Jim Hamilton: Red Bull must open their chequebook and bring Pollock to Newcastle

If Red Bull want to show their intent and send shockwaves through the game, there is one thing they should do – sign Henry Pollock. This is the moment to make a statement, not just about Newcastle, not just about English rugby, but about taking the sport into a new era.

Pollock is the brightest young star in England, a British & Irish Lions tourist who, at the age of 20, already looks destined to grab headlines for the next decade. For Red Bull, who have always thrived by attaching themselves to athletes that change the game, there’s no better fit. Individuals sell the game; this is something other sports have always understood, but rugby is lagging behind. Newcastle now have the opportunity to break the mould.

This is such a positive move for the game. With all the negativity in rugby in the United Kingdom – the demise of three teams, stuff that’s going on in the URC with the Welsh regions and how disconnected things are – this is some real positivity having Red Bull in. I’ve been a massive fan of Red Bull for a long time. I’ve always been aligned with what they have done from the media side. They’ve now made the brand bigger than the drink and that’s just a reflection of how well they’ve managed to capture the alternative sports space. They’ve got into pop culture, extreme sports, and they were one of the first brands on the scene when it came to generating content and really valuing athletic content and ‘wow-content’, and have paved the way to show how you can collaborate brands and athletes in that kind of commercial space, which hadn’t been done before.

Let’s be honest, Newcastle weren’t on their knees, they were on their back and on the way out. For Red Bull to see value in rugby – if they don’t see value in it they don’t need to go there, they’re a multi-billion pound business – and see commercial value and something that lines up with what they want to do with their brand, I think it’s probably the most positive news we’ve had in English rugby for as long as I can remember.

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The PREM would not have been sustainable if it went down to nine – 10 is the minimum number. If Newcastle had pulled out, it could have been a domino effect like with Worcester Warriors, Wasps and London Irish. Suddenly, things become more difficult. There’s one less game, there’s two fewer games, three fewer games; therefore, there’s less revenue. Then, other owners, Exeter, Gloucester, Leicester, probably follow suit and then radical change would have been needed. I still believe that is required, but now a cool brand that understands how to grow a team, how to grow athletes, how to leverage content, how to leverage media, is part of the sport. The most exciting thing is that Red Bull are globally known. Anything that they’ve done has succeeded. Rugby has been left behind when it comes to cultural relevancy when it comes to the big TV deals, and it was looking tragic. In fact, it was looking as bad as it could have been.

Now this opens up the door to other brands. Monster, for example, invest in similar things to what Red Bull have done. But there are the likes of YouTube, the likes of Nike, who have been loosely associated with rugby. It now opens the door to being able to franchise the clubs and to have these kinds of franchise names.

For now, Newcastle need to look like they’re a Red Bull team. So, sell-out crowds, which they’ve done, and level up how they speak to audiences. How are Red Bull and Newcastle going to communicate to this younger generation? Ultimately, it comes down to being athlete-led and in order to do that, you need the biggest names in rugby. Will the squad they’ve put together be competitive, or are they going to be rock bottom? Steve Diamond said that they want to win at least six home games, so there’s a slow process in this.

Friday night’s 39-17 defeat to Saracens at Kingston Park taught us a few lessons. They’ve recruited well over the summer – Amanaki Mafi was sensational – but there are still areas to improve. Christian Wade will join midway through the season, and Liam Williams debut is imminent, but they need a natural try-scorers out wide. Darcy Graham was in attendance and would fit the bill perfectly. Bundee Aki has also been linked with a move. Sammy Arnold is a great player, but not many teams would turn down experience and firepower the Ireland 12 brings. For me, I want to see a mega signing. I want to see them sign Siya Kolisi, I want to see them sign Mack Hansen, who’s a Red Bull athlete. I want them to sign the next up-and-coming superstar and build an ecosystem. Who better than Pollock then?

The flanker fits the brand. I know people at Northampton will be uncomfortable hearing that, but who else fits the Red Bull brand better than Pollock? Red Bull have always been very athlete-focussed, individual sport-focussed, and everyone knows that the way forward for rugby to grow is through individual athletes. They need to find that hidden gem or they need to invest fully in someone that’s already doing it and Henry Pollock is the biggest name in English rugby, so go and get him.

The cynic in me questioned whether this is all smoke and mirrors, but you dig a little bit deeper, and sometimes, saying nothing actually has more value and holds more weight than saying everything. Red Bull aren’t saying anything, they’re doing. Rugby has always had sayers, but from what we’re hearing, Red Bull are doing it. So we need to see it. They need to bring northern rugby to life. You get some of the hardest motherf*****s that come from the north. They need to stem the flow of players leaving the club and then make a statement signing.

I just hope that, in the background, they’re documenting everything that’s going on, from how they treat the staff members all the way to how they’re recruiting players and what their mindset is going into the PREM season, because they nearly folded only a few months before. The rise, the fall, and the rise again of the team of the Angel of the North is a great story in itself.

Part of the annoyance of rugby is that we don’t actually know what the deal is. There are rumours they bought it for a pound and mopped up the millions that they were in debt. There may be confusion around how the deal was done, but does it really matter? Probably not. One of the things they would have looked at is that it’s cheap and it captures the audience in the northeast. Newcastle, when it comes to sport, has a real heritage and a real history. There’s a hell of a story there with the likes of Jonny Wilkinson, Rob Andrew, the late, great Doddie Weir, and the early successes in professionalism that they had. Red Bull would have looked at that, they would have seen there’s a story there that we see the football – Welcome to Wrexham, Sunderland ‘Til I Die – and all of these things that go hand-in-hand with how Red Bull conduct business. It hasn’t been long, but I’m already hearing such human touches that they’ve already managed to imprint on the team.

Paying for lunches for the members of staff on matchdays. Staff previously had to pay for parking or park offsite because they wanted to sell parking on matchdays. These are small things that make a big difference. The people of Newcastle have already seen a real human touch and an authentic way Red Bull are doing things off the pitch, and they seem to be accelerating quickly with some of the signings that they’ve made, but they need to make that headline deal.

The biggest sports follow the athlete: LeBron James, Michael Jordan, David Beckham, Lionel Messi, the list goes on. We haven’t done it since Jonah Lomu. We have an opportunity now where Red Bull must go out and get Henry Pollock. Pay over a million pounds, really cause a stir, put the cat amongst the pigeons. Henry Pollock, a Red Bull athlete, content-led activation, a rugby revolution.