Interesting read
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http://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/gus-gould-has-shock-theory-behind-move-to-separate-wests-tigers-stars/news-story/3bbbaef74c413ce7bf93fffb80c90287
Gus Gould has shock theory behind move to separate Wests Tigers stars
APRIL 5, 20173:50PM
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PHIL Gould says he suspects the manager of star Wests Tigers playmakers Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses secretly wants to break the rising stars apart.
The day after Brooks re-signed with the club on a two-year deal, Gould, the Penrith Panthers’ supremo, declared star player agent Isaac Moses secretly believes Brooks and Mitchell Moses may need to be separated in order for them to reach their potential.
Brooks and Moses have been playing with each other since high school, where they both attended Holy Cross College in Ryde (northern Sydney). Gould told his podcast, Six Tackles with Gus, on Wednesday there is a very real consideration that the pair are not actually suited to play alongside each other at NRL level.
Gould said Tigers coach Ivan Cleary has a tough decision to make about whether Mitchell Moses stays at the club following Brooks’ decision to remain at the joint-venture.
“He came into first grade with a boom on him and he probably hasn’t lived up to expectations,” Gould said of Brooks.
“I think that club suits him at the moment and I think the coach suits him as well so that’s a good decision by Luke to remain with the club. “Whether that means the other three players sign with the club it remains to be seen. “I have a suspicion that Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses probably wanted to both sell themselves as halfbacks and that the combination, even though they’ve been together for a while and they have known each other for a while, probably doesn’t gel on the field the way that they would like and there’s been a thought from the management of both those players that maybe they need to split them up to get the best out of them and that their careers have to go separate ways.
“That will be interesting. That will be one for Ivan Cleary to negotiate now. Whether or not he can convince them that they need to be together in the long term.” It comes as Gould also chastised the Tigers over a report indicating the club has tabled an offer to star fullback James Tedesco worth $4.4 million over four years, labelling the offer irresponsible.
He said there is currently not one player in the game that deserves to be taking up more than $1 million per season on an NRL club salary cap. He said Johnathan Thurston was worth that figure four years ago when he famously tabled the Cowboys star a $4.8 million, four-year deal to join Penrith. However, at the age of 33, he believes even Thurston is not worth that figure. “I’m really getting frustrated by the money getting reported around for these clubs and even the asking price for players these days,” he said.
“I don’t see a $1 million footballer in the competition at the moment. I think it’s ridiculous that any individual should be earning $1 million in a fixed salary cap.
“I’m quite happy for them to earn it corporately, if they can find third party sponsors or business interest. But if you’re managing a salary can properly, given the salary cap offers that we’ve had from the NRL going forward, I can’t see a $1 million player in the game if you’re going to take it out of the salary cap. “Unless it’s supported through corporate dollars, if you’re paying a player $1 million it has a big effect on everything you’re doing in your club.
“There’s not one player in the competition who I would pay $1 million to at the moment at all. Not even close top it, under the fixed salary cap model we have going forward.”
He said a key criteria for a player being worth $1 million per season is that they are leading their side to a winning percentage of at least 60 per cent.
He warned the Tigers that the so-called “big four” have not been winning games of football this season and doesn’t believe that will change in the future, just because they are all earning more money.
“Is James Tedesco a 60 per cent winning player for the Tigers? No,” he said.
“They’ve got all those four players together now and they’re not winning games. Paying them more money doesn’t make them better players and it’s not going to improve their strike rate.“The more money you pay them, the less talent you can put around them.”
Meanwhile,
Gould believes Cooper Cronk will retire at the end of this season rather than play on for a Sydney-based club in 2018.
He said he expects Cronk, turning 34 this year, will look back at the end of this season with the Storm and be satisfied with his career, rather than feel the need to build something from scratch in Sydney.