NRL supremo David Gallop has defended his handling of the Mark Gasnier saga following the star Dragons' decision to accept a lucrative two-year contract with French rugby union club Stade Francais.
Gasnier's decision to exercise a get-out clause in his five-year deal inked in 2006, centres around the failure of third-party-sponsorship agreements designed to top up the 26-year-old's salary and keep him in the NRL.
Speaking shortly after Gasnier confirmed his decision to head to France in October, Gallop admitted losing the Kangaroos centre and face of the upcoming Rugby League World Cup was a blow to the code, but said it was not the NRL's place to intervene.
"It's disappointing that Mark Gasnier's leaving the NRL but in the calm light of day let's be really clear about one thing - there was no commitment by the NRL to pay Mark Gasnier via third-party agreements," Gallop said.
"Some third-party agreements came through for him and eventuated, some didn't."
"But if there was a firm commitment there would be no reason to have an annual escape clause which was agreed between the player and the club."
"This is not necessarily a salary cap issue, $1 million a year for a player is not something that our clubs can afford with or without a salary cap."
But while quick to distance the NRL from the Gasnier debacle, Gallop stopped short of pointing the finger at the joint-venture club over their handling of the matter.
"They've (the St George Illawarra Dragons) done what they could, they were faced with a difficult circumstance a couple of years ago where a player was being approached from outside (the code)," Gallop explained.
"They came up with a way of dealing with the situation, it didn't eventuate the way they might have hoped (and) he's taking another option."
Asked if Gasnier's decision to chase the big money on offer represents a watershed moment for the 13-man game in Australia, Gallop agreed the threat posed by rich northern-hemisphere clubs from both codes is a complex and serious problem.
"It's a shame when a player like Mark Gasnier goes but it's not something that there's a quick fix to," he said.
"There are many ideas thrown up and looked at but at this stage the salary cap as it stands is a foundation stone of the competition's success and there are no magic wands that can be waved to change a situation like this."