@hobbo1 said in [Farah and Marshall refused testimonial game by NRL](/post/1008490) said:
Well a quarter cause the other grub got a quarter and half went to charity..but yeah..:rage:
Farah and Marshall refused testimonial game by NRL
- Thread starter Snake
- Start date
Well a quarter cause the other grub got a quarter and half went to charity..but yeah..:rage:
Fraze23
Well-known member
Someone has started a petition on change.org for those that feel strongly enough about it.
https://www.change.org/p/nrl-give-benji-and-robbie-their-testimonial-dinner-and-match
Stuff the NRL. If Thurston gets one, then Robbie and Benji should too.
https://www.change.org/p/nrl-give-benji-and-robbie-their-testimonial-dinner-and-match
Stuff the NRL. If Thurston gets one, then Robbie and Benji should too.
The_Patriot
Well-known member
Not one bit surprised. One day people will wake up and realise they do not have our best interest in their dealings. They are corrupt and look to be trying to get rid of us.
Spud_Murphy
New member
@The_Patriot said in [Farah and Marshall refused testimonial game by NRL](/post/1008557) said:
Greenburg shuts down everything we try to do. Not obvious at all! 😂
supercoach
Well-known member
Your all forgetting Todd doesn’t like the word consistency, he said. He likes to be able to bend the rules for some.
Anyway as others have said...there should be no testimonials, if a club wants to put on something like a dinner different matter, and even than you open a can of worms.
The NRL leadership is lower than the morale at the Bronks
Anyway as others have said...there should be no testimonials, if a club wants to put on something like a dinner different matter, and even than you open a can of worms.
The NRL leadership is lower than the morale at the Bronks
hammertime
Well-known member
@Fraze23 said in [Farah and Marshall refused testimonial game by NRL](/post/1008538) said:
It's getting some decent numbers. Up to 1,500.
Honkylips
Well-known member
@formerguest You're kidding yourself.
BalmainJnr
Well-known member
Don’t think testimonial matches should exist. I could get behind a good sausage sizzle in their honour though.
JD Tiger
New member
@BalmainJnr said in [Farah and Marshall refused testimonial game by NRL](/post/1008642) said:
I agree they shouldn't exist. But the NRL gave Smith and Thurston one and our boys are as deserving as they are.
GNR4LIFE
Well-known member
The whole concept is a rort. These guys make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Farah was making 900k per year throughout all of the drama with Taylor, then going to Souths. Thurston would have been making close to that amount. Smith would be in the ballpark too. Playing a game that is played in their honour is one thing, playing a game where the proceeds go to them is another imo. If they were going to go to the players favourite charity, different story, or if it was for someone who was going through a rough time, but to line their own pockets, nope, not a fan.
@Snake said in [Farah and Marshall refused testimonial game by NRL](/post/1008645) said:
Probably doing nothing which is just what i expected from the useless bag of wind.Will happily change my opinion if he gets the same allowances for our players as the priveliged others
BalmainJnr
Well-known member
@TigerTiger said in [Farah and Marshall refused testimonial game by NRL](/post/1008644) said:
In that sense I agree. There needs to be a documented criterium if they are going to have these, not a subjective and selective decision making process. As others have mentioned, a generation of kids grew up wanting to recreate the “Benji step”. Yet, I have never once heard of a kid idolising the ability to sign two contracts at once to knowingly cheat or express a desire to dabble in the dark arts in the play the ball and invent wrestling manoeuvres while playing rugby league.
JD Tiger
New member
If the NRL had any sense, they would admit that they made a mistake, and proclaim there will be no more testimonials.
Why isn't the trials, like the All Stars game and the Samoan game for charity? Makes more sense.
Why isn't the trials, like the All Stars game and the Samoan game for charity? Makes more sense.
Spud_Murphy
New member
@Snake said in [Farah and Marshall refused testimonial game by NRL](/post/1008645) said:
Check the fuse box! 😁
Fraze23
Well-known member
Really good article by Paul Kent supporting Benji and Robbie.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/teams/tigers/theres-no-debate-benji-marshall-and-robbie-farah-must-be-given-testimonials-writes-paul-kent/news-story/c36fd2c89117d6ae0f229d017f300b37
They altered the rules to suit Thurston and the fact that Smith is playing on is ridiculous. The whole thing stinks. They adjusted the rules for Sutton too. He's never played origin or test football, but he's entitled to a testimonial.
I don't really care about the testimonial in itself and I'm sure that Robbie and Benji are both financially secure from their time in the game. But I oppose the decision not to give them one with every fibre of my being on principle alone. This decision epitomises everything that is wrong with the game and highlights the flagrant favouritism and bias shown by the NRL. Rugby League will continue its downward spiral until Greenberg is gone.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/teams/tigers/theres-no-debate-benji-marshall-and-robbie-farah-must-be-given-testimonials-writes-paul-kent/news-story/c36fd2c89117d6ae0f229d017f300b37
They altered the rules to suit Thurston and the fact that Smith is playing on is ridiculous. The whole thing stinks. They adjusted the rules for Sutton too. He's never played origin or test football, but he's entitled to a testimonial.
