The Rugby Football League are to step in to prevent Great Britain stars like St Helens' Keiron Cunningham defecting to rugby union.

The RFL, along with Super League Europe, will launch a pilot scheme called "Club Great Britain" that will seek ways to offer players enhanced financial packages to stay in the game.

In the UK with both the RFU and the WRU willing to help clubs financially to lure league's best players the RFL has decided now is the time to act accordingly to stave off the threat.

McCallum said: "We have been discussing the funding issues with SLE and other agencies so that we are less vulnerable from attempts outside our sport to attract our players.

"We have reacted to the possibilities of several star players being
attracted away from rugby league and trying to retain those players we believe to be essential elements in our Great Britain team to play world champions Australia in the three-match series later this year."

As Cunningham said in his exclusive column for Playtheball.com last week union is offering players hugely lucrative contracts to cross code and, although he feared it may be too late for many, he called on the league to respond to keep players in the sport. The RFL themselves has angrily hit out at union using funds from its governing body to poach player from league and called for the government to intervene.

McCallum said the RFL considered the central issue to be finance and that the new scheme would seek to offer key players stake holder or sponsorship packages with commercial sponsors. If the pilot scheme works it would then be rolled out to ensure that more players in "Club GB" are retained in the long term.

"We are at an early stage with the proposals and we are watching developments regarding the players we will need to compete on the international stage and we're quite excited about the possibilities on offer to rugby league from this scheme," added McCallum.

Today's announcement confirms speculation that the RFL were preparing to act to resist the attack on the game by the 15-man code and were determined to stop the gradual and damaging loss of high profile players to union that is enjoying massive success on the international scene.

This autumn's Ashes series, therefore, against the world champions Australia is seen as vital if league is to start re-establishing itself as an international sport following last year's disastrous World Cup, and it will be crucial for the British to be competitive.