Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Balmainian]

I could be( and hopefully am) wrong, but if things keep going the way are then in time there could be 5 or 6 clubs that would last through a financial crisis in the game through monopolising the talent, success and all the benefits that come from success.
With TPAs continuing in the fashion they are then a day may come where sponsors, financial backers and maybe even fans won’t see the value in supporting a team or game that’s only benefiting the elite.
Wouldn’t be much of a competition with half a dozen sides going around each week.
I know there’s always going to be stronger clubs than others and that’s part and parcel of a competition.
It seems to me that some clubs get privileges that others don’t.

Gee I hope we belt those roosters ? in round One!!!

The NRL will be very similar to the English Premier League very soon, if not already, where realistically only a handful of teams can win in any one year.

Already the NRL covers each club’s running costs so why isn’t the competition fair and even at this point? Well no club should fold ever again because of the funding so why are the top clubs almost always playing finals football?

It’s because the playing contracts are not publicised. Imagine the uproar if people could see the Rooster and Bronco contracts and Darius Boyd was on less than Naiquama? Or JWH was on less than Alex Twal?

Unless there is transparency with player contracts nothing will change. Gossip and inuendo will rule…just like now with Politis and his cronies just laughing their butts off.

Other major sporting codes provide clarity on contracts but they are much better run by strong administrators.

Yes it would be great to have power brokers like Politis and Bouris in our corner ….
But then again Top clubs don't give plodders like Tim Grant one year extensions in favour of the player ..

Top clubs don't sign nevilles like Pita Godinet .

We need to get smarter !

Actually hobbo if you look at the Roosters top 30 they have about 10 nevilles like Pita Godinet on minimum contracts. ..

That’s the thing with the roosters they have a great 17, But there depth is non existent IMO.
A few years ago(when Pearce had that Australia Day incident) they lost him, JWH and Cordner for half a season and came 2nd last.
If Anyone of their spine goes down for lengthy stint then who comes in?
There’s no decent Cronk/Keary/Freind backup and maybe latrell fills in for teddy but they won’t even make the eight if they have a few injuries early on.

 

[happy_tiger]

The NRL will be very similar to the English Premier League very soon, if not already, where realistically only a handful of teams can win in any one year.

Already the NRL covers each club’s running costs so why isn’t the competition fair and even at this point? Well no club should fold ever again because of the funding so why are the top clubs almost always playing finals football?

It’s because the playing contracts are not publicised. Imagine the uproar if people could see the Rooster and Bronco contracts and Darius Boyd was on less than Naiquama? Or JWH was on less than Alex Twal?

Unless there is transparency with player contracts nothing will change. Gossip and inuendo will rule…just like now with Politis and his cronies just laughing their butts off.

Other major sporting codes provide clarity on contracts but they are much better run by strong administrators.

Yes it would be great to have power brokers like Politis and Bouris in our corner ….
But then again Top clubs don't give plodders like Tim Grant one year extensions in favour of the player ..

Top clubs don't sign nevilles like Pita Godinet .

We need to get smarter !

Actually hobbo if you look at the Roosters top 30 they have about 10 nevilles like Pita Godinet on minimum contracts. ..

That’s the thing with the roosters they have a great 17, But there depth is non existent IMO.
A few years ago(when Pearce had that Australia Day incident) they lost him, JWH and Cordner for half a season and came 2nd last.
If Anyone of their spine goes down for lengthy stint then who comes in?
There’s no decent Cronk/Keary/Freind backup and maybe latrell fills in for teddy but they won’t even make the eight if they have a few injuries early on.

Very few clubs will make the Top 8 if they have big name injuries early on

Cowboys did it last year , but in the majority clubs just can't cover injuries to marquee players

 

[momo_amp_medo]

The NRL will be very similar to the English Premier League very soon, if not already, where realistically only a handful of teams can win in any one year.

Already the NRL covers each club’s running costs so why isn’t the competition fair and even at this point? Well no club should fold ever again because of the funding so why are the top clubs almost always playing finals football?

It’s because the playing contracts are not publicised. Imagine the uproar if people could see the Rooster and Bronco contracts and Darius Boyd was on less than Naiquama? Or JWH was on less than Alex Twal?

