Rollo Manning has been a rugby tragic all his life since being named after a Wallaby winger and educated at a private boarding school in Sydney, Australia. Manning has been working in publicity and public relations for 40 years, and during that time has commented on the "game they play in heaven" through radio, magazines and newspaper coverage.
As a correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, he has broadcast in magazine style programs and live coverage of games. He is currently a regular contributor to www.scrum.com and radio shows in his hometown of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Manning has been contributing to eSports for six years and relishes the opportunity to express his views on the first of the two rugbies. He is currently completing work on a study of the inter play between rugby league and rugby union over the past 100 years, when league was formed as the professional arm of an otherwise purely amateur game.
Since 1995, both have become professional and the drift of players is going back from league to union. Where will it end? That is the question Manning is now asking himself.
The soul searching has reached plague proportion in Australian rugby circles as the analysis of the first half of the Super Rugby competition is played out. Two teams in last and second last position on the ladder (Waratahs and Reds) – another just out of the four (Force) and another half way down the ladder (Brumbies).
If we go back to 1973 the Australian Rugby Union held an inquiry into the state of rugby after a humiliating defeat by the Tongans on their first overseas tour. The main reason for the slump then, although never admitted in public circles, was the Test players that had been lured to the professional game of Rugby League.
Nine Wallabies had switched to league in the previous five years including fly halves Phil Hawthorn and John Ballesty; centres John Brass, Phil Smith and Stephen Knight and wingers Davis Grimmond,and Alan Cardy. This decimated the flow and disrupted the development of a decent backline. The Wallabies win/loss ratio over the same period slumped to 16% - one win for six losses.
The same can be said for the Waratahs and Brumbies, both of whom have had a disjointed attack and severe lack of try scoring ability. Each has been beaten by speed and teamwork while opposing teams have exposed their poor defence, inept lineout play and disjointed leadership.
Where does rugby league come into this discussion?
Simple.
That is where the talent is and that game is rocketing towards a celebration of its 100 years in this country (2008), with crowds flocking to the game and media coverage reaching fever pitch as the 2007 season gets underway this coming weekend. The heroes could easily have been rugby union players – the likes of Benji Marshall and Sonny Bill Williams, both Kiwis who preferred the 13 a side game and came across the Tasman to do it.
Why is league more attractive?
Probably because it is closer to the "grassroots" communities as a club competition and the players can become immediate celebrities through their work with the media, schools and shopping centre appearances. This is where the talent is for Australia’s Super Rugby teams.
The ARU would be best advised to stop putting millions of dollars out in front of the so called "marquee players" like Lote Tuquiri and start investing in the younger players who have still to make a decision on their future. Players like Berrick Barnes, and their must be 20 of them, who have not yet made it in rugby league and could go for the world wide game with the right encouragement.
Tuquiri would not even be in my run on Wallabies team, let alone receive a stipend (reported) as $6 million over five years.
Wake up Rugby Union and get with the strength – sign up some young talented prospective league stars and forget about the big bucks for the marquee players.
The money for Lote could have bought six Berrick Barnes’s and that would have been a far better investment.
Matt Rogers has gone back to league and he was the best back in union at the time- just not allowed to settle into a position to use his immense attacking talents.
There is no problem in the depth of rugby players in Australia – just the form of the game they are playing – league and not union.