Timeline for NRL purchase of Super League revealed as competition dubbed ‘in the toilet’

The NRL will own Super League before the end of this season, one of Australia’s leading journalists has predicted – with the English game being described as ‘in the toilet’.

Senior figures from the Australian game are stepping up their intention to take a controlling stake in Super League, with talks in Las Vegas further accelerating the matter.

It is believed, led by Peter V’landys, that the NRL wants to purchase Super League to strengthen the game in England and enhance the NRL’s chance of extending the game’s global footprint.

And top writer Michael Carayannis has told the Vossy and Brandy Breakfast Show that he thinks it is now only a matter of time before Super League is owned by the NRL.

He said: “You could have bought the London Broncos for a dollar but you had to inherit their debt and ongoing costs. Salford’s players have just been paid.. it’s in a hole.

“The NRL has been mooted for the last couple of years, there’s been a couple of crucial meetings in Las Vegas where a couple of NRL bosses are on a committee driving this. By the end of this season, I think the NRL will own Super League.

“There’s no immediate upshot for the NRL but they’re going to need to change a few things and spend some money to generate some things. Rugby league needs Super League. If we’re a chance of having a global footprint, that competition has to be much stronger than it is now.”

Former Kangaroos international Greg Alexander then admitted of Super League: “It’s in the toilet, isn’t it. It’s in a really bad state.”

But there was then a passionate defence of the idea to purchase Super League by Andrew Voss, a keen advocate of the British game – who insists the plans can result in a positive outcome for the whole sport.

“It has untapped potential but in a very hard market,” Voss said.

“There’s a little band across the north of England where the rugby league is and how you get bigger than that? I just believe it’s beyond those in England to do, for all their good intentions, they need a V’landys still thinker. I’m going to back it. I’m not saying it’s a winner, and it isn’t going to happen overnight, but it will happen.”