Unless there is transparency with player contracts nothing will change. Gossip and inuendo will rule…just like now with Politis and his cronies just laughing their butts off.

Other major sporting codes provide clarity on contracts but they are much better run by strong administrators.

Yes it would be great to have power brokers like Politis and Bouris in our corner ….
But then again Top clubs don't give plodders like Tim Grant one year extensions in favour of the player ..

Top clubs don't sign nevilles like Pita Godinet .

We need to get smarter !

Actually hobbo if you look at the Roosters top 30 they have about 10 nevilles like Pita Godinet on minimum contracts. ..

That’s the thing with the roosters they have a great 17, But there depth is non existent IMO.
A few years ago(when Pearce had that Australia Day incident) they lost him, JWH and Cordner for half a season and came 2nd last.
If Anyone of their spine goes down for lengthy stint then who comes in?
There’s no decent Cronk/Keary/Freind backup and maybe latrell fills in for teddy but they won’t even make the eight if they have a few injuries early on.

Yep ….. good depth and utility players are the key. It’s a long season.
The only thing that concerns me is the ugly 2018 draw we have landed .... particularly first five rounds. We must jag couple of wins during that period in order to stay competitive.
The only thing going for us is that early rounds usually produce few upsets .... so we have to bring solid on field performance and luck on our side.
It will be interesting that’s for sure. In past years we had expectations based on big 3 or 4 players ... who always disappointed. So what do we have to lose? 😛ray:

 

[jirskyr]

I like Paul Kent's notion.
TPA's to go….no need for them now as Salary Cap has increased so much over last 5 years or so. TPA's were originally bought in before the game could "afford" million dollar contracts and to deter players going to UK in times when they had the $$$ to splash around and Rugby.
Now we have the likes Ben Hunt on 1.2 million.
I can't see why the Salary Cap and a capped TPA Club limit (same at every club) cannot be enforced.
Oh wait...there's politics and politis.

No level playing field here.

100%,

In all honesty I think it’s quite simple.

Third parties go, if business’ want to invest money, it goes into directly into a club. It Makes every club stronger and more financially viable.

Whilst Clubs can still only spend the salary cap on players. If club sponsors wish to use players for adds and marketing etc, and the club and player agree, that’s great as all parties benefit from this, but these is no extra cash outside of the cap at any time.

Anything paid at any time outside of the salary cap, is technically cheating.

Much easier to enforce and there are no excuses if you get caught, because the rules are black and white.

Still restraint of trade isn't it? You cannot outlaw players earning money from their own brand or representation, and you have to prove a link between the sponsor and the club to decline a TPA.

I'd be all for dumping TPAs but you'd be setting yourself up for legal challenge by the RLPA.

It is correct that you can't restrain a player from exploiting his brand, which is why TPAs are allowed. But the rub is very few NRL players have a brand of any value, otherwise people like Harry M Miller, Max Markson would be exploiting it. I can only think of Teddy (Nike) and Slater (Suzuki) doing any sort of meaningful promotional activity in recent times.

I'm sure there are a few others, but i'd wager if you added up the number of registered TPAs across the NRL and then went looking for evidence of what said player does in exchange for his 'arms length' arrangement, there would be a mighty disconnect.

National or statewide promotions yes, but localised promotions? Lots of those, players turning up to caryard sales, having their mugs put on pamphlets, recommending local products in local papers, doing speaking gigs, hosting Christmas parties etc.

I am sure plenty of TPA setups wouldn't be dumb enough not to extract work from the players, even if it was just for show. For example, if you are truly paying a bloke lump sums to play for your club of choice, you might as well have him turn up at your business and do some spruiking, visit your kid's school etc. and get a little bit of personal return for your buck.

The real issue as I see it is there is zero transparency wrt TPAs, so speculation is rife. NRL must have a system in place and Roosters are clearly abiding by it, so either the Roosters are lying or the system is insufficient, but nobody can say for sure without some level of transparency.

