Australian player agents hoping to sign Super League talent
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com - 20/04/2023 - Rugby League - Betfred Super League Round 10 - St Helens v Warrington Wolves - The Totally Wicked Stadium, St Helens, England - St Helens' Jon Bennison (r) celebrates scoring a try against Warrington with Lewis Dodd.
In recent times we have seen plenty of deals done to bring the best English players over to Australia.
Former Wigan Warriors and England star John Bateman signed a deal to join the Wests Tigers this season for his second NRL stint after spending time with the Canberra Raiders in 2019 and 2020 helping them reach the Grand Final..
Meanwhile, Newcastle Knights have signed stars of the future from Wigan and Huddersfield Giants in the shape of Kai Pearce-Paul and Will Pryce.
They join the club who have already signed Dom Young from Huddersfield – though he is headed to Sydney Roosters – and Bailey Hodgson from the Castleford Tigers.
They have former Leeds Rhinos boss Brian McDermott at the helm which will help in guiding British players there and the same can be said of the New Zealand Warriors with Richard Agar involved.
The Canberra Raiders have always had an interest in English players as have the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
After the World Cup, interest has grew in stars like Warrington Wolves playmaker George Williams, Leeds backrow James Bentley and St Helens stars Joe Batchelor and Jack Welsby.
In fact, it was said during the tournament that Welsby was now on the radar of every NRL club.
The World Club Challenge meanwhile sparked interest in Lewis Dodd.
Then of course in recent days it was announced that Lewis Murphy is headed to Sydney Roosters.
As there is growing interest in English players from NRL clubs, Australian player agents also have interest in the English stars of the future.
Serious About Rugby League understands that a number of Australian player agents are “keeping an eye” on the English stars of the future.
There has already been an example of this with Dodd joining a new agent down under reportedly to secure a move at the end of 2024 to the NRL.
But why is this happening? Well this is because agents want the top stars and representing the next Dom Young or Sam Burgess would be a major development for any agent and they are hoping to exploit the growing interest in moves to the NRL.
What’s more those young players who played for England yesterday have sparked further interest from NRL agents.