Canterbury director of football Phil Gould has revealed he 'doesn't care' if players make the jump to rugby union.
The latest threat to rugby league has arrived in recent months, with the highly touted Rugby 360 competition backed by Saudi Arabian money set to pay players up to $2 million per year.
Already, New Zealand Warriors veteran fullback and winger Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, who has played the sport previously, has admitted he would be interested, while it's understood Ryan Papenhuyzen's management met representatives of the competition.
Other names to be linked with a move to the competition include the likes of Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who has been chased by Rugby Australia previously, Herbie Farnworth, Jaydn Su'A, Zac Lomax and NRLW star Jessica Sergis.
The competition still has no official start date, but planning is well underway, and it has led to some concern in NRL circles that some of the game's biggest talents could make the jump to the 15-man code.
Gould, though, said he doesn't care, and that if players want to go, they can go.
"I don't know, and I don't really care," Gould said this week on Channel 9's 100% Footy.
"If someone came to me and said they got an offer from [Rugby] 360, I'd say go. I'm not even going to contemplate it if that's what they want to do.
"Our blokes can't play rugby anyway, I don't even know why they'd want to go."
The money being speculated to come from the competition is something the NRL simply wouldn't be able to compete with.
The highest-paid players in the NRL are paid under $1.5 million per year, meaning the new league could represent an increase even for the best-paid players in the NRL.
It's understood the rugby competition would be played in two windows across the year, but both overlapping with the NRL season, ensuring no players could play in both competitions.
