Before he scored for Newcastle Knights on his NRL debut last month, you might have been wondering what had happened to Will Pryce. Or Lewis Murphy or Riley Dean. Morgan Smithies and Kai Pearce-Paul made an immediate impact when they moved to Australia, joining half a dozen or so other Brits who are competing every week in the biggest rugby league competition in the world, but other players are plugging away in Australia’s second tier, trying to claw their way through a clogged-up talent pathway to the top.
Clubs whose best players will be starring for Queensland and New South Wales in the State of Origin decider on Wednesday will be reaching into their deep pockets for replacements. The domino effect may give a life-changing opportunity to British players further down the NRL food chain in the second-tier state cups.
Unless you are a proven Super League player, cracking the NRL without coming through their development system is extraordinarily difficult. Players usually require time in reserve teams or even third-grade sides before a place opens up for them at the top table. Kruise Leeming and Oliver Gildart discovered that even being highly rated England internationals did not automatically translate to NRL recognition. Last season they spent almost as much time in the Queensland competition – the Q Cup – as they did playing for the Titans and Dolphins, respectively.
Pryce moved to Australia after a few years of illuminating displays for Huddersfield but he had to bide his time at the Newcastle Knights. After four months of wearing the No 6 jersey for their reserve team, he was finally given his chance in the NRL at the end of June.
More young Brits are moving to Australia before they have even made it in Super League. With minimum salaries for NRL squad players around £68,000 – compared to around a third of that for fringe Super League players – who can blame them. It’s a surprise more don’t chance their arm, especially the free and single.
Sydney Roosters have three wingers from West Yorkshire. Dom Young is an NRL pin-up and his older brother, Alex, is keeping him company in Bondi, playing mainly for the Roosters’ third-tier affiliate Glebe Dirty Reds, with a few games for the reserves. Lewis Murphy, so exhilarating for Wakefield before an ACL injury ruled him out of the entire 2023 Super League season – is now back in the Roosters reserve after 10 weeks out. With so many top players in Origin action, opportunities are opening up.
Bailey Hodgson is in the Manly system, playing centre for Blacktown Workers, where he is coached by his former London Broncos teammates Anthony Seibold and Jimmy Dymock. And up in Queensland, Riley Dean, who shone in the Championship but never established himself at star-studded Warrington, is a starting half-back for Mackay Cutters. Dean hopes to get the call from their partner club, North Queensland Cowboys. Even if he doesn’t, at just 22 he can return to England a vastly improved player knowing clubs will still be keen on him. The former St Helens winger Josh Simm and the former London Broncos forward Daniel Hindmarsh-Takyi, who are both in their mid-20s, spent last season playing in the Queensland Cup before coming back to sign for Castleford.
There is no shame in returning home having failed to crack the NRL. It can be an enriching life experience that also enhances their rugby league education. Some Brits fall in love with (or in) the place. The former Wakefield winger Luke George spent five years playing in the Q Cup, then decided to stay in Cairns playing local league.
Christian Gale’s life has been transformed since he swapped London Skolars in League 1 for an opportunity at Townsville Blackhawks in the Q Cup. The forward has gone from playing in the world’s eighth or ninth best competition to its third, becoming a teammate and opponent of veteran internationals as well as the next generation of NRL heroes.
Gale has settled well in North Queensland, where he trains six times a week while working full-time as a physio. “It’s going alright,” says the former London Broncos youngster, who was selected for Q Cup duty by coach Terry Campese just a month into the season. “I’ve coped with the change in intensity from the UK. I’ve bought into it. I knew my time would come but not when. It was a mixture of nerves and excitement. I just thought: ‘Here we go: go for it.’”
Campese, the former Hull KR, Australia and Italy international, has selected Gale several times in a pack led by veteran James Tamou, captained by PNG star Kyle Laybutt. But competition is tough.
Opportunities in the Q Cup – never mind NRL – do not come easily. The NRL door usually shuts on those who have not cracked first grade by their mid-20s, especially in the NSW Cup where the senior club wants to keep the path clear for the next young talent.
Whatever your roots, if you flourish in the state cups you will probably cope in Super League. Recent changes to UK visa regulations enable British clubs to sign Under-25 players directly from Australia’s second tier without them having to prove themselves NRL-class. So Super League’s smaller clubs, such as Castleford and Salford, have joined the Championship big-hitters in shopping predominantly in the state cups where relatively lucrative offers and full-time opportunities lure undervalued talent.
While he’s officially part of the Blackhawks’ new NRL partners South Sydney, at 24 Gale’s target is to become a Q Cup regular. “The lifestyle is really good and my attitude has always been to play as high as I can when I’m young,” he says. “Hopefully they will want to keep me to see how I develop.”
Gale has already mixed it with a roll call of former international forwards – Marty Taupau, Kenny Edwards, Kane Linnett and Chris McQueen – as well as facing former Super League stars Albert Kelly, Mahe Fonua and Ben Barba. Most Q Cup sides are stacked with three or four current Cowboys, Dolphins, Titans or Broncos players, and with each NRL franchise having more than one Q Cup partner club, they often find themselves facing their NRL clubmates. Confusing? Perhaps. High quality? Certainly.
Comparing competitions is always conjecture but players familiar with the second tiers in Australia and the UK say the NSW Cup is quickest due to the dominance of young players, the Championship is physically toughest, and Q Cup is a demanding mixture of both. “It’s physically different here, much quicker and more skill-focused,” says Gale. “They’ll try to beat you through skill, by putting on this play or that play.”
Even if Origin call-ups don’t create the chink of light in first grade that state cup Brits await, they are still having a rugby league education – and one heck of a time.
