Alluring Europe

Skyhunter · Alluring Europe

By Matthew Johns
July 02, 2007

ANOTHER week and another group of stars have signalled their intent to leave the National Rugby League.

Mathew Head has moved digs immediately and is now plying his trade with Super League club Hull, while big Matty King will head to Bradford at season's end.

And of course, Craig Gower has signed with French rugby club Bayonne, in what I believe could be the first of many French rugby invasions.

The Gower situation is a trend I'm starting to see in many players, who are choosing to leave the NRL to avoid the glare of the spotlight.

The controversies surrounding Gower have worn him down noticeably. His mate Ryan Girdler said publicly that he has seen a big change in the Panthers' No.7 over the last two years.

But I don't think it's just the off-field controversy that has worn Gower down.

I've seen him from the very early part of his career, taking either the credit or the blame for his home-town team's performances.

I don't care who you are - over a long period of time, this takes its toll. I saw the same effects on Andrew Johns.

Gower came into first grade straight out of school in the mid-1990s and was expected to fill the enormous vacuum left by the departure of Brad Fittler.

I saw him being branded the next Freddy before he'd played in the top grade. On top of that, the retirement of Greg Alexander a year or two later put a lot of early pressure on Gower.

I've always said that if I ever had to pick a player to play for my life, Gower would be one of the first I'd select. His toughness and competitive fire are immense.

In 2003, when Gower reached his personal summit by following in the footsteps of fellow Penrith legend Alexander and leading the Panthers to the title, he was unbelievable.

Each week I would watch in awe as he pushed his body to the limit to get the Panthers home.

The highest accolade a player can get is when other players want to play alongside you. Gower for me typifies that. I would have loved to play alongside him each week.

I was lucky enough to play two Test matches with Gower and was blown away. It was like he was supercharged - his effort and energy were contagious.

At training he led the fitness runs. He was always at the front and barking encouragement behind him.

For a bloke so young, he had great leadership ability.

Among the players he was immensely popular, as well as always being keen for a laugh.

For a bloke who was so full of life, it saddens me to see him now almost trying to hide himself away.

Craig will admit that he has brought a fair share of this on himself. I just hope that this new challenge and the total change of environment recharges those batteries and has him enjoying his football again in Bayonne.

The threat of European rugby to the NRL is huge. These clubs have enormous amounts of money and we can expect them to start knocking on our players' doors more and more.

While we operate under a stringent salary cap, some of these French rugby clubs are offering players $1 million a year.

The French are hosting this year's Rugby World Cup and their coffers will be brimming with cash. If Gower proves to be a success in the 15-a-side game, they will most certainly be back down here chasing our stars aggressively.

We have to be proactive and look to stem this flow of players leaving.

As NRL boss David Gallop said, the simple answer is to raise the salary cap by a couple of million dollars, but at the moment this is not an option.

At the moment, we have some super young players in our competition. Let's find a way to ensure their best days are played in the NRL.

Source: http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22000445-23214,00.html

Skyhunter

Don't know what the NRL can do about this problem, to try and keep some of these players from switching codes to union or wanting to join the (ESL) competition.

But at the same time you can't blame players for chasing big money in Union or the (ESL) and putting their families first.