EXCLUSIVE: Star Super League recruit Luke Keary's desperate plea to NRL to buy 'unwatchable' UK competition

Super League bosses are "on their knees begging" for the NRL to rescue the struggling league, according to former Roosters star Luke Keary, who is now a marquee player for the UK-based competition.

Keary's plea comes as the NRL continues to mull over the purchase of a 33 per cent stake in the Super League, which would also see the NRL take over the running of the league.

Keary moved to France to play for Catalans for 2025. He said the culture shock of moving to Perpignan in country's south was second to the shock of the "horrendous" state of the game.

READ MORE: Astonishing $1.5m call that could send NRL market into frenzy

READ MORE: 'That's what Kane is': Biggest issue with TV star's sheds ban

READ MORE: Great's claim about struggling halves clouded by numbers

"If (the NRL) don't buy it, they're in a lot of trouble ... all the players are open to it," he told Wide World of Sports.

"I'll go on the record saying (the Super League) is in such a bad way, the game is horrendous over here.

"It's the product, the coverage, the news around the game, there is zero. There is zero.

"Just the top teams have (strong) support and that is it.

"You watch the games, they're near unwatchable. The way Sky do it now, or whoever's got it, it's near unwatchable, and the players all know it. I can't follow it and I f---ing play in it.

"You can't watch the games, it's so bad ... it's horrendous. The coverage and everything, and because we're in France too they don't show the games.

"I watch more NRL than Super League. NRL is super easy to watch on the app.

"One thing I've appreciated over here, seeing the state of the Super League (is) how good of a place (the NRL) is in. The product, the support, it's in such a good spot.

"They're on their knees, like they're literally on their knees begging for the NRL (to buy in). Then you look at it ... it'll take that much work for them to turn it around.

"They're in a different market here, it's hard with the football, but at the rate they're going ... I think the St Helen's boss did an interview a few weeks ago and he just basically said, 'we're all like hemorrhaging so much money'.

"He's basically pleading that they come in and take it ... and the players all want it."

NRL bosses met with Wigan owner Mike Danson and Warrington owner Simon Moran while in Las Vegas for the launch of the 2025 NRL season. Danson and Moran then went back to the other Super League owners, before submitting a formal proposal to Andrew Abdo and Peter V'landys.

The NRL had also held fact finding discussions with Rabbitohs and Tigers chief executives Blake Solly and Shane Richardson, who both spent time working in the Super League.

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and 9Now.

On Monday night, Nine's 100% Footy revealed that Roosters supremo Nick Politis was also considering buying the Salford club and rebranding it the Manchester Roosters. He last year established the Los Angeles Roosters to assist the NRL's expansion into the USA.

But Politis warned he couldn't move into the Super League space without the NRL's support.

"Nothing will happen unless the NRL is involved," he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

"We see a lot of potential for the game in England and we want to be part of it if the NRL is on board. We see an opportunity and we will wait to see what happens next."

The appetite for rugby league in the UK remains strong. The second and third Ashes tour matches at Everton Stadium and Headingley have both sold out, and the opener at Wembley has also seen strong sales.

Keary said one of the Super League's problems is that it's run by faceless men within the RFL.

"In the NRL, you've got Peter V'landys and Andrew Abdo, and you know who's running the show. I could not tell you one name of a person in charge over here," he said.

"Literally wouldn't have a clue who the CEO is or who's making decisions or anything like that, and it's been like that for a long time."

On a more personal level, Keary said he and his family had loved the "change of pace" of the France move.

"We love it .... my wife's really easy, she loves it here because it's really laid back and on the Spanish border so she's done a heap of travel," he said.

"And then the kids, they're so young, they've just kind of just been really cruisy. They're in a French school, so they're the only English-speaking kids in the school. There's been some challenges, but they love the school and everything, so it's been really good. It's been easy for me to just go to footy."

But he said some aspects of the laid-back nature and culture shock of southern France were harder to get used to than others.

"Things I just couldn't even explain. I went to change my internet over and I was there for three hours – everything's just very slow and laid back. It's so different," he said.

"It's been really cool for me because obviously I've spent my whole life in Sydney and Queensland, and especially going from Bondi in the city to somewhere like here, it's been cool to experience.

"I feel like when you're by yourself as a family too, so far away from all your help, you become really tight and close, which has been really good for us as a family."