Debate has erupted over high-paid NRL players being allowed to partake in other sporting tournaments, with former Aussie cricket captain Michael Clarke vigorously defending their right to do so.
Senior rugby league reporter Dean Ritchie penned a column in The Daily Telegraph claiming “now is the time for NRL clubs to reclaim control” and stop players from contesting in “unsanctioned” events such as the recent Koori Knockout tournament, or boxing bouts.
“Elite players contesting rival sports and unsanctioned tournaments during the off-season has to end. It’s absurd,” Ritchie wrote, adding that “mollycoddled” held too much power these days “because no one has ever told them no”.
Stars of the NRL including Josh Addo-Carr and Latrell Mitchell played in the 2023 edition of the Koori Knockout.
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Addo-Carr, who is one of the Bulldogs’ most important players, was also at the centre of a brawl and admitted to being knocked out during a game.
Ritchie believes players shouldn’t be able to risk injuring themselves in off-season tournaments, or boxing bouts, when earning money from their respective clubs.
He explained that club powerbrokers should be able to have the final say on what games or fights players participate in, but Clarke wasn’t buying it.
The former Test captain pointed to international cricketers playing in their local grade competitions to continue their match fitness and hone their skills.
Ritchie argued that rugby league was a contact sport and the same rules don’t apply, but Clarke wasn’t having it.
“Should international cricketers go back and play club cricket when they are available? I think they should, so what’s the difference here?” Clarke asked on the Big Sports Breakfast on Monday morning.
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“Lets just take cricket as a sport, do cricketers get injured? Forget the contact, they get injured doing their craft.
“So why wouldn’t Cricket Australia want Pat Cummins, why wouldn’t they want him to go back and play a game of club cricket for Penrith?”
Clarke also questioned why playing in the Koori Knockout wouldn’t be a positive, allowing players to represent their culture and keep their match fitness up.
However, Ritchie believes targets are painted on the heads of big players in off-season games, which could lead to serious injuries and missing games come the NRL season.
“They go and play for their family and friends, they also get paid, paid quite handsomely to go and play these tournaments, there’s a financial incentive,” Ritchie said.
“I worry at those tournaments whether there is a bounty on their heads, lets go out there and have a whack at the big star who’s in town.
“Look at ‘the Foxx’, Addo-Carr ended up getting whacked around the head, played on and ended up getting into a fight. It’s hardly ideal.
“Even the protocols out there… the HIA protocols aren’t there, Josh Addo-Carr is an elite player and he got knocked out and played on.”
Instead of marquee players not playing in the Koori Knockout at all, Clarke made a practical suggestion, explaining the health protocols of the tournaments could be improved.
“I’d rather look at that, make sure the protocols are what they need to be instead of pulling players out of playing their sport,” Clarke explained.
“What this does for communities and rugby league in general… but you don’t want the big fish to play because they are getting paid a million bucks for their club teams?
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“Club cricket is no different, you roll your ankle, play on the SCG and you don’t get a bump on that outfield.
“You go play on Pratten Park, you go to pick one up and it hits you in the nose. I’m just trying to compare it to other sports.
“I don’t think, I don’t ever think it is right to say don’t go and play in the competitions that growing up, got you to the top.
“I’m saying the opposite, if you need to improve conditions or make sure the rules are better for HIAs or whatever it is, go there.
“Don’t pull the athlete who needed these competitions to make it to the top, don’t do that.”
But Ritchie remained steadfast in his opinion and spoke from the point of view of NRL club bosses, whose players are risking injury and missing game time.
“I wonder if your next job was the CEO of an NRL club, you’d have the same stance,” Ritchie said.
“Well you want the truth ‘Bulldog’? Then I don’t want them to play State of Origin, I don’t want them to play for the Indigenous XIII,” Clarke replied.
“I don’t want them to play in any of these competitions because I’ll just worry about my own backyard, but that’s not how sport works.”
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