@another-pom said in [Signing Suggestions & Rumours](/post/1311155) said:
A little update from the Wigan forum regarding Jackson Hastings. It seems that both he and Bevan French are still in Australia ....
* Hastings refused to come back to England's because Wigan refused to release him from his contract.
* Wigan then reluctantly agreed to let him stay in Aus longer.
* Wigan then informed French he could stay longer in line with Hastings stating longer.
* Thats why there is no talk of French being a dickhead.
* Hastings was supposed to fly home this weekend (Again) and so far has managed again to get out of doing so (third time)
Thats disappointing. All his talk of turning himself around, then he acts like this. If he has a contract he should honour it and only get out with an agreement from both sides.
If he does a runner I don't think he'll be signing with WT. When you have a top lawyer as your president and we've had 2 high profile walk outs, we can't benefit from this behaviour
If this story is true then signing Hastings would be a mistake
I agree. There's one potential mindset of "winning at all costs" and that may involve singing up bad eggs for the sole purpose of winning matches.
However Tigers in particular have been burnt several times by personal-brand footballers who are just looking for that next big score. Whilst I can recognise that any individual will look to do what is best for themselves, when you are developing any business, you need to anchor your team with a bulk of long-term team contributors.
If you only sign folks looking for top dollar or highest personal convenience, you are almost guaranteed they'll chase that top dollar again when their contract is next up, which in rugby league terms will be 2-4 seasons. And it may be naive to hope to find team-minded footballers in 2021, but you won't find sustained success without it.
This is particularly true for WT who don't quite have the deep pockets or private sponsorship capacity (at least not that we are aware of) of other clubs. And even a huge selling point for players - sustained success - puts you at a different disadvantage where you might no longer be able to pay the total money the players are demanding. So again it's in your interests to have footballers who are club-minded as well as personally-minded.
All that being a big rant from me, the behaviours of a player at their current club are a very good predictor of their future behaviour. It would be naive to think they'll change their stripes (pun intended) because your club is "different" to them. It may end up that way, but don't bet on it.
If Hastings is trying to wriggle out of his Wigan contract, even for the benefit of Wests Tigers, I am absolutely against it as a predictor of his future with us, a mid-tier success-starved club. And why I most respect any player, even potentially a Storm or Roosters player (when it's a much easier decision), who chooses to remain and develop their club when more money is on offer elsewhere.
How do you view a club that turfs out a player who still has a contract or he’s on big money is that ok
No such thing? Can't turf out a player on contract. Every player on a contract gets paid out in full, 100% of the time, unless they act in a manner which permits their employer to terminate their contract without compensation.
It is not possible for a club to "worm" their way out of a contract. The club cannot sulk, lie, send in false representation, claim mental illness, homesickness. There is no club-level equivalent to a player like Matterson or Aloiai demanding a release.
Or: make it a free-for-all. Let any player or club terminate their contract with a notice period (say 3 months), at the sole discretion of either party. You won't find a player alive who signs up to such a contract.
You are right but clubs do use tactics to try to worm out of contracts as well, the "you are not in our plans" conversation or playing players in reserve grade are tactics used in the past.
Clubs can't worm out of contracts. They can adjust the employment within the terms of the contract, and it's a legal argument to what extent that goes from being legitimate to an attempt to manage someone out of the company.
Like all employees, players end up being protected by Workplace Relation laws that are generally in favour of the employee where a grey area is encountered. Specifically for rugby league, it's going to be almost impossible to prove you don't deserve to be playing reserve grade.
On the other hand - good, whole-hearted footballers who contribute to a positive workplace environment tend not to get offside with their clubs.
I've seen plenty of players coming to clubs and demanding to be paid more money mid-contract, ever seen a club demanding to pay a player less mid-contract?
Mate, I'm not disagreeing with you in regards to footballers getting out of contracts but the clubs are not always honourable in their dealings either.
