Though to be eyeing AFL...Broncos star Israel Folau.
A FAIR and reasonable price for Israel Folau is a matter of perspective.
AFL immortal Leigh Matthews says the supposed $1 million annually for a novice is so insulting to current players, it is obscene. Jason Akermanis has a similar view.
The AFL's David Matthews sees Folau as a priceless marketing weapon in the fight for the hearts of the young men of Greater Western Sydney, an investment that will be measured in hundreds of millions of dollars during the next 10 years.
Bottom line, terms and conditions will be addressed if and when - and it's a big "if" - Folau decides to try to make a career in the AFL. What, though, is even more puzzling is the chorus of contempt for Folau as a prospective AFL player.
"Not a hope in hell," seems to sum up the view of most commentators.
Big call from people who know nothing more about him than what they have read and heard in the past week, and maybe, MAYBE, seen on a 30-second highlights clip.
It is a repeat of the Karmichael Hunt-Gold Coast story, with an extra serve of cynicism, for Hunt at least has a modest working knowledge of Australian football.
Gold Coast's recruiting manager Scott Clayton, GWS's Graeme Allan (and Kevin Sheedy) and the AFL's Mark Browning and Jason McCartney stand or fall on their eye for talent. Do Matthews, Akermanis, Robert Walls, Matthew Richardson and others seriously believe Clayton and company would commit to blokes who can't play, or can't be taught to play?
The implication is the recruiting veterans, in league with the AFL, are deliberately plotting a scam. That's more insulting than the supposed $1 million-a-year contracts.
Can Hunt and/or Folau become AFL players of genuine quality and reasonable longevity? I don't know, but what I do know is Clayton and Allan (and Sheedy, Browning and McCartney) wouldn't jeopardise their reputations on hopeless causes.
I'm happy to accept their assessment of the athleticism, mobility and hand-eye co-ordination of two outstanding rugby league youngsters. Given the plethora of development coaches, they shouldn't lack teachers.
The cynics surely are being a little precious. We might have the best football code in the world, but it doesn't mean it's beyond anyone who hasn't had a Sherrin in his hands since leaving the maternity ward.
When Sydney names its team tonight to meet Geelong on Sunday, don't be surprised to find Mike Pyke replacing injured Mark Seaby.
Pyke, in case you have forgotten, is a 26-year-old Canadian who represented his country in rugby.
He played eight games for the Swans last year after being promoted from the rookie list. He is not Simon Madden, but he will be playing for the top team against the best team this weekend. Maybe outstanding athletes can learn a foreign code.
Don't forget, either, that the Folau camp made the overture to the AFL.
If you were running game development for the AFL and an agent for one of the five biggest names in rugby league said "my boy wouldn't mind a crack at your game," you would be a brave man to say "no".
A brave man on the way out of a job, I suspect.
Hunt and Folau are risks. But what if it all works out? What if they become poster boys on the Gold Coast and in Sydney's west?
Here's why the AFL has to give it a go: Queensland and New South Wales provide 11 per cent of AFL players, yet represent 54 per cent of Australia's population.
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