 

[Telltails]

The Roosters are a smart operation. The team we all love to hate historically is usually the most savvy - and currently the Roosters are it.
We are in our position because we have a history of poor financial management. If we had built on the success of 2005 we would be a lot closer to the Roosters model and in fact with a larger fan base could have been a power house in the Sydney market
The Sharks are getting closer to it, Parra have steadied the ship, Penrith have identified with the West. If we want to survive in Sydney instead of wanting the NRL to shackle the strong/financial clubs we would be much better off concentrating on how we get into a similar position.
If not - we are and will continue to be the vulnerable ones IMO.

I agree this club has in the past been terribly managed. It appears this has changed to a large degree under the new CEO/Board. However, your comments regarding shackling the strong/financial clubs is not, from my reading of the situation, what most people want. What is wanted/needed is the rules to be applied equally across all teams in the NRL and to be seen to being applied equally. At the moment this does not appear to be the case. As I and others have said again and again, the current rules surrounding the whole TPA situation is open to corruption and exploitation.
There needs to be a better way of managing it. I don't know what that is, but something needs to be done because it essentially undermines the reason for having a salary cap. Whether a points system is used, or whether ALL TP Agreements need to be managed by the NRL itself rather than clubs and individual players, I'm not sure. But the wheels have fallen off the current system and they need to be fixed.

Very few organisations will go after those who are achieving to keep those who are struggling happy.
In Sydney its survival of the fittest and I will be stunned if the NRL go after financially secure clubs in Sydney especially when there is an accepted view that there is already too many clubs
IMO, we cant afford to point the finger, we have to compete on and off the field.
Unless there is a draft you cant force good players to go to clubs they dont want to play for. Crichton is a classic example -TPAs are only part of the appeal.

 

[beachtiger]

Yes it would be great to have power brokers like Politis and Bouris in our corner ….
But then again Top clubs don't give plodders like Tim Grant one year extensions in favour of the player ..

Top clubs don't sign nevilles like Pita Godinet .

We need to get smarter !

Actually hobbo if you look at the Roosters top 30 they have about 10 nevilles like Pita Godinet on minimum contracts. ..

That’s the thing with the roosters they have a great 17, But there depth is non existent IMO.
A few years ago(when Pearce had that Australia Day incident) they lost him, JWH and Cordner for half a season and came 2nd last.
If Anyone of their spine goes down for lengthy stint then who comes in?
There’s no decent Cronk/Keary/Freind backup and maybe latrell fills in for teddy but they won’t even make the eight if they have a few injuries early on.

Yep ….. good depth and utility players are the key. It’s a long season.
The only thing that concerns me is the ugly 2018 draw we have landed .... particularly first five rounds. We must jag couple of wins during that period in order to stay competitive.
The only thing going for us is that early rounds usually produce few upsets .... so we have to bring solid on field performance and luck on our side.
It will be interesting that’s for sure. In past years we had expectations based on big 3 or 4 players ... who always disappointed. So what do we have to lose? 😛ray:

Agree momo the first few rounds aren't necessarily a good gauge on the overall season and there are quite a few upsets due to teams having not found their "mojo" or combinations.
I actually think having such a tough draw at the beginning is an advantage for us next season because we have such a new team and if we are completely honest with ourselves no real "superstars". If, as we all expect, Coach Cleary pulls this team together over the off-season and they enter the season with a nothing to lose attitude because we have been written off by so many we are in a great position to win a few of these games on passion alone.
The problem I see for our overall season though is our passion and desire to prove people wrong will only take us so far so hopefully the Coach gets a really good mix of belief and ability and we can maintain some consistency for the entire season which I think will be the Coach's mantra - Consistency!

 

[momo_amp_medo]

Actually hobbo if you look at the Roosters top 30 they have about 10 nevilles like Pita Godinet on minimum contracts. ..

That’s the thing with the roosters they have a great 17, But there depth is non existent IMO.
A few years ago(when Pearce had that Australia Day incident) they lost him, JWH and Cordner for half a season and came 2nd last.
If Anyone of their spine goes down for lengthy stint then who comes in?
There’s no decent Cronk/Keary/Freind backup and maybe latrell fills in for teddy but they won’t even make the eight if they have a few injuries early on.

