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Thread: NRL: Beware of O'Neill and the ARU

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    NRL: Beware of O'Neill and the ARU

    Beware of O'Neill and the ARU

    By Ricky Stuart

    July 01, 2007 12:00am


    NOW that John O'Neill has returned to rugby union, it should be game on for the NRL.

    Our code has dominated the interest stakes ever since O'Neill left the ARU to join soccer in 2004.

    When he was at the helm of the A-League, soccer was considered rugby league's silent assassin. What he did with the round-ball game in such a short amount of time was nothing short of brilliant.

    Now that he's back as head of the rugby ranks, league officials should be preparing for the fight of our lives.

    The past 14 days are evidence of the impact this shrewd and insightful administrator has on rugby union.

    Look at the positive publicity that rugby union has had since his arrival. That publicity this week has been headlined by getting Andrew Johns into the rugby ranks.

    Johns was at Wallabies training, offering his great insight into dismantling the opposition in the lead-up to last night's Bledisloe Test against New Zealand in Melbourne.

    I can't understand why league officials aren't jumping up and down and making noise about it. Here's one of our finest players helping rugby league's arch-rival.

    Rugby union is not so different to rugby league that a person of Joey's calibre wouldn't have a major impact on an individual player or the team as a whole.

    And would the Joey coup have happened without the input of John O'Neill? Possibly, but I doubt it.

    I understand Andrew Johns is still contracted to Newcastle, but why isn't he contracted to rugby league as well? Why haven't league officials thought to get one of the game's true greats to showcase our game?

    Blues officials shouldn't have taken no for an answer ahead of this year's Origin series when it came to getting Johns on board.

    I congratulate O'Neill and his staff for their foresight in getting a person who I believe will offer a great deal of professionalism to the Wallabies, be it as a one-off mentor or as an assistant coach.

    However, Johns helping rugby is another example of the alarming player drain that is affecting our competition at present.

    When will fans be given some type of resolution to this problem, more than just the feeble excuse that our league can't compete against the English pound?

    The flood of talent heading overseas is only going to get worse with the introduction of next year's national youth competition.

    Despite the drain, they say we can keep producing the next star. I doubt that.

    With the start of the national youth competition, we're cutting a major production line of talent from our game.

    The majority of players aren't ready to be playing a full season of NRL at the age of 20, like the national youth competition wants them to do.

    I spoke to several NRL coaches this week who agree with my view that we should be making it an under-21 or under-22 competition.

    The last thing I want is for the NRL to be a second-tier competition. I love our game.

    But as it is, with the renewed presence of O'Neill, I just hope we can be pro-active rather than reactive.

    David Gallop is also a very good administrator, but I just think he needs to review who he's listening to.

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    It's good to see that Ricky Stuart hasn't changed. Still yapping and bitching.

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