NRL block Brumbies move for league star Buderus

SYDNEY (AFP) –

File photo shows former Australian rugby league international Danny Buderus (L) during a Tri Nations Rugby League match in 2005. Australia’s National Rugby League on Thursday blocked a move from the ACT Brumbies to employ Buderus as their tackling coach next Super 15 season.

Australia’s National Rugby League on Thursday blocked a move from the ACT Brumbies to employ former Australian rugby league international Danny Buderus as their tackling coach next Super 15 season.

Buderus, who has played 24 internationals, had earlier been announced by the Brumbies as joining Jake White’s coaching staff in the collision part of training.

But the NRL reacted swiftly and sought an explanation from Buderus’s Newcastle Knights NRL club in relation to an announcement.

“Neither Danny Buderus nor the Knights have sought permission from the NRL to enter into a third party agreement as his playing contract requires and as the club is required under the salary cap rules,” acting NRL Chief Executive Shane Mattiske said in a statement.

“It is hard to envisage any circumstance where an agreement could be approved that allowed a current NRL player to promote another code competing in the same market as an NRL team.”

White, the former South Africa World Cup-winning coach, had sought out Buderus to help improve his team’s defence in his second season at the Brumbies and saw the former 34-year-old Test hooker as the perfect mentor to make that happen.

In 15 years as a league player, Buderus captained New South Wales to their last State of Origin series win over Queensland in 2005, won an NRL Grand Final with the Knights in 2001 and an English Super League title with Leeds in 2011.