Yep ….. good depth and utility players are the key. It’s a long season.
The only thing that concerns me is the ugly 2018 draw we have landed .... particularly first five rounds. We must jag couple of wins during that period in order to stay competitive.
The only thing going for us is that early rounds usually produce few upsets .... so we have to bring solid on field performance and luck on our side.
It will be interesting that’s for sure. In past years we had expectations based on big 3 or 4 players ... who always disappointed. So what do we have to lose? 😛ray:

Agree momo the first few rounds aren't necessarily a good gauge on the overall season and there are quite a few upsets due to teams having not found their "mojo" or combinations.
I actually think having such a tough draw at the beginning is an advantage for us next season because we have such a new team and if we are completely honest with ourselves no real "superstars". If, as we all expect, Coach Cleary pulls this team together over the off-season and they enter the season with a nothing to lose attitude because we have been written off by so many we are in a great position to win a few of these games on passion alone.
The problem I see for our overall season though is our passion and desire to prove people wrong will only take us so far so hopefully the Coach gets a really good mix of belief and ability and we can maintain some consistency for the entire season which I think will be the Coach's mantra - Consistency!

At the same time there is hope ….. Towards the end of last season Ivan’s coaching methods started to produce significant improvements from what could only be described a very poor team roster.

 

[Mac_tiger]

100%,

In all honesty I think it’s quite simple.

Third parties go, if business’ want to invest money, it goes into directly into a club. It Makes every club stronger and more financially viable.

Whilst Clubs can still only spend the salary cap on players. If club sponsors wish to use players for adds and marketing etc, and the club and player agree, that’s great as all parties benefit from this, but these is no extra cash outside of the cap at any time.

Anything paid at any time outside of the salary cap, is technically cheating.

Much easier to enforce and there are no excuses if you get caught, because the rules are black and white.

Still restraint of trade isn't it? You cannot outlaw players earning money from their own brand or representation, and you have to prove a link between the sponsor and the club to decline a TPA.

I'd be all for dumping TPAs but you'd be setting yourself up for legal challenge by the RLPA.

It is correct that you can't restrain a player from exploiting his brand, which is why TPAs are allowed. But the rub is very few NRL players have a brand of any value, otherwise people like Harry M Miller, Max Markson would be exploiting it. I can only think of Teddy (Nike) and Slater (Suzuki) doing any sort of meaningful promotional activity in recent times.

I'm sure there are a few others, but i'd wager if you added up the number of registered TPAs across the NRL and then went looking for evidence of what said player does in exchange for his 'arms length' arrangement, there would be a mighty disconnect.

National or statewide promotions yes, but localised promotions? Lots of those, players turning up to caryard sales, having their mugs put on pamphlets, recommending local products in local papers, doing speaking gigs, hosting Christmas parties etc.

I am sure plenty of TPA setups wouldn't be dumb enough not to extract work from the players, even if it was just for show. For example, if you are truly paying a bloke lump sums to play for your club of choice, you might as well have him turn up at your business and do some spruiking, visit your kid's school etc. and get a little bit of personal return for your buck.

The real issue as I see it is there is zero transparency wrt TPAs, so speculation is rife. NRL must have a system in place and Roosters are clearly abiding by it, so either the Roosters are lying or the system is insufficient, but nobody can say for sure without some level of transparency.

For smaller localised deals - the player has agreed for a third party to use his image/brand in exchange for financial reward. Nothing wrong with that in my book.

Its the 6 figure deals that riles. Foran threatened to sue over $100k+ in unpaid TPA from Manly and Fifita is suing the Bulldogs over his contract which went from $3.2m in the HOA to about $1m less than that in the contract - the balance supposedly TPA.

Now by most peoples measure Fifita is a great player, but why would any bonafide third party want to be associated with him, AND pay $1m for the privilege? He isn't pretty or articulate and is full of tattoos and controversy. It is just a dodge.

I agree with you on transparency.

 

[diedpretty]

Yes it would be great to have power brokers like Politis and Bouris in our corner ….
But then again Top clubs don't give plodders like Tim Grant one year extensions in favour of the player ..

Top clubs don't sign nevilles like Pita Godinet .

