It is not uncommon for professional sportsmen to switch from one football code to another.
Specifically considering the move from Rugby League to Rugby Union and vice-versa, what have been the most prominent factors in athletes making this switch?
I can speculate that the financial benefits may be one of the key motivators but I'd like to learn of any hard statistics or research into this matter.
Receiving big money contracts is certainly one of the benefits of switching codes. In the last ten years or so, players switching between codes have received multi-million dollar contracts for doing so, and before even playing a professional game in their "new" sport.
Most players though that have switched in recent years have reached the pinnacle of their player careers at a young age. For example, Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau both have won NRL premierships, various awards, and represented their state and country at the highest level. A change to codes that feature very similar skill sets, whether to rugby union or AFL, would bring about a new set of challengers for these elite sportsmen.
