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Cash for converts irks players
By Peter Jenkins
May 23, 2007
AUSTRALIA stars are fuming just four months out from the World Cup over ARU plans to splash the cash for rugby league's Craig Wing.
A senior player said last night that while the offer to Wing was sure to top $350,000 a season, one of the hottest young talents in the game could be driven overseas because the ARU is refusing to open the purse strings for him.
Adam Ashley-Cooper, 23, will be the Wallabies’ new inside centre against Wales on Saturday night. He is off-contract at the end of the season and has been in long-standing negotiations with the ARU.
But the talented utility confirmed that he was considering leaving Australia.
It is understood clubs in Europe and Japan are prepared to pay three times what the ARU has so far placed on the table.
Wing has been courted by the ARU as a potential five-eighth or inside centre and a well-placed source told The Daily Telegraph “both parties are very close to agreement on the money”.
The ARU insider suggested the likely term, tying Wing to New South Wales Waratahs, was three years. “It seems every rugby league player carries this premium because they play in the NRL,” one Wallabies player said.
“It’s not right when guys like Adam and others are being offered deals that don't compare.”
Ashley-Cooper, ironically, holds the key to the configuration of the World Cup backline.
Wallabies coach John Connolly wants Matt Giteau at halfback for the campaign in France. But he is also concerned that moving Giteau creates a vacuum at inside centre.
Connolly is trying to manufacture a No.12 alternative and Ashley-Cooper - with experience at outside centre, wing and full back for Brumbies - is the first to be trialled. Scott Staniforth, deployed primarily on the wing with Western Force this season, will also be given a chance.
For Ashley-Cooper, the chance is a career-shaping one.
Apart from the opportunity to nail down a Test spot, there is the World Cup in September and the chance to convince the ARU to trump up more money to keep him in the country.
Ashley-Cooper admits he might even hold off any decision on his future until after the World Cup.
“I’m keeping all my options open. I want to hold off as long as I can,” he said. “There’s not much money in Australian rugby at the moment and overseas is certainly very appealing.
“At a young age you can go over there, earn a good amount of cash for one or two years, then still have the capability of coming back to Australia to play Super 14 and contend for the next World Cup - with your pockets full.
“You do have to think about where you’re going to be after your career because this doesn’t last forever. You’ve got a shelf life of 10 years if you’re lucky.
“On the other side of that, I’m really enjoying my rugby at the Brumbies and I think I have progressed a lot since I started there as a professional player.
“Obviously I would also love to get more Tests under my belt for my country.”
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Originally Posted by Burgs
