Former Great Britain head coach Brian Noble gave a cautious thumbs-up to proposed NRL involvement in the Betfred Super League.
The Bradford Bulls boss, currently in his second spell in charge at Odsal, guided his home-city club to three Super League Grand Final triumphs in the early 2000s before taking charge of the national team.
Noble remembers it as an era when the was little to choose between the British game and an Australian competition still recovering from the Super League War, with the Bulls winning the World Club Challenge three times as well, but he believes NRL involvement could help revitalise rugby league on these shores with it now one of the leading competitions in either code of rugby in the world.
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“We need to be careful with the NRL as to what they want to do and what they want to achieve,” Noble said in his pre-match press conference ahead of Bradford’s 1895 Cup quarter-final against Sheffield Eagles on Sunday.
“I think it’s good news because there will be influential people and leaders amongst the people who are talking who might see a way forward for our great game over here.
“We started this season with the Salford story and Huddersfield probably not doing as well as they’d like to do, but we’ve seen some fantastic rugby league.
“When you throw into the mix the NRL, which is the best rugby competition in the world…how do we amalgamate the two?”
Bradford have not been part of the top flight for over a decade after suffering financial problems, and are currently fifth in the Betfred Championship with three wins from their opening five games of the league season.
Rumours abound over a possible 10-team breakaway NRL-led competition or the expansion of Super League back to 14 teams amid a club-led review of the sport, which is being overseen by Bulls part-owner and former RFL CEO, now interim chair of the governing body, Nigel Wood.
The findings of that review are due to be presented and voted on at the next RFL Council meeting in July, and Noble cautioned any NRL involvement must not come at the expense of the sport outside of Super League.
“If the NRL are serious and want to come over here and make an impact, do it properly,” Noble said.
“Don’t just cherry-pick and say ‘there are only eight teams here we want to look at and can do something with’ – that’s a fire-sale for the game and I don’t advocate that.
“We need to find a competition that appeals to everybody, facilitates all of the commumity club and of course there are serious decisions to be made in there.
“All of these things can be resolved, but boy does it take some heads slamming together.”