I don't really care about the testimonial in itself and I'm sure that Robbie and Benji are both financially secure from their time in the game. But I oppose the decision not to give them one with every fibre of my being on principle alone. This decision epitomises everything that is wrong with the game and highlights the flagrant favouritism and bias shown by the NRL. Rugby League will continue its downward spiral until Greenberg is gone.
TSupps05
Well-known member
@Fraze23 Would you be able to post the article as it is not working for me.
Harvey
Well-known member
Waiting for Smith to get another testimonial at the end of this year
Fraze23
Well-known member
@TSupps05
TIGERS
There’s no debate, Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah must be given testimonials, writes Paul Kent
Paul Kent, The Daily Telegraph
May 3, 2019 7:26pm
Subscriber only
WHITE-ANTING: Lowe declares he’s not the Cowboys snitch
WACKO’S WHISPERS: Updated Round 8 late mail
A fortnight ago Todd Greenberg was in the midst of doing the rounds to all 16 clubs, trying to sell what the players weren’t buying but making a mighty show of it.
Greenberg was taking the players through the NRL’s no fault stand down policy. Talk about a hostile crowd. The players felt injustice at hand. They fired questions and Greenberg remained up front, taking them as they lobbed.
There is no tougher job than trying to get the convinced to change position.
The NRL don’t want to give Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah a testimonial match. Art: Boo Bailey
MORE NRL NEWS
Inevitably hostilities cooled and the floor was opened for questions and while Greenberg was at Concord talking to Wests Tigers an arm shot up.
What happened next remains open for argument, but they are just details.
Robbie Farah believes he stood and asked Greenberg if the NRL would support a testimonial match for he and Benji Marshall.
Marshall believes he heard the same question.
Greenberg says no request for a match was made but says there was certainly interest in a dinner and even memorabilia to sell and he assured both players the NRL would support that.
The legendary Tigers pair won’t be granted their own special clash.
So no testimonial match, just a dinner once they have retired when they would not need NRL permission anyway, and a few autographed posters and framed lithographs.
Know that the game belongs to the likes of Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah.
They are the two greatest figures in Wests Tigers club’s history, a club formed in 2000.
Nobody else comes near them.
Marshall and Farah are one and two, argue the order among yourselves, and yet there seems no appetite for the love like there was when, for reasons nobody can adequately explain, Cameron Smith was afforded a testimonial game for Melbourne even though he will go on to play at least three more seasons for his club after that match. Johnathan Thurston shared the testimonial match ahead of his last season for the Cowboys.
The pair have stayed close throughout their careers. Picture: Mark Evans
Smith’s testimonial seemed like a salary cap rort, a way for the club to pay the player money that would be outside the cap, but the NRL assured us it wasn’t.
Testimonial matches had disappeared from the game for a time once the salary cap era began. Without strict control they were an easy way to cheat the cap. Clubs - and not that I would accuse them of that - could simply negotiate a lower contract for a player with the quiet promise to compensate the money with a testimonial, so the player would still end up earning the amount he was negotiating for.
Not that I would accuse them of that.
The club could then simply divert the cap money to another player in the club to exploit the cap.
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg revealed the match won’t happen. (AAP Image/Peter Rae)
To prove it was no rort for Smith and Thurston, though, a hurried set of criteria was applied that would satisfy all future testimonial requests.
The player must have played 250 games, they must have played 10 consecutive years for the club, which began as a one club rule but was adjusted, not gone overseas and played at Origin or Test level.
Soft measures also considered were potential off-field integrity issues, the player’s standing in the game, their contribution outside what they did for their club and a charity component.
Once applied to the three players who have recently received testimonials, though, the stringent policy immediately breaks down.
222_Mar19_TEQ_Magic Round_DigitalTile_650x90.jpg
Thurston played for Canterbury before he played for North Queensland, hence the adjustment.
John Sutton did not play Origin or Test football.
Cameron Smith will play three more seasons after his testimonial game last year, which hardly fits a testimonial mood.
The NRL concedes a discretionary call was made on all three, particularly Sutton, who got his testimonial this season after Souths fans began assembling in an agitated mood.
Yet the NRL has no mood for a testimonial for Farah and Marshall, which shows a total dismissal to their contribution to Wests Tigers.
Marshall brought more children to the game than any player of his time. The sidestep, the flickpass, they became a staple at every after school game played by 10-year-olds down at the local park.
The club greats delivered Wests Tigers the 2005 premiership.
