St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus has offered his thoughts around the potential deal between NRL and Super League, and admitted he has plenty of reservations regarding a partnership.

A deal between NRL and Super League would be huge for both competitions, with Super League especially profiting from the agreement.

NRL supremo Peter V’Landys has been very open about his willingness to partner with the northern hemisphere competition, and went as far as to say that if Super League didn’t form a deal with the NRL it would be heading for a “train crash”.

V’Landys has reportedly set a three-month deadline for Super League to accept the offer, else a partnership would be off the table.

One key part of the agreement is that current top flight club owners must relinquish some of their power, and that the Australian Rugby League Commission, a body that V’Landys is chair of, must gain administrative control of the competition.

However, that notion doesn’t sit well with St Helens chair McManus, who does agree that an NRL deal is imperative for the sport, but is left questioning the terms and conditions said partnership would bring.

“Everybody [Super League club owners] is open-minded,” McManus said to the Australian press. “There is a degree of confusion, should we say, here in that there’s been an awful lot of talks but no detail.

“I think everybody sees that there is a match here. Rugby league in Australia is a top sport… but the market is possibly near to saturated, the broadcast deals, how much growth is there left in there?

“Super League and rugby league in the UK is the antithesis of that: there is a lot of growth to be had and the combining of the two entities could be strong.

“As with every business deal, everything is about detail. I think everybody is agreeable [that] if the deal is structured correctly, both sides could benefit.”

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Club owners in the top flight currently get to vote on crucial changes in the game such as the number of teams in the competition, whereas the NRL’s governing body decides changes like that on their own, and it is those kinds of powers that UK club owners would have to relinquish if a deal is to be made.

He said: “We’re not precious about that [losing some authority]… we’re open to discussions on that, but owners want to retain some level of input. We’ve got to have some influence because it’s our sport, and we own it.”

Whilst Super League can be seen as a competition slowly in decline, McManus believes that the deal with the Australian competition would help the UK comp to be elevated once again, and together the two divisions can work together to make the sport stronger.

“We don’t feel as though we’re on our knees,” he explained. “We feel as though we are weak, but we are able to work our way out of this gradually,” he said.

“But with the NRL we could do that on an accelerated basis that would obviously be better for both parties and the game as a whole.

“We [could] take each other to the next level. If we do have some sort of merger or partnership for the two sports, it’s a powerful body to grow from.”