Warrington coach Sam Burgess has called for British authorities to do more to keep English stars at home after the Wolves repelled NRL approaches for Test hooker Danny Walker.
With Walker set to be one of Warrington's stars at Allegiant Stadium on March 1 after re-signing until 2029, Burgess fired a pre-Vegas broadside at rivals - but Super League opponents Wigan weren’t the target of his anger.
“People come under the carpet and try and sell dreams and then not have any concern for what it leaves behind here,” Burgess said at Warrington’s University of Chester training base.
“You’re just put under so much pressure because the NRL (clubs) have got three or four times more money to spend. You are constantly fighting off those threats.
“They don’t really care that he’s on a two-year contract, they don’t care about it because it (players departing early) happens more regularly over there.
“So, they come and throw money at players and it’s hard for players to ignore it.
“Our players get calls from clubs all the time. They’re only human so they take them and obviously they’re putting stuff in their minds, throwing dollars at them.
"They don’t care about the damage it leaves behind. It created a big pain in my arse last year.”
Burgess said he spoke openly to Walker about the opportunities on offer Down Under but believes the 25-year-old, and the likes of Wigan second-rower Junior Nsemba, should be the face of the game in Britain.
“He’s an exciting player and he’s only going to get better, but I thought he was out the door for a while, (for) which I would have been happy for him in some capacity,” Burgess admitted.
“It’s harder to keep your home-grown good players who have become our marquee players almost.
“In some respects, I think there might be something that can be done for your homegrown players, just to prevent the poaching of players, so to speak.
“It’s been great for Danny, but I think there’s something we could do to protect that a little bit. “
Burgess provided one comment on the issue which suggested he would help Walker if he ever returned to Australia to further his nascent coaching career.
Burgess becomes first English international to be inducted into NRL Hall of Fame
“You can talk to Danny about it. I spoke about ‘if I do go …. I’d love to’ …”. But, he added, NRL clubs had no regard for their Super League counterparts when it came to “the hole it leaves, the irreplaceable gap you’ve got to fill".
“It just doesn’t work like that," Burgess said. "We plan. We’re in front. Take out a key component and it just knocks you around for a couple of years.
“There’s got to be a bit of protection in place for some of those things. From a central point of view, maybe the League can do something about it.
I don’t know whether central contracts are a thing or any dispensation on home grown marquees or whatever.
"I think there needs to be more protection to keep assets here and then you can start growing it off the back of your English assets.
“You don’t always need Aussie guys to be your main assets.
“There’s nothing better than having George Williams, Danny Walker, Mikey Lewis, Junior Nsemba, some of these young English boys, (as) rock stars in England.”
Wigan kick off their road to Vegas at Oldham on Sunday with a pre-season clash.
