Stefano Utoikamanu #241

I’m less concerned with Melbourne’s methods and more concerned that WT players, such as Stef, are seemingly willing to take a significant financial haircut in a career that could be over tomorrow to go to a better, more productive environment. While Stef’s form has been woeful, there continues to be a trend of our ‘better’ and ‘more experienced’ players clamouring for the exit rather than knuckling down at this club.

Therein lies the problem. I don't think (all) players
take significant pay-cuts of $600/800k to go play
for a flagship club. Imagine telling your young wife
and kid you're forgoing this cash to play with a rich
club out of state away from friends and family. We
need to do away with this lie and romantic notion
that all these good guys are going to better run clubs
for less money, especially in this economy, it's BS.
Especially when you're dealing with perennial cheats
Like the Melbourne storm, the only team in that
state in the comp, who the NRL have done their best
to protect since their foundation. It's all bullshit.
 
Therein lies the problem. I don't think (all) players
take significant pay-cuts of $600/800k to go play
for a flagship club. Imagine telling your young wife
and kid you're forgoing this cash to play with a rich
club out of state away from friends and family. We
need to do away with this lie and romantic notion
that all these good guys are going to better run clubs
for less money, especially in this economy, it's BS.
Especially when you're dealing with perennial cheats
Like the Melbourne storm, the only team in that
state in the comp, who the NRL have done their best
to protect since their foundation. It's all bullshit.
Truth
 
Therein lies the problem. I don't think (all) players
take significant pay-cuts of $600/800k to go play
for a flagship club. Imagine telling your young wife
and kid you're forgoing this cash to play with a rich
club out of state away from friends and family. We
need to do away with this lie and romantic notion
that all these good guys are going to better run clubs
for less money, especially in this economy, it's BS.
Especially when you're dealing with perennial cheats
Like the Melbourne storm, the only team in that
state in the comp, who the NRL have done their best
to protect since their foundation. It's all bullshit.
Yet the NRL actively resist transparency when it comes to the salary cap.
 
Yet the NRL actively resist transparency when it comes to the salary cap.

Bad for business. Would likely expose their complicity
in clubs circumventing the cap too @BalmainJnr

Mundine was talking about this 25+ years ago
openly about how clubs make under the table
payments mate, it's nothing new, nor a conspiracy
 
The NFL have 32 franchises have 56 players active
on the roster each. Double the amount of clubs and
also double the amount of players at each club yet
manage to do yearly audits which are made public —
they also have a LIVE salary cap tracker on their
website. Our comp is run by gamblers & hucksters
 
Yeah and said Norths had a future and Balmain didn't.
He wasn’t wrong though ! It was purely luck and circumstance that got the bears punted .
The stadium gets completed 6 months earlier and there’s no way the nrl would have ratified a wests / Balmain merger . It would have been parra tigers and wests bulldogs or bust .
And the northern eagles wouldn’t have existed .
 
The NFL have 32 franchises have 56 players active
on the roster each. Double the amount of clubs and
also double the amount of players at each club yet
manage to do yearly audits which are made public —
they also have a LIVE salary cap tracker on their
website. Our comp is run by gamblers & hucksters
The game went professional but not sure the administration ever did.
 
And the Manager taking a pay cut also as their share will be less? So the player can be in a winning team?

Yep, lol, bs.
Maybe that's how the nrl police the cap if they have the fortitude to stand up to the player managers.. Make them disclose how much they are making from each deal.
 
I'd expect a full preseason at the Storm might make him even better, as I have said elsewhere and you seem to agree, he was starting to show his current Melbourne form towards the end of last season with us.

Still think Melbourne got the better end of the deal.
Yep, Storm offloaded Olam in exchange, the bloke is done as a force in the NRL. He has the dodgiest knees in the game.... virtually bone on bone, like Arty Beeston in his final two seasons.
No amount of surgery I know of currently available will fix his knees to a standard to be able to sustain the punishment playing in the NRL dishes out.
 
This is the first I have heard about any of this and really have very little understanding of what this is all about, but on the surface it sounds pretty dodgy and I would think most would probably agree that it doesn't pass the pub test.

Players at an NRL club investing 6 figure amounts in a betting company in which one of the clubs directors has a financial interest, never mind about the merchandise sales that were supposed to go to charity but you would have to wonder how Tim Simona would feel about getting rubbed out of the game for making piddling little $5 bets.

I won't even go into the Laurie Daley part time coaching situation that others have already brought up.
 
Player contract can be eg /
Tigers. Offer $ 800 k x 4 years plus a car
storm offer $ 625 k. X 3 years plus 1 year option ( club favour )
nrl says this can’t be right , Stef says yep I want to play for storm and be coached by Bellamy , mind your business
 
I’m less concerned with Melbourne’s methods and more concerned that WT players, such as Stef, are seemingly willing to take a significant financial haircut in a career that could be over tomorrow to go to a better, more productive environment. While Stef’s form has been woeful, there continues to be a trend of our ‘better’ and ‘more experienced’ players clamouring for the exit rather than knuckling down at this club.
Careers tend to be over a lot quicker here than there.
 
Player contract can be eg /
Tigers. Offer $ 800 k x 4 years plus a car
storm offer $ 625 k. X 3 years plus 1 year option ( club favour )
nrl says this can’t be right , Stef says yep I want to play for storm and be coached by Bellamy , mind your business

Yeah mate. $1.8m vs $3.2m a year and a car lol

But Stef wants to play under Bellamy, who has
said for the the last few years this will be his
last season b4 he transitions 2 head of footy ops.

I don't wanna keep stef, but they're taking the piss
 
Do people still believe that targeted players play for less when they go to a "strong" club?
Yes, because I would do the same.
I don't necessarily believe all is above board. In fact I believe most/all clubs breach salary cap rules in some way. I just also think it is absolutely plausible, likely even, that a player would switch clubs due to factors unrelated to salary.

I also think calls for transparency are a bit pointless. I'd suggest no clubs are breaching the cap on the books. Publishing salaries and cap positions does nothing to stop any illegal breaches. The illegal breaches would still exist, just not published. Just like they are not reported to the NRL auditors.
 

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