{"id":542367,"date":"2026-04-21T06:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T06:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/542367\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T06:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T06:29:12","slug":"nrl-ceo-rubbishes-suggestion-of-super-league-becoming-a-feeder-competition-if-investment-deal-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/542367\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL CEO rubbishes suggestion of Super League becoming a feeder competition if investment deal lands"},"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

Super League would not become a feeder competition to the NRL should an investment deal be struck, the competition\u2019s CEO Andrew Abdo has said.<\/p>\n

Abdo is in England at the moment negotiating with the higher-ups of UK rugby league to see if the NRL can invest<\/a> in Super League and the wider game.<\/p>\n

Many see NRL funding and, more importantly, their expertise as a lifeline, whilst others claim NRL investment would leave Super League drained of talent with Leeds Rhinos owner Paul Caddick questioning the Australian competition\u2019s motives.<\/p>\n

Per a BBC report<\/a>, Caddick said: \u201cIf Australia takes value out of the English game, the gap will only get bigger and we will only become subservient to them, which I would never agree to sign up to,\u201d with his staunch opposition highlighting the need for a formal offer to be placed so details can be worked through.<\/p>\n

Responding to Caddick\u2019s comments, Abdo told the BBC: \u201cI certainly understand that in the absence of information, people sometimes default to the negative.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut certainly, the fears of the Super League becoming a feeder league to the NRL couldn\u2019t be further away from the hypothesis of why we\u2019re doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jazz Tevaga\u2019s sin-bin, Hull KR\u2019s underrated star and very early Man of Steel candidates \u2013\u00a0Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show.<\/a><\/p>\n

NRL deal dependent on Super League owners ceding control as winter return rubbished<\/p>\n

In Abdo\u2019s mind, the NRL are considering investment to try and ensure rugby league in the UK and Europe is \u2018as strong as possible\u2019, adding: \u201cThat\u2019s the exact opposite of it becoming a feeder pathway program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing this to grow and to attract players in this market from other codes and to make sure that there\u2019s good investment in pathways to produce even stronger talent for the competition here, for it to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abdo was again asked about the prospect of Super League owners having to cede control to allow for an NRL-style independent commission that runs the competition, as opposed to individual club owners.<\/p>\n

He argued that any deal was dependent on gaining \u2018assurances that we can actually have the ability to implement the gameplan\u2019, adding that it wasn\u2019t necessarily about giving up control but on having \u2018clarity and autonomy of decision-making\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order for us to be able to invest you absolutely need strong and clear governance and I think that\u2019s part of the challenge that exists at the moment \u2013 so that\u2019s something that we\u2019re obviously working on.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also put heed to reports that Super League could return to a winter sport, noting that it was \u2018theoretically possible\u2019 but \u2018not a short-term consideration\u2019.<\/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":"Super League would not become a feeder competition to the NRL should an investment deal be struck, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-542367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542367","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=542367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}