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Moltzen backflip hit Dragons' long-term plan
March 16, 2012
Tim Moltzen's decision to renege on his deal with St George Illawarra hasn't just impacted on this season but thrown into disarray a three-year plan to replace a quartet of senior players at the club.
When the Dragons signed Moltzen to a three-year contract on July 12, they did so with the view that the Wests Tigers utility would start his career in the Red V at fullback before switching to halfback when skipper Ben Hornby retires, possibly at the end of next season.
Having played more than 60 NRL matches before his 23rd birthday last September, Moltzen was seen as a player St George Illawarra could build a team around once Hornby, Matt Cooper, Dean Young and Nathan Fien call it a day.
But the Dragons had to re-assess those plans after Moltzen had a change of heart and decided to see out the remaining season of his deal with the Tigers, forcing new St George Illawarra coach Steve Price to thrust Kyle Stanley into the fullback role this season. With Moltzen's manager, Martin Tauber, advising St George Illawarra officials on October 6 that his client no longer intended to move to Wollongong and play for the Dragons, as Moltzen had previously indicated to Price, the club was unable to find a suitable replacement.
St George Illawarra officials say the Tigers offered to subsidise the contract of another player, believed to be Mitch Brown, if the Dragons accepted him as compensation. But they weren't interested as he did not fit into their vision for the future like Moltzen would have.
Being forced to scrap those plans and start again is the reason St George Illawarra chief executive Peter Doust is still weighing up legal action against the Tigers, with the club waiting to see the full impact of Moltzen's backflip before deciding whether to proceed to court.
It is a position Gold Coast founder Michael Searle found his club in five years ago when Melbourne winger Steve Turner backed out of a contract and re-signed with the Storm.
''You have plan A, B, C and D in your recruitment and if you secure plan A, then plan B, C and D go out the door so it can have a multitude of effects,'' Searle said.
''At that time we had earmarked Steve Turner as our fullback and we had Preston Campbell as a five-eighth. Because of what happened, we were unable to recruit a suitable fullback, so we had to shift Preston from five-eighth and that is what is hard.
''We were out on a limb until we recruited Mat Rogers, but it took a long time for us to come up with a solution as to who our No.6 was going to be.
''One of the differences is that we had 12 months to prepare for our entry into the competition and that afforded us the opportunity to go out and recruit Mat Rogers, whereas the Dragons only had three months so they didn't get that opportunity.''
Another key difference is the fact Moltzen was still under contract to the Tigers and the club never formalised a deed of release for him to join St George Illawarra, whereas Turner was a free agent.
However, Doust maintains that Tigers chief executive Stephen Humphries had indicated on a number of occasions that the club would release Moltzen and has said that Tauber emailed him on September 27 offering to chase up the deed of release if he hadn't yet received it.
Leading statistics and video analyst Will Badel of NRL Stats said it was no surprise that both clubs were so keen to secure Moltzen's services.
''He is a genuine footballer who is young, has a good kicking game and can play a number of positions on the field,'' said Badel, who is developing a system to measure the value of players, such as Moltzen, Cronulla's Todd Carney or Parramatta's Jarryd Hayne, who often alternate between positions depending on their team's needs.
''He has also had tutelage from Tim Sheens for a number of years and has also played with Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah.
''What St George Illawarra were undoubtedly after was somebody who had a little more NRL experience at fullback compared to Kyle Stanley, but he is also an option to cover Hornby and Jamie Soward in the halves.''
The Herald spoke to several Dragons supporters ahead of tonight's game against the Tigers, including one who is flying from the Gold Coast specifically to ''give it to Moltzen''.
''I think it is weak as piss,'' he said. ''As soon as the draw was released, I had about eight phone calls from people saying 'we've got to go to Kogarah to give it to Moltzen' and I said 'not a problem'. The hill is going to go berserk every time Moltzen gets the ball.''
Tauber said he had spoken to Moltzen this week about the reception he was likely to receive tonight. ''He is fine, he is not nervous. He knows there is going to be a bit of a razzmatazz when he goes on the park but he is confident and he is focused on his performance.''
