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NRL can`t match Union salaries

Wednesday 16th July 2008

Concerned: NRL boss David Gallop

National Rugby League (NRL) boss David Gallop has complained that Australian clubs cannot match the one million dollar (US$970,000) a season offer which has lured Kangaroo centre Mark Gasnier to French rugby side Stade Francais.

The State of Origin player was previously linked with a code switch back in 2006 when the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) craved his services. However, that failed to materialise as the St. George Illawarra Dragons retained their man with a last ditch big-money offer.

Gasnier confirmed at a press conference on Tuesday that he would leave the at the end of this season in October to join Stade Francais on a two-year deal.

The move continues a worrying trend of Australian talent being enticed overseas for big money with Gasnier's move significant considering he is only 26 (turning 27 on Saturday) and one of League's most talented players.

The high-profile Dragons captain said his move was not motivated by money but revealed an exit clause in his club contract was only activated because he was owed third-party sponsorship money promised to him when he signed a five-year deal in 2006.

Gasnier said he would not have looked at an offer from Union had his contract been honoured, but he had no choice but to leave because he felt like he was only earning "two-thirds" of his wages.

"The hardest thing was to walk away from the club, I love the club," Gasnier told AAP.

"I grew up here, there's a lot of family history. But it's the circumstances that led me here.

"It's unfortunate how things come about but I've had to react to it and I think this is the best reaction for me."

But NRL chief executive Gallop said with or without a four-million dollar club salary cap, Australian Rugby League clubs were not in a position to compete with offers of one million dollars a season.

"As disappointing as the decision is, the realities that everyone has to accept are that you can't invent money and that our (NRL) clubs cannot match one million dollars a year for a player," Gallop said in a statement.

"That is not a salary cap issue, that is simply a case of what clubs can and cannot afford."

Gasnier, a nephew of former Australian Rugby League great Reg Gasnier, has scored 77 tries in 134 NRL games for St George Illawarra since his top grade debut in 2000.

Gasnier has played fifteen Tests for Australia, scoring eleven tries and playing for New South Wales in nine State of Origin games against Queensland.

Gasnier, who will link up with former Waratahs coach Ewan McKenzie in France, will stay on as Dragons captain for the rest of the season.