Farah is the game’s greatest survivor. Last year he played just three games for Souths after the Rabbitohs voted for their future with Damien Cook. Finally, Marshall called Farah saying the Tigers needed a dummy-half and coach Ivan Cleary re-signed him on whatever money was left in the salary cap.
There are various reasons the NRL believes both do not qualify.
Marshall left the NRL to first play rugby in New Zealand and then returned through St George Illawarra and Brisbane.
Farah because he played for Souths.
That Marshall went 12 unbroken years before leaving and Farah into his 13th season does not seem to count. It happened at the wrong end of their careers.
It has been dismissed that both left the Tigers, with their cracked hearts bleeding, because new coaches arrived at the club keen to put their stamp down and both were told they were not welcome.
Beware any coach that feels the need to go in a new direction.
There is hope, though.
It begins on Saturday night against the Sydney Roosters, with the fans, who must get to the Sydney Cricket Ground with big signs and loud voice and tell the NRL what they mean to them. Both mean as much to the Tigers as Sutton does to Souths, or Thurston and Smith to their clubs.
Meanwhile, and in great favour for Marshall and Farah, it is not up to the NRL in the first place to decide policy.
The NRL wrote the rules but the ARL Commission drives policy. It is their job.
Benji, Graham won't have Folau back in NRL
Given their charter is to foster the game surely that leaves enough room for the Commission to intervene and give two of its greatest endorsements the ending they deserve.
The NRL is also unsure whether the Tigers would agree to give away a home game for their players, even given their contribution.
What game would be suitable?
Well, the Tigers play their final home and away game this season in round 25, a 2pm Sunday game at Leichhardt Oval that stands out like a ripe tomato.
Just a touch of imagination would be required to match the moment 29 years ago when another favourite son, Wayne Pearce, walked tearfully around the same oval covered in streamers and fans got the chance to show there really can be love in the game.
It would be the easiest sell in the game and it must happen.
Switching clubs is a factor going against both players. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Few realise the sacrifice they are making for their club.
Cleary was honest with both last year when they told him they wanted to push on for another season. He told them there was not a lot of money left at the club but once the roster was sorted he would give whatever was left in the cap to them.
Then the Tigers got busted for not disclosing an agreement with Farah three years back and the big book got thrown at them from headquarters.
The NRL levelled Wests with a $639,000 salary cap penalty. Thankfully, the League allowed the Tigers to spread the penalty over two seasons, which is the only thing saving them to the game.
Once the fine was thrown in it meant they are now playing this season for slightly more than the NRL’s minimum wage.
Clearly their days of commanding marquee money are gone but, such is their commitment to the club, which goes past love, they are squeezing the final days in black and gold for all they can get.
Given it all, a testimonial would seem the least the game can do.
TIGERS
There’s no debate, Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah must be given testimonials, writes Paul Kent
Paul Kent, The Daily Telegraph
May 3, 2019 7:26pm
Subscriber only
WHITE-ANTING: Lowe declares he’s not the Cowboys snitch
WACKO’S WHISPERS: Updated Round 8 late mail
A fortnight ago Todd Greenberg was in the midst of doing the rounds to all 16 clubs, trying to sell what the players weren’t buying but making a mighty show of it.
Greenberg was taking the players through the NRL’s no fault stand down policy. Talk about a hostile crowd. The players felt injustice at hand. They fired questions and Greenberg remained up front, taking them as they lobbed.
There is no tougher job than trying to get the convinced to change position.
The NRL don’t want to give Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah a testimonial match. Art: Boo Bailey
MORE NRL NEWS
Inevitably hostilities cooled and the floor was opened for questions and while Greenberg was at Concord talking to Wests Tigers an arm shot up.
What happened next remains open for argument, but they are just details.
Robbie Farah believes he stood and asked Greenberg if the NRL would support a testimonial match for he and Benji Marshall.
Marshall believes he heard the same question.
Greenberg says no request for a match was made but says there was certainly interest in a dinner and even memorabilia to sell and he assured both players the NRL would support that.
The legendary Tigers pair won’t be granted their own special clash.
So no testimonial match, just a dinner once they have retired when they would not need NRL permission anyway, and a few autographed posters and framed lithographs.
Know that the game belongs to the likes of Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah.
They are the two greatest figures in Wests Tigers club’s history, a club formed in 2000.
Nobody else comes near them.
Marshall and Farah are one and two, argue the order among yourselves, and yet there seems no appetite for the love like there was when, for reasons nobody can adequately explain, Cameron Smith was afforded a testimonial game for Melbourne even though he will go on to play at least three more seasons for his club after that match. Johnathan Thurston shared the testimonial match ahead of his last season for the Cowboys.
The pair have stayed close throughout their careers. Picture: Mark Evans
Smith’s testimonial seemed like a salary cap rort, a way for the club to pay the player money that would be outside the cap, but the NRL assured us it wasn’t.
