McManus urges collaboration over takeover as St Helens sign Kevin Walters
St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus told BBC Radio Merseyside last week, prior to St Helens' win against Castleford Tigers on Saturday, that the NRL and Super League should work together rather than one organisation taking over, and he addressed the Australian Rugby League Commission's investment offer and the club's appointment of Kevin Walters as head coach for next season.
Super League confirmed earlier in the month that it had received an investment offer from the Australian Rugby League Commission, which plans to help grow the European competition's revenue, and talks between the two parties have been ongoing since last year; McManus said the "whole issue has been gone about in the wrong way."
On the NRL's position, McManus said: "It's a case of the NRL, the most successful rugby club competition in the world, looking to acquire or rescue a target that's not functioning," and added, "I look at it very differently. I look at the fact that Australia in club competition rugby league is one of the great successes in world sport." He also told BBC Radio Merseyside that rugby league needs to "start again for the benefit of the sport in its entirety."
McManus cautioned that Australia had reached limitations, saying: "But it's reached a stage where Australia by its definition is a prisoner of its own geography, it's a prisoner of its own economy. "Its broadcast deal has just reached incredible levels of value, but where is the growth there?"
Turning to the European game, McManus argued it has scope to expand, stating: "We're a sport that hasn't necessarily been run very well for too long, but there is incredible growth potential here," and asserting, "This is not a matter of picking at a carcass, taking over a weak sport." He urged cooperation: "Both sides should be looking at this as how do we combine to make rugby league as a sport globally one that can really grow and strengthen. "Certainly in terms of growth in Europe, it's got unlimited potential, so how do we work together to exploit that?"
St Helens confirmed the appointment of Kevin Walters as their new head coach for next season; McManus described securing the 58-year-old, whose CV includes Brisbane Broncos and Queensland, as "pretty compelling for us." The club noted Walters won the State of Origin series twice with Queensland in 2016 and 2017, and McManus said: "I'm personally very excited as is the club, as is the game of rugby league and Super League in the UK." He added: "Kevin Walters is currently the head coach of the greatest rugby nation of either code in the world. "So for him to leave that position and want to come to St Helens as our head coach is a major statement for us and by him."
McManus acknowledged the challenges Walters may inherit, saying Saints face the prospect of failing to reach the Super League play-offs for the first time ever and that Walters will be the fourth boss the club has had in the space of a year, including current interim coach Eamon O'Carroll. He called for continuity: "We need stability followed by success and that's why a person of his calibre and experience is in our opinion essential at this point in time." In the immediate aftermath of the match referenced earlier, St Helens beat Castleford despite a Hastings dismissal, and Hastings has been given a three-game ban for punching an opponent.
Rhodri Jones, managing director of the Rugby Football League, said: "We are genuinely interested in exploring a mutually beneficial and financially fair partnership with the NRL, which we firmly believe would unlock the significant added value benefit of creating a single global entity for the sport." BBC Sport has contacted the NRL for comment.