What’s caused that? Less TV money here? Or is it more of a case of the NRL budget getting offer so they can take our best players and keep there’s?
Way less TV money. The superleague TV deal hasn't really risen when inflation is taking into account. The NRL deal is huge in comparison. The pound not being so strong against the Australian Dollar also plays a part.
http://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/21659/11111087/super-league-at-risk-after-nrl-announce-bumper-pay-deal The average wage for a top NRL player will rise to nearly £200,000 a year as part of a new pay deal worth £566m that will have huge ramifications for Super League.
The National Rugby League finally reached agreement with the players union, bringing to an end more than 16 months of negotiations, which will see the salary cap increased to £5.4m next year and to more than £5.8m in 2022.
That compares to a salary cap in the Super League of £1.9m in 2018 and effectively rules out any more major recruits from the NRL.
So in effect you have the the NRL being able to pay players more as well as offer players a lifestyle in sunny Australia as well as a threat from Rugby Union taking talent.
The worrying thing is NRL teams can be now take players younger. Superleague may not see its best players for 3,4,5 years and then they go to Oz. Now a player could play one season and his then offered a chance to move to Australia.
Would be crazy to say no.
Now some would argue its time to scrap the salary cap in superleague as there are some clubs who are wealthy enough to pay more to players and still not go into debt.
Another point is Australia has a much larger player pool to choose from. Rugby league is huge in NSW and Queensland with the participation numbers of kids playing the game being much higher than in the UK.