It’s safe to say that Wakefield Trinity’s financial capabilities have advanced significantly in recent months, in large part due to the wealth of new owner Matt Ellis.
According to rumours, players like Mike McMeeken and Tom Johnstone have already verbally committed to playing for Trinity in 2025, when many anticipate they will be a Super League team once more. Being a Wakefield supporter is exciting right now; fans of a certain age will recall the time they supposedly came close to signing one of the biggest names in rugby.
Even though at the time everything seemed to have to be taken with a grain of salt, Wakefield Trinity’s rumoured status as the front-runners to sign legendary New Zealand rugby union winger Jonah Lomu didn’t stop people from becoming excited.
Arriving in West Yorkshire to play for Wakefield, someone of Lomu’s calibre seems like a sequence of events straight out of a video game. However, depending on who you believe, it very nearly happened, even for Trinity chairman Ted Richardson.
Wakefield, who had just returned to Super League a few months prior, wanted to create a big impression when they made their big-time comeback after defeating Featherstone Rovers in the Championship Grand Final. Additionally, clubs in both codes engaged in a fierce bidding war for Lomu’s services at the same time as that promotion in late 1998.
Even though Lomu was still in his early 20s, he had already competed in the 1995 and 1999 Rugby World Cups. However, after that 1999 tournament, his contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union expired, so he was very much in demand.
Lomu’s international career would have ended if he had accepted any offer from union clubs like Worcester and London Irish, who were rumoured to be interested at the time, as the NZRU had a strict policy of not selecting players who played outside of New Zealand.
But the union wasn’t the only party attempting to sign him. While Wakefield made no secret of their desire to sign him, Auckland Warriors wanted him to play in the NRL. They started the process by making a sizable offer.
They made Lomu an offer of £1 million spread over just two seasons, or £500,000 a season, which would have made him the highest paid player in the league in 2024—even if it were still the Super League. However, the fact that this was 25 years ago highlights how extremely large the contract size was.
Wakefield contended that they had obtained outside sponsorship to essentially pay Lomu’s salary in order to comply with the salary cap regulations, since this was prior to the implementation of the marquee player ruling. Arriving in West Yorkshire to play for Trinity, the world’s biggest rugby superstar was expected to make history in the league.
Resolved to represent the All Blacks in another Rugby World Cup, Lomu turned down Wakefield’s seven-figure offer in order to accept a lower salary and continue playing rugby union in New Zealand. By acknowledging at the time that “I wouldn’t be in New Zealand if it were for money,” he effectively confirmed as much. The All Blacks are still, in my opinion, the greatest team in the world.
“We think he is going to stay in rugby union,” Wakefield chairman Richardson stated, “even though we are keeping in touch, ours was the only serious offer from rugby league.” It is unfortunate since we would have greatly improved our game with his signing. However, the hunt is still ongoing.
Naturally, Wakefield failed to sign a big-name player, and after a well-publicized financial crisis the next year, they were letting go of any player older than 24.
What about Lomu? Due to the need for a kidney transplant, he had to put his rugby career on hold and was unable to participate in the third Rugby World Cup. Of course, he tragically died in 2015 at the young age of 40.
But it’s amazing to consider how close Wakefield Trinity and the Super League came to having a player of his calibre play every week.
