{"id":485033,"date":"2026-03-20T01:55:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485033\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T01:55:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:55:24","slug":"st-helens-chairman-remains-sceptical-over-super-league-nrl-deal-with-lack-of-detail-a-cause-for-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485033\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens chairman remains sceptical over Super League NRL deal with lack of detail a cause for concern"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

A deal between NRL and Super League would be huge for both competitions, with Super League especially profiting from the agreement.<\/p>\n

NRL supremo Peter V\u2019Landys 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\u2019t form a deal with the NRL it would be heading for a \u201ctrain crash\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n

V\u2019Landys has reportedly set a three-month deadline for Super League to accept the offer, else a partnership would be off the table.<\/p>\n

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\u2019Landys is chair of, must gain administrative control of the competition.<\/p>\n

However, that notion doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody [Super League club owners] is open-minded,\u201d McManus said to the Australian press<\/a>. \u201cThere is a degree of confusion, should we say, here in that there\u2019s been an awful lot of talks but no detail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody sees that there is a match here. Rugby league in Australia is a top sport\u2026 but the market is possibly near to saturated, the broadcast deals, how much growth is there left in there?<\/p>\n

\u201cSuper 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs with every business deal, everything is about detail. I think everybody is agreeable [that] if the deal is structured correctly, both sides could benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hull FC under pressure, Huddersfield Giants in crisis and shock Super League predictions \u2013 click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Super League owners \u201copen to discussions\u201d regarding NRL investment<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe\u2019re not precious about that [losing some authority]\u2026 we\u2019re open to discussions on that, but owners want to retain some level of input. We\u2019ve got to have some influence because it\u2019s our sport, and we own it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t feel as though we\u2019re on our knees,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe feel as though we are weak, but we are able to work our way out of this gradually,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe [could] take each other to the next level. If we do have some sort of merger or partnership for the two sports, it\u2019s a powerful body to grow from.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus has offered his thoughts around the potential deal between NRL and Super League,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-485033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}