March 16, 2012
Tim Moltzen's decision to renege on his deal with St George Illawarra hasn't just impacted on this season but thrown into disarray a three-year plan to replace a quartet of senior players at the club.
When the Dragons signed Moltzen to a three-year contract on July 12, they did so with the view that the Wests Tigers utility would start his career in the Red V at fullback before switching to halfback when skipper Ben Hornby retires, possibly at the end of next season.
Having played more than 60 NRL matches before his 23rd birthday last September, Moltzen was seen as a player St George Illawarra could build a team around once Hornby, Matt Cooper, Dean Young and Nathan Fien call it a day.
But the Dragons had to re-assess those plans after Moltzen had a change of heart and decided to see out the remaining season of his deal with the Tigers, forcing new St George Illawarra coach Steve Price to thrust Kyle Stanley into the fullback role this season. With Moltzen's manager, Martin Tauber, advising St George Illawarra officials on October 6 that his client no longer intended to move to Wollongong and play for the Dragons, as Moltzen had previously indicated to Price, the club was unable to find a suitable replacement.
St George Illawarra officials say the Tigers offered to subsidise the contract of another player, believed to be Mitch Brown, if the Dragons accepted him as compensation. But they weren't interested as he did not fit into their vision for the future like Moltzen would have.
Being forced to scrap those plans and start again is the reason St George Illawarra chief executive Peter Doust is still weighing up legal action against the Tigers, with the club waiting to see the full impact of Moltzen's backflip before deciding whether to proceed to court.
It is a position Gold Coast founder Michael Searle found his club in five years ago when Melbourne winger Steve Turner backed out of a contract and re-signed with the Storm.
''You have plan A, B, C and D in your recruitment and if you secure plan A, then plan B, C and D go out the door so it can have a multitude of effects,'' Searle said.
''At that time we had earmarked Steve Turner as our fullback and we had Preston Campbell as a five-eighth. Because of what happened, we were unable to recruit a suitable fullback, so we had to shift Preston from five-eighth and that is what is hard.
''We were out on a limb until we recruited Mat Rogers, but it took a long time for us to come up with a solution as to who our No.6 was going to be.
''One of the differences is that we had 12 months to prepare for our entry into the competition and that afforded us the opportunity to go out and recruit Mat Rogers, whereas the Dragons only had three months so they didn't get that opportunity.''
Another key difference is the fact Moltzen was still under contract to the Tigers and the club never formalised a deed of release for him to join St George Illawarra, whereas Turner was a free agent.
However, Doust maintains that Tigers chief executive Stephen Humphries had indicated on a number of occasions that the club would release Moltzen and has said that Tauber emailed him on September 27 offering to chase up the deed of release if he hadn't yet received it.
Leading statistics and video analyst Will Badel of NRL Stats said it was no surprise that both clubs were so keen to secure Moltzen's services.
''He is a genuine footballer who is young, has a good kicking game and can play a number of positions on the field,'' said Badel, who is developing a system to measure the value of players, such as Moltzen, Cronulla's Todd Carney or Parramatta's Jarryd Hayne, who often alternate between positions depending on their team's needs.
''He has also had tutelage from Tim Sheens for a number of years and has also played with Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah.
''What St George Illawarra were undoubtedly after was somebody who had a little more NRL experience at fullback compared to Kyle Stanley, but he is also an option to cover Hornby and Jamie Soward in the halves.''
The Herald spoke to several Dragons supporters ahead of tonight's game against the Tigers, including one who is flying from the Gold Coast specifically to ''give it to Moltzen''.
''I think it is weak as piss,'' he said. ''As soon as the draw was released, I had about eight phone calls from people saying 'we've got to go to Kogarah to give it to Moltzen' and I said 'not a problem'. The hill is going to go berserk every time Moltzen gets the ball.''
Tauber said he had spoken to Moltzen this week about the reception he was likely to receive tonight. ''He is fine, he is not nervous. He knows there is going to be a bit of a razzmatazz when he goes on the park but he is confident and he is focused on his performance.''
