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Parker: 16 NRL stars R360 rebel competition will target
Corey Parker • August 4th, 2025 3:03 pm
This R360 needs to be taken seriously.
I've been speaking about this for a number of weeks and options need to be put in place, otherwise, we run the grave risk of losing some of the game's greatest stars.
I've always been a firm believer that the game of rugby league is like a big wheel; it will continue to turn with or without you.
(But) I'm at a point now if the R360 is taking off - and it’s my belief it’s going to - we have got our heads in the sand and we’re not doing enough.
We need to get some processes in place. What do we know about it? What are some things we can do to prevent it? How do we entice our players to stay because Wayne Bennett says the NRL is under huge threat, absolutely without doubt.
He said “the NRL is the toughest competition in the world, with the best athletes, we are under threat. We can't ignore it".
I 100% agree and I've spoken about this for a number of weeks yet nothing seems to be getting done.
That’s not to say it's not getting done but it comes across that way.
There's no more experienced person in the game of rugby league than Wayne Bennett, and they're his views.
The issue Wayne flagged is the player managers. So in the R360 if someone gets signed for a million dollars the R360 pays the manager 10 per cent on top. In the NRL, if a manager is on 6 per cent, the player pays that manager.
Peter Vlandy’s says the NRL will not be jumping at shadows amid talks of the R360 chiefs descending on the Telstra Premiership like Super League recruiters. He said, R360 has a life of its own but that 50% of it is fiction.
He then goes on to say, ‘I've seen hundreds of these things. It doesn't mean it's going to come to fruition.’
I think we need to put steps in place to try and hold our players. He says some of them are credible. Some of them aren't. Time will tell if credible or not.
I listed some names that could be targeted by the competition:
- Reece Walsh
- Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
- Payne Haas
- Nathan Cleary
- Ryan Papenhuyzen
- Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow
- Latrell Mitchell
- Isaah Yeo
- Kaeo Weekes
- Mark Nawaqanitawase
- Matt Burton
- Zac Lomax
- Xavier Coates
- Angus Crichton
- Will Penisini
- Cameron Murray
If we lost those 16 players, the game is in big trouble. It’s a concern, I disagree with PVL saying it’s 50 per cent fiction, we have to be ahead of it and have steps in place. We cannot lose these stars.
