SYDNEY // Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is confident Australia can put together a package attractive enough to keep flanker David Pocock playing his rugby Down Under in the long term, even if Europe will always be able to offer more money.
Pocock was one of the top performers at last year’s Rugby World Cup and reports in British media on Tuesday said English club Wasps were planning to offer him a deal worth more than 1.4 million pounds ($2 million, dh7.3 million) a season.
“We’re always going to be outgunned by the money over there, we know that,” Cheika told reporters on Wednesday. “We have to present a combination of finances ... as well as what it’s going to be like playing here in Australia and how you’re going to grow as a player and a person. We present all those things correctly to him, or to any player for that matter, and I believe that they would stay.”
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The 27-year-old openside is considering taking a year out of the game to study after his contract with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) and ACT Brumbies expires at the end of the year. Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham told Reuters on Wednesday there was no further news on the contract negotiations but that Pocock was not a man motivated by money.
Cheika, who said he had been “really upset” when Queensland Reds openside flanker Liam Gill decided to move to France at the end of the season, said he was happy with how the ARU’s negotiations with Pocock had proceeded.
“He’s obviously going to get massive offers overseas because clubs are loaded and he’s one of the best players in the world and if you put two and two together, you’re going to get that result,” he added. “I’ve been really happy that Brian Levine, his manager, and David, have been straight up with us from day one and that’s given us a nice target for us to achieve to put a package together to get him to continue playing his rugby here. He’s a smart guy and he’ll make the right choice.”
Cheika, who led the Wallabies to the World Cup final in his first year in charge, said talks had been held over extending his own contract, which runs to the end of 2017, but it was not an issue at the front of his mind.
“I know that even if I don’t sign a contract and I do well, I’ll hopefully be offered another one,” he said. “And if I don’t and I’ve got a contract, what am I going to do? Fight to stay in it? It’s just paperwork at the end of the day.”
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