Flanagan hammers agent as Dragons lose teen star

[innsaneink]

A frustrated Shane Flanagan has blasted the agent of highly-rated St George Illawarra prospect Finau Latu as he became the latest coach to express concerns about the NRL's contracting circus.

Lock Latu is poised to join Canterbury next season with Flanagan claiming the teenager's agent, Michael Chebl, handled talks with the club "terribly".

Latu has yet to play NRL but has been named in the Dragons' extended squad that will face the Sydney Roosters in Friday's Anzac Day clash.

"I wanted to keep him and I'm not happy about the negotiation side of it," Flanagan said.

"It's been handled poorly, terribly.

"Sometimes you lose them because you're not willing to pay a certain fee, or you don't want the player, but we wanted to keep him, and we're not happy.

"The way that it was handled by his management, was handled poorly, really poorly.

"We've brought that young bloke up the last three or four years and we wanted to keep him and never got an opportunity to."

The Dragons said they made a strong offer for Latu, but no counter proposal was put forward by the player's camp despite assurances the club would be given a right of reply.

But the youngster's decision to walk away and join the Bulldogs has left a bitter taste in Flanagan's mouth.

The Dragons coach pointed to other examples of player movement through the early part of the season where clubs have been left feeling blindsided.

"I've got some good relationships with agents, and they're all got their pros and cons," Flanagan said.

"As I said, the handling of this one was poor.

"I've read Ricky (Stuart) is not happy to with what's going on with (Manly's pursuit of) Jamal Fogarty, we've got the Lachlan Galvin situation.

"It's too big a problem for me to solve, but I'm not happy about it."

Whats this guys position anyone know?

 

[mikey]

Good to see another coach/ club complaining. Enough voices and maybe something will be done.

 

[tiger05premier]

Whats this guys position anyone know?

Lock

It says it in the article lol

 

[Needaname]

Possibly a result of Flanno preferring experienced players and continuing to recruit them rather than giving the kid a go. Not sure the Dogs are any different but we’ll who knows what his reasons are maybe he thinks he’ll develop better at another club/coach.

 

[kiwitiger]

This is what makes the comp a joke. 7 weeks in and players are already packing their bags to go elsewhere for next season.
How do you run a comp so bad that this happens?

 

[Demps]

Trending topic.

Time for some policies in place for player agents or what, NRL.

 

[Sully]

The media was saying Latu Finau was leaving today ,however it is Finau Latu from the Dragons.

It is very poor from the NRL to not address it.

 

[SeanT]

Trending topic.

Time for some policies in place for player agents or what, NRL.

Not with the RLPA blocking everything. They have been self serving for years.

 

[ezybro]

until they bring in a draft , free agency window and fixed rookie contracts. This will never stop happening, but thats just my opinion…

 

[Tucker]

As with most industries, the union is the problem. The sooner they weaken the influence of RLPA on the game the better the product will be.

 

[Don Kershane]

According to the RLPA website there are 145 player agents out there. That is a lot of individual BS floating around.

 

[Red88_Tiger]

According to the RLPA website there are 145 player agents out there. That is a lot of individual BS floating around.

I’d expect that is across nsw and qld cup aswell
Further more how many are players representing themselves

 

[tig_prmz]

Doesn't Isaac Moses manage Flanagan?

What are his thought on his own manager?

Does anyone know how bigger sports like EPL, NBA etc handle this situation?

 

[ezybro]

Doesn't Isaac Moses manage Flanagan?

What are his thought on his own manager?

Does anyone know how bigger sports like EPL, NBA etc handle this situation?

I follow NBA and obviously it’s a much more worldwide organisation compared to NRL. Not sure if this is what you were referring to but just an example of how contracts work over there..

Players are drafted and are locked into a rookie contract with their salary depending on how high they were drafted.

They then spend the next 4 years with that team where they then become a restricted free agent meaning that they can receive offers from another team in FREE AGENCY at the end of the season (not through the season).

The team holding that restricted free agent player can simply match that contract offer and retain them even if they don’t have room in the cap they have bird rights on that player.

Once that 2nd contract is up they can then become unrestricted free agents and can sign with whoever they want.

agents don’t have even close to the same amount of power they hold in this league compared to any other sports league

 

[BAGNF05]

Trending topic.

Time for some policies in place for player agents or what, NRL.

Put a team of hack journalists and player agents together and make them play Tonga.

 

[BAGNF05]

I follow NBA and obviously it’s a much more worldwide organisation compared to NRL. Not sure if this is what you were referring to but just an example of how contracts work over there..

Players are drafted and are locked into a rookie contract with their salary depending on how high they were drafted.

They then spend the next 4 years with that team where they then become a restricted free agent meaning that they can receive offers from another team in FREE AGENCY at the end of the season (not through the season).

The team holding that restricted free agent player can simply match that contract offer and retain them even if they don’t have room in the cap they have bird rights on that player.

Once that 2nd contract is up they can then become unrestricted free agents and can sign with whoever they want.

agents don’t have even close to the same amount of power they hold in this league compared to any other sports league

So much transparency in US sports and massive penalties.
I reckon if your salary is over 250K it should all be public.

 

[Odessa]

until they bring in a draft , free agency window and fixed rookie contracts. This will never stop happening, but thats just my opinion…

I have said in here before that there should be a draft for all under 23 players

and when you turn 23 you can do what ever you want you have contributed to the good of the game so go do what you want

 

[hank37w]

Got to laugh at Flanno, what a hypocrite complaining about the actions of an agent when he himself avails the services of one Isaac Moses. 🤣

 

[clontarfkid]

Got to laugh at Flanno, what a hypocrite complaining about the actions of an agent when he himself avails the services of one Isaac Moses. 🤣

what goes around..

 

[TYGA]

I follow NBA and obviously it’s a much more worldwide organisation compared to NRL. Not sure if this is what you were referring to but just an example of how contracts work over there..

Players are drafted and are locked into a rookie contract with their salary depending on how high they were drafted.

They then spend the next 4 years with that team where they then become a restricted free agent meaning that they can receive offers from another team in FREE AGENCY at the end of the season (not through the season).

The team holding that restricted free agent player can simply match that contract offer and retain them even if they don’t have room in the cap they have bird rights on that player.

Once that 2nd contract is up they can then become unrestricted free agents and can sign with whoever they want.

agents don’t have even close to the same amount of power they hold in this league compared to any other sports league

NFL and NBA are pro leagues NRL is semi pro. Club owners care more about the brand and very rarely screw teams over players. Difference is the owners are individuals and billionaires. The league and teams control player movement.