Craig Harrison is one of the best and most well renowned agents in rugby league.
Very much in the know, he has masterminded some of the biggest moves in Super League’s recent history, but those moves might be about to get even bigger.
Star of the brilliant Full 80 minutes podcast, Harrison and co were dissecting the IMG recommendations which were presented to Super League, Championship and League 1 clubs last week.
Set to simplify the calendar, boost international rugby league, and bring back licencing, there’s a lot of change set to sweep through the sport.
But one of the minor tweaks may have one of the biggest impacts according to Harrison.
Speaking about the IMG recommendations, Harrison noted that the marquee signing rule that is currently in place in Super League could have no limit on it meaning clubs could play their star players with no limit.
He used an example of Warrington signing Johnathan Thurston in prime.
Now, after Thurston announced his retirement, the Wolves made him an offer in 2018 much like they did with Greg Inglis after his retirement.
A deal never came off, but under the rules discussed on the Full 80 minutes podcast, Warrington could have made a more substantial move earlier in Thurston’s career as there would have been no limit to what they could offer the star halfback.
The point of this example was to demonstrate that should this unlimited marquee player rule come to pass, it would allow teams to attract more stars and benefit the competition potentially leading to a better TV deal.
Here’s what Harrison had to say on the matter: “A quick one on the salary cap would be this, they’re allowing the marquee and are taking the amount to what I’ve heard that the marquee signing could be more or less anything.
“If that’s true, I could see the direction saying ‘if you are Warrington and you want to get Johnathan Thurston in his prime at 27, Mr Moran loosens the belt and says let’s do it.
“It’s brilliant, because that way whenever you approach Sky for that deal, the quality is better.”
