EAMONN McManus is confident of seeing positive results from the joint Super League Europe and the RFL working party in seeking a strategic partner to help grow the game, build its profile and boost its revenues.

The Saints chairman, who admits to devoting a considerable amount of time to the mission since September, believes it is vital for rugby league to bring in a partner that will clinically look at the sport and take decisions “not brought about by self-interested individuals or clubs”.

He is part of the six-strong party on this task, also featuring Leeds chairman Gary Hetherington, Hull KR’s Paul Lakin, Warrington chairman Stuart Middleton and Karen Moorhouse and Ralph Rimmer from the RFL.

McManus said: “A lot of work is going on, and I am heavily personally involved in the strategic working group looking every way of improving rugby league.

“What we have to do is be honest about where we are weak and where we have been consistently weak for as long as I can remember.

“We are not going to turn that around by simply employing a few more people - we have got to bring in a strategic partner that is strong in those areas.

“I would point out marketing, PR, media, sponsorship, event management and branding in particular.

“There are international institutions out there that are world class at this so it is a matter of us bringing in the right institution on the right terms.

“In addition to that, there are areas where we have to improve the game, which are decisions that we have to make separately.”

This search for that partner comes at the same time that work on the realignment of Super League and the RFL continues.

The top-flight clubs broke away from the RFL in 2018 with a view to having more independence in negotiating broadcast and commercial deals.

The impact of the sport battling the effects of Covid, plus the challenges of a reduced TV deal has led to a rethink on finding a better way forward with a view to all coming back under the same umbrella this season.

Those discussions are separate to the pursuit of a partner that will look honestly at rugby league with a fresh pair of eyes, coming up with solutions without being weighed down by past baggage or the accusations of vested interests that have dogged the sport at times.

McManus was clear on the way forward.

He said: “We need the involvement of a partner that looks at this very clinically and that will make changes that are not being brought about by self-interested individuals or self-interested clubs within the game.

“They have to look at this with an oversight of the entertainment and sporting landscape worldwide and if radical changes need to be made, then they will be made.

“We are looking for a strategic partner to really identify the weaknesses of the game, bring professional expertise, resource and financial resource to the party we do not possess.

“And to work with them as a partnership and there are institutions out there, it is a matter of us putting the right investment/partnership case to them which we are much better able to do as a combined entity.

“We have set up a joint venture with the RFL and with the various assets of the game within that we are much more attractive proposition than standalone Super League was.

“For the last three or four months myself and a small group have been working on that and we are pretty confident that we will get a positive result.”

Those assets at the centre of the game are the Super League, Challenge Cup, international rugby and the big events like the finals, play-offs and Magic.

If they can be grown, marketed and gain greater media and sponsorship exposure then the money at centre can permeate down into the clubs.

Allied to that, clubs, who continue to function as standalone entities, should see their lot improve as the game as a whole gets a bigger profile and more lucrative to sponsors.

St Helens Star:

Although Saints, with their own stadium, an international-class team, a prolific academy and a trophy cabinet packed with silverware, are top of the pile McManus believes being a big fish in a small pond is not sustainable.

“Saints are comfortable,” he said.

“We are always going to be top four unless we really mess up badly, but that may not last.

“Eventually the fish will starve if the pond becomes too small.

“The game has got to improve, and we have got to be the leading light in an improved game,” he said.