Ryan Papenhuyzen was sensationally granted a release from the final year of his Melbourne Storm contract after a late-night meeting on Wednesday, and the ramifications are still being felt heavily today as everyone grapples with the sudden departure.
Whilst the move has kneecapped the Storm and seemingly come out of nowhere, it may now lead to far wider consequences for how players exit NRL clubs.
In particular, we’re talking about the NRL’s Voldemort — the competition the league doesn’t want anyone mentioning, let alone speaking about… R360.
Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo were strong in their statements weeks ago, declaring that any NRL player who defects to the rebel rugby union competition would be handed a 10-year ban.
MORE: Storm release Ryan Papenhuyzen effective immeidately
This followed reports that clubs were furious and demanding action, which led to the initial NRL media release and subsequent press tour warning players to steer clear of R360.
It’s been a polarising stance — some support the NRL’s tough approach to protect the game, while others have questioned how it would hold up in court considering we’re talking about players who have finished their contracts and done nothing illegal.
The punishment for signing outside the NRL is among the harshest of any offence — you can take performance-enhancing drugs and still be back playing within a couple of years.
Of course, when we say “signing outside the NRL,” we don’t mean taking millions to play French or Japanese rugby. And if you want to “Karmichael Hunt” it to another sport in direct local competition for market share like AFL, the NRL doesn’t seem to mind either.
Apparently, the game only cares if you join a rugby union competition that, by its own admission, “came out of a cornflakes box” — which, based on the punishment, seems to be the worst crime you could possibly commit in rugby league.
So, how foolproof is this stance — iron-clad or Swiss cheese?
After the dust started to settle on Papenhuyzen’s bombshell, the biggest question was simple — where will he go now?
The answer might actually be clearer than anyone thinks, and it may have been carefully calculated by multiple parties as a way to expose a chink in the NRL’s R360 armour.
Papenhuyzen being released from the Storm immediately means he is no longer an NRL player — and one who is “taking a break” for a while. These facts may be far from trivial or circumstance.
He now has around nine months to get himself settled in Europe, start a preseason with R360, and live it up while pocketing three to four years’ worth of earnings in one short stint — before potentially returning to the Storm or another NRL club.
If, after some rest and reflection, Papenhuyzen decides to sign a lucrative R360 contract, he technically wouldn’t qualify as an NRL player defecting to the rebel competition.
He’s simply a man who’s been out of work, looking to earn a few extra quid somewhere… like Europe, for a few million tax-free.
And if he returns to the NRL after that deal, can V’landys and his cohorts realistically ban him under their current policy?
No NRL contract was broken, and he wouldn’t have been an NRL player when leaving — which may well have been the entire point of this clever play.
While people debate whether it’s a “break from the game,” burnout, or managers shopping him to the Dragons or Bulldogs, the answer is probably far simpler.
Don’t be surprised if the Storm and Papenhuyzen have been playing chess this whole time while the rest of us are still trying to crown our piece on the checkers board.