Hull KR owner Neil Hudgell has backed Super League to work with the NRL in the midst of the recent offer to invest, stating simply that the clubs ‘need to try and make this deal happen’.
Rugby League Commercial released a statement on August 13th that confirmed they had received what they described as a ‘first offer’ from the Australian Rugby League Commission, with Super League club owners then attending a meeting at Wakefield last week.
Reports from both down under and in the UK have suggested that the NRL offer would be around £7 million per year over the course of five years, with each year seeing the Australian competition take a 10% share in Super League – culminating in 50% ownership for around £35 million investment.
RL Commercial did not share figures and nor did Hudgell but he spoke positively on the fact that there is at least a deal on the table, however, he was keen to urge against self-interest.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ The Bench Podcast, Hudgell said: “It’s an offer… There’s been a lot of paper talk for a very long time but nothing on the table. Now there’s something on the table, there’s a negotiating position to take.”
Hudgell also admitted that he was eager for the deal not to be negotiated via the media with his comments made on Tuesday just days before Wakefield Trinity owner Matt Ellis spoke with Love Rugby League about the deal, arguing that the NRL could not afford to invest in Super League.
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Super League owner urges against more ‘self-interest’ regarding NRL offer
Hudgell was also eager to state his desire for any negotiations not to be clouded by self-interest, something he admitted was so prevalent in Super League club owners meetings that he stopped attending at one point.
“I think the principle of it is that it needs to happen for the game,” he said of the deal.
“I used to sit around the Super League table, and I stopped that five years because I didn’t like the dynamics of it because you’ve got a series of clubs that vote for self-interest and end up cutting each other’s throats and it’s not in the best interests of the game.
“We need to parachute someone in independently who is probably going to upset everybody from time to time for the betterment of the game, because the game has got so many fabulous qualities to it but it can’t run itself.”
Shedding more light on why he thinks it should happen, on the proviso that the ‘price is right’, Hudgell added: “They [the NRL] have clearly got the skill set to do it because they were in a mess ten years ago, then it really needs to happen. That’s the top and bottom of it.”
Importance of pulling the game together for the greater good
One key element to a deal in Hudgell’s eyes would be some form of independent body so that self-interest doesn’t take place, whilst he also called on a greater review of where the game is at.
He admitted: “Some of the things happening in the game at the moment are very amateurish and we’ve got to elevate that product and start thinking a bit differently and to change it so it becomes attractive.
“We’ve also got to look strategically at where is the game? We’ve got the corridor, we’ve got Hull, Leeds and the North West, those three centres, and London for me has to be in at some point… You’ve got the two French clubs so there’s something to build on there but we need to work out strategically how we pull it together.
“If the clubs are left to their own devices then what will happen is that everything is determined on self-interest.”
He also argued that if Super League clubs were to snub a deal then there best be a very good reason, stating: “We need to get the best deal on the table and let the clubs needs to work out if it’s for them and if it’s not then there needs to be a very compelling reason why not.”