Testimonial matches had disappeared from the game for a time once the salary cap era began. Without strict control they were an easy way to cheat the cap. Clubs - and not that I would accuse them of that - could simply negotiate a lower contract for a player with the quiet promise to compensate the money with a testimonial, so the player would still end up earning the amount he was negotiating for.
Not that I would accuse them of that.
The club could then simply divert the cap money to another player in the club to exploit the cap.
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg revealed the match won’t happen. (AAP Image/Peter Rae)
To prove it was no rort for Smith and Thurston, though, a hurried set of criteria was applied that would satisfy all future testimonial requests.
The player must have played 250 games, they must have played 10 consecutive years for the club, which began as a one club rule but was adjusted, not gone overseas and played at Origin or Test level.
Soft measures also considered were potential off-field integrity issues, the player’s standing in the game, their contribution outside what they did for their club and a charity component.
Once applied to the three players who have recently received testimonials, though, the stringent policy immediately breaks down.
222_Mar19_TEQ_Magic Round_DigitalTile_650x90.jpg
Thurston played for Canterbury before he played for North Queensland, hence the adjustment.
John Sutton did not play Origin or Test football.
Cameron Smith will play three more seasons after his testimonial game last year, which hardly fits a testimonial mood.
The NRL concedes a discretionary call was made on all three, particularly Sutton, who got his testimonial this season after Souths fans began assembling in an agitated mood.
Yet the NRL has no mood for a testimonial for Farah and Marshall, which shows a total dismissal to their contribution to Wests Tigers.
Marshall brought more children to the game than any player of his time. The sidestep, the flickpass, they became a staple at every after school game played by 10-year-olds down at the local park.
The club greats delivered Wests Tigers the 2005 premiership.
Farah is the game’s greatest survivor. Last year he played just three games for Souths after the Rabbitohs voted for their future with Damien Cook. Finally, Marshall called Farah saying the Tigers needed a dummy-half and coach Ivan Cleary re-signed him on whatever money was left in the salary cap.
There are various reasons the NRL believes both do not qualify.
Marshall left the NRL to first play rugby in New Zealand and then returned through St George Illawarra and Brisbane.
Farah because he played for Souths.
That Marshall went 12 unbroken years before leaving and Farah into his 13th season does not seem to count. It happened at the wrong end of their careers.
It has been dismissed that both left the Tigers, with their cracked hearts bleeding, because new coaches arrived at the club keen to put their stamp down and both were told they were not welcome.
Beware any coach that feels the need to go in a new direction.
There is hope, though.
It begins on Saturday night against the Sydney Roosters, with the fans, who must get to the Sydney Cricket Ground with big signs and loud voice and tell the NRL what they mean to them. Both mean as much to the Tigers as Sutton does to Souths, or Thurston and Smith to their clubs.
Meanwhile, and in great favour for Marshall and Farah, it is not up to the NRL in the first place to decide policy.
The NRL wrote the rules but the ARL Commission drives policy. It is their job.
Benji, Graham won't have Folau back in NRL
Given their charter is to foster the game surely that leaves enough room for the Commission to intervene and give two of its greatest endorsements the ending they deserve.
The NRL is also unsure whether the Tigers would agree to give away a home game for their players, even given their contribution.
What game would be suitable?
Well, the Tigers play their final home and away game this season in round 25, a 2pm Sunday game at Leichhardt Oval that stands out like a ripe tomato.
Just a touch of imagination would be required to match the moment 29 years ago when another favourite son, Wayne Pearce, walked tearfully around the same oval covered in streamers and fans got the chance to show there really can be love in the game.
It would be the easiest sell in the game and it must happen.
Switching clubs is a factor going against both players. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Few realise the sacrifice they are making for their club.
Cleary was honest with both last year when they told him they wanted to push on for another season. He told them there was not a lot of money left at the club but once the roster was sorted he would give whatever was left in the cap to them.
Then the Tigers got busted for not disclosing an agreement with Farah three years back and the big book got thrown at them from headquarters.
The NRL levelled Wests with a $639,000 salary cap penalty. Thankfully, the League allowed the Tigers to spread the penalty over two seasons, which is the only thing saving them to the game.
Once the fine was thrown in it meant they are now playing this season for slightly more than the NRL’s minimum wage.
Clearly their days of commanding marquee money are gone but, such is their commitment to the club, which goes past love, they are squeezing the final days in black and gold for all they can get.
Given it all, a testimonial would seem the least the game can do.
JD Tiger
New member
In Round 25, our last game at Leichhardt this year, why don't we just honour Benji and Robbie anyway? Drive a ute around the field at half-time/full-time, whenever, parading them, put some highlights on the screen. Have the announcer get the crowd going.
We can honour them without having an "official" testimonial.
We can honour them without having an "official" testimonial.