Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

[Pascoes_barber]

Bro you and your cronies started it all lol
made every forum on the net believe it!

The only leaks have come out of Penrith.
Unreal what we've managed in a few weeks

No, I took the bait as well... I was distracted by a seriously fantastic sandwich I'd made.

 

[Tom Shines]

No, I took the bait as well... I was distracted by a seriously fantastic sandwich I'd made.

Looking at your avatar …What exactly are you doing to that sandwich to be so distracted?

 

[851]

Yeah...Pendi beach

Pondi actually

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Pondi actually

I drove past it the other night actually. And that’s exactly what it is. No waves in sight.

 