We need to get smarter !

Actually hobbo if you look at the Roosters top 30 they have about 10 nevilles like Pita Godinet on minimum contracts. ..

That’s the thing with the roosters they have a great 17, But there depth is non existent IMO.
A few years ago(when Pearce had that Australia Day incident) they lost him, JWH and Cordner for half a season and came 2nd last.
If Anyone of their spine goes down for lengthy stint then who comes in?
There’s no decent Cronk/Keary/Freind backup and maybe latrell fills in for teddy but they won’t even make the eight if they have a few injuries early on.

Very few clubs will make the Top 8 if they have big name injuries early on

Cowboys did it last year , but in the majority clubs just can't cover injuries to marquee players

Then we should be right - we have no marquees.

 

[beachtiger]

That’s the thing with the roosters they have a great 17, But there depth is non existent IMO.
A few years ago(when Pearce had that Australia Day incident) they lost him, JWH and Cordner for half a season and came 2nd last.
If Anyone of their spine goes down for lengthy stint then who comes in?
There’s no decent Cronk/Keary/Freind backup and maybe latrell fills in for teddy but they won’t even make the eight if they have a few injuries early on.

Yep ….. good depth and utility players are the key. It’s a long season.
The only thing that concerns me is the ugly 2018 draw we have landed .... particularly first five rounds. We must jag couple of wins during that period in order to stay competitive.
The only thing going for us is that early rounds usually produce few upsets .... so we have to bring solid on field performance and luck on our side.
It will be interesting that’s for sure. In past years we had expectations based on big 3 or 4 players ... who always disappointed. So what do we have to lose? 😛ray:

Agree momo the first few rounds aren't necessarily a good gauge on the overall season and there are quite a few upsets due to teams having not found their "mojo" or combinations.
I actually think having such a tough draw at the beginning is an advantage for us next season because we have such a new team and if we are completely honest with ourselves no real "superstars". If, as we all expect, Coach Cleary pulls this team together over the off-season and they enter the season with a nothing to lose attitude because we have been written off by so many we are in a great position to win a few of these games on passion alone.
The problem I see for our overall season though is our passion and desire to prove people wrong will only take us so far so hopefully the Coach gets a really good mix of belief and ability and we can maintain some consistency for the entire season which I think will be the Coach's mantra - Consistency!

At the same time there is hope ….. Towards the end of last season Ivan’s coaching methods started to produce significant improvements from what could only be described a very poor team roster.

Couldn’t agree more mate!! I’m an eternal optimist and leading into every season I am really positive about our chances for the up coming season and as you said with the improvements we saw at the end of last season my outlook for 2018 is even greater and I can’t wait to see what Coach does with our team!!

 

[Balmainian]

Yes it would be great to have power brokers like Politis and Bouris in our corner ….
But then again Top clubs don't give plodders like Tim Grant one year extensions in favour of the player ..

Top clubs don't sign nevilles like Pita Godinet .

We need to get smarter !

Actually hobbo if you look at the Roosters top 30 they have about 10 nevilles like Pita Godinet on minimum contracts. ..

That’s the thing with the roosters they have a great 17, But there depth is non existent IMO.
A few years ago(when Pearce had that Australia Day incident) they lost him, JWH and Cordner for half a season and came 2nd last.
If Anyone of their spine goes down for lengthy stint then who comes in?
There’s no decent Cronk/Keary/Freind backup and maybe latrell fills in for teddy but they won’t even make the eight if they have a few injuries early on.

Yep ….. good depth and utility players are the key. It’s a long season.
The only thing that concerns me is the ugly 2018 draw we have landed .... particularly first five rounds. We must jag couple of wins during that period in order to stay competitive.
The only thing going for us is that early rounds usually produce few upsets .... so we have to bring solid on field performance and luck on our side.
It will be interesting that’s for sure. In past years we had expectations based on big 3 or 4 players ... who always disappointed. So what do we have to lose? 😛ray:

I think we’ll surprise a few people next year!
We have a very underrated team of players, players that have played origin and internationals.
Packer, Matulino ,McQueen, Reynolds, Lawrence, Marshall and Taylor have all been there at some stage.
I haven’t totally agreed with every signing made in 2017 but it is the best group of players I’ve seen in a while at concord.
I if we get a few early wins we could be in with a chance.

