Former Great Britain international and Sky Sports’ lead rugby league presenter Brian Carney has revealed he expects a deal between the NRL and Super League will be completed this week. 

With the deadline for a partnership between the RFL and ARLC now 11 days overdue, reports have said that any agreement that takes place now will begin in 2028, barring the fact that the NRL will help Super League to attain a TV deal for next season.

Carney spoke to Sky Sports today [Monday] to say that a deal was close, but just because a deal gets done it doesn’t mean the game in the UK will all of a sudden improve.

He said: “I know exactly where the game is at, and I think there are enough smart people in the game to know where it’s at. That’s why they [RFL] have put their hand out to the NRL, and they’re looking for this strategic partnership, which I think, will be agreed this week to start in 2028.

“But that’s the easy bit. The easy bit will have been done if we get an agreement with the NRL for them to be a strategic partner in the game, to invest capital in the game and take management control of the game. I think that’s the easy bit that’s done.

“Improvements will not happen by osmosis. This is the important point. Just because you’re now NRL-linked will not transform the game over here.

“It’s going to need significant investment. It’s going to need better people and more money to take charge of the game.”

Carney went on to reinforce that point by saying that people need to “get real” about the challenges and position that the sport over here is in, and that this is very much a long-term project both for Super League and the international game.

“If a deal is done, a strategic deal is done with the NRL, there needs to be a line drawn, and people need to get real about where Rugby League is in this country and where it needs to get to if they want our teams from over here and France to be competitive every four years in tournaments against the likes of Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Samoa.”

Brian Carney calls on RFL to invest in other UK nations amid reported NRL partnership

Following Lachlan Walmsley’s comments on social media about having fewer teams in this year’s Rugby League World Cup, Carney agreed that more needed to be done to help develop the international game in the UK.

A proud Irishman, the presenter stressed how, instead of increasing the number of teams in Super League last season, that money could have been put to better use.

He said: “The game over here hasn’t got a lot of money. Now that affects not just England, it affects the likes of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. If you want to have an international tournament of credibility with more than just 10 teams in it, you’ll need all those other teams and all those other governing bodies to be doing financially well, and they’re not at the moment.

“We made a strategic decision in the game over here to go from 12 to 14 teams last year. That required nearly one and a half million pounds of central funding… That money could have been used to fund international teams. It’s a finite resource. We don’t have lots of it in the game, and the decision on where to allocate that capital is all important.

“…We’re not cash rich over here, so we can’t send over very competitive Irish teams, Welsh teams, Scottish teams, and indeed one would argue we’re not in the position over here to send over an incredibly competitive English team.”

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