nathan would be interested in that kind of dosh? The more realistic estimate has him earning a few hundred grand more than Nathan. I dunno. The truth is somewhere between the two extremes.
Others on the list of well-paid rugby halves are Finn Russell at Bath, Faf De Klerk with the Yokohama Canon Eagles in Japan and Handre Pollard with the Leicester Tigers.
According to the same source that has Farrell’s pockets bulging with cash, Finn, also makes a lot more than Cleary. Even if that estimate is inflated ($1.9 million dollars) it’s pretty certain he is still clearing a few hundred grand more than the NRL hero. Playing Rugby Union!
Poor old underpaid Faf, plying his wily trade in Japan, only makes double what Nathan makes, too… if you believe that high estimating source. Lower estimates put Fat at around 1.6 million which still blows Cleary out of the water. Playing Rugby Union!
Then there is the Tigers star fly-half, Pollard, who may also be making around 1.9 million but, most likely, closer to 1.5 or 1.6 depending on who you believe. Whatever. However you look at it, they are all doing pretty well, and almost certainly making more than the best Rugby League player in the world. It doesn’t seem fair.
But what about Rugby Union’s poorer cousin the Super League. How much could Nathan Cleary make there? Info on what the best paid players earn in the Super League is very hard to come by but most of the pundits seem to agree that Sam Tomkins, back in his Wigan days (that’s a few years back) was making as much as 400 thousand pounds per year (almost 800 thousand Aussie dollars). That is the highest figure anyone has ever put on a Super League star. Most current pundits estimate the average wage for a Super League player to be around 70 thousand quid. The top line players, though, would be turning over a lot more than that. Maybe between 100 and 200 thousand pounds? But, as much as top Rugby Union players? Hardly?
One would think that Cleary should clear as much as Tomkins did, back in the day, if he were to move to the Super League, but that is still way below what he is being paid right now in the NRL. That’s a whacking big salary cute.
Cleary would surpass their value.
I wonder what Nathan Clearly thinks about his being the best Rugby League player in the world and being paid much less than what equivalent Union players receive? If I were him, it would piss me off. Owen, Finn and Faff are wonderful athletes and probably worth every penny of what they are paid but not even the most die-hard Rugby supporters would dare to suggest that Nathan Cleary represents a far lower value. My personal view is that, given a sport switch, (and a short period of adjustment), Cleary would surpass their value. (Note: I support and enjoy both sports. My heart lies with the Union, but my head tends towards the League. I’m not biased, in other words).
I could be dead wrong about what may be in Cleary’s mind. Nathan may well be a man of extraordinary altruistic tendencies. A man who cares little about money or his financial future. A man who loves his Rugby League so much that he wouldn’t consider moving over to the dark side. I could be wrong. But I doubt it. Nathan spent a significant amount of his childhood days in New Zealand, and he has never hidden his admiration for New Zealand Rugby Union’s All Blacks. Unlike many Rugby League stars, he is not a rugga hater.
So, what is Nathan Cleary likely to do? Take a huge pay cut to play the same sport he has always played but in a significantly less prestigious competition than the one he is currently playing in? Perhaps. Alternatively, he could take on the challenge of a new sport in a competition that is, arguably, more prestigious than the one he is currently playing in and almost certainly take a huge salary boost into the bargain. If such a move were successful, he might even find himself doubling his pay packet in a season or two.
There is one other interesting possible scenario. What if the Super League, in future years, had plans to grow their sport by attracting elite athletes from all over the world to enhance their own competition. Perhaps they would consider making huge adjustments to their current salary cap rules enabling players like Cleary to play Rugby League in the UK while achieving reasonable compensation. To do so they would probably need bucket loads of outside investment to enable them to support their clubs to increase player salaries. I wouldn’t write the possibility off. If Cleary doesn’t plan to move for a year or two it’s hard to know what his potential Super League salary position might be in the future. Stuff changes.
Switch to Union must be tempting.
I don’t know Nathan Cleary personally, but he seems to me to be intelligent, diligent, courageous, wise, and motivated by a challenge. My gut tells me that a bloke like him is unlikely to take the Super League option. A switch to Union, though? Surely that would be tempting. It wouldn’t even have to be Manchester (though there is a Manchester Rugby team). It wouldn’t even have to be England. A flight from any major city in France to Manchester is short and cheap as chips. Playing in Paris, Toulouse or Toulon would not keep the lad separated from his lovely girlfriend for weeks on end.
Who knows? Maybe he’ll go to Super League. Maybe he’ll switch to Rugby Union. Maybe he’ll fool us all and get a gig at Manchester City playing round-ball, like Mary. No doubt he would make a sensational attacking midfielder.
P.S. While many of the most gifted Rugby League players seem to be entranced with the possibility of being successful in the American NFL, I wonder why they don’t, more practically, turn their eyes towards Rugby Union in Japan, France, or England as, maybe, Nathan Cleary should. A kid as talented as Reece Walshe, if he had played on the gridiron since grade school or his junior years in high school, might well set the NFL world on fire. But never having had the opportunity to play in an offensive unit where the necessity for attacking players is to run to where you will get blocking protection (rather than to run away from or around defenders as one does in Rugby League) then his chances to learn such a deeply ingrained (almost instinctive) skill is not much short of impossible. Many elite League offensive players have tried. All have failed. They didn’t lack physical talent. They just couldn’t get their head (and feet) around the fact that the offensive line, tight ends, and other team-mates are there to guide your way to the touch down. You run to where you have protection! That is so far from the training and experience of NRL professionals (running behind a team-mate for protection is illegal in both rugby codes) that it creates a skill gap that even the most talented individual is unlikely to ever bridge. Go to England, Reece. Or Japan. Or France. Double your income. NFL may look like fun, but you’ll last a maximum six months… that is if a line-backer doesn’t kill you before then.
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