 

[gallagher]

It feels a bit like 2004 when Sheens turned up. No miracles were expected but it felt like things were finally on the up.

 

[Balmainian]

Yes it would be great to have power brokers like Politis and Bouris in our corner ….
But then again Top clubs don't give plodders like Tim Grant one year extensions in favour of the player ..

Top clubs don't sign nevilles like Pita Godinet .

We need to get smarter !

Actually hobbo if you look at the Roosters top 30 they have about 10 nevilles like Pita Godinet on minimum contracts. ..

That’s the thing with the roosters they have a great 17, But there depth is non existent IMO.
A few years ago(when Pearce had that Australia Day incident) they lost him, JWH and Cordner for half a season and came 2nd last.
If Anyone of their spine goes down for lengthy stint then who comes in?
There’s no decent Cronk/Keary/Freind backup and maybe latrell fills in for teddy but they won’t even make the eight if they have a few injuries early on.

Very few clubs will make the Top 8 if they have big name injuries early on

Cowboys did it last year , but in the majority clubs just can't cover injuries to marquee players

Yeah they did it because of the quality depth players they had!
Fielding a team to play in a Grandfinal after losing key men early in a season is Depth.
Penrith and Brisbane both had injury’s throughout the whole season but had recovered well with players from reserve grade.
When spend big on 5 or 6 players and a couple go down…..you’re in trouble.
Most teams that win a comp have depth.

 

[happy_tiger]

Actually hobbo if you look at the Roosters top 30 they have about 10 nevilles like Pita Godinet on minimum contracts. ..

That’s the thing with the roosters they have a great 17, But there depth is non existent IMO.
A few years ago(when Pearce had that Australia Day incident) they lost him, JWH and Cordner for half a season and came 2nd last.
If Anyone of their spine goes down for lengthy stint then who comes in?
There’s no decent Cronk/Keary/Freind backup and maybe latrell fills in for teddy but they won’t even make the eight if they have a few injuries early on.

Very few clubs will make the Top 8 if they have big name injuries early on

Cowboys did it last year , but in the majority clubs just can't cover injuries to marquee players

Yeah they did it because of the quality depth players they had!
Fielding a team to play in a Grandfinal after losing key men early in a season is Depth.
Penrith and Brisbane both had injury’s throughout the whole season but had recovered well with players from reserve grade.
When spend big on 5 or 6 players and a couple go down…..you’re in trouble.
Most teams that win a comp have depth.

Depth to a degree

Being able to transition players for the step up is the big thing

Something Green , Bellamy , Bennett seem to do very well

Very rare that a player from these clubs in debuts looks out of depth when they come into NRL

Also these clubs junior programs seem to be a mile ahead of others along with Penrith , Parra and Cronulla

Potential at these clubs seems to most times turn into talent and seasoned club footballers

Our potential players quite often seems to fall far short of the mark , compared to these clubs

We've had wins with players like Woods ,Tedesco ,Nofoaluma , Sue etc but how many ends up leaving or failing to make a mark

 

[Geo]

Most teams who win the comp use the least amount of players and have the bulk of their top 17 play week in week out..with their depth players playing the odd game or 4..

Not 22 weeks like Wests Tigers 13 depth players..

 

[Tiger_Watto]

We will kill it then… We have the best depth and bench players in the NRL

 

[Geo]

We will kill it then… We have the best depth and bench players in the NRL

that's what I said in another thread I'm surprised we are not Premiership favourites given the great depth in the forwards and backs we have..

 

[WestsBenTigers]

Manly have officially announced the signing of Joel Thompson…

 

[bp_tiger]

Manly have officially announced the signing of Joel Thompson…

THE NRL are a joke, manly breach the cap then sign a player like him.

 

[supercoach]

Manly have officially announced the signing of Joel Thompson…

Good to see Manly after being non compliant for five years while they put together a pretty good squad can now go and sign up a pretty good forward for 2018\. You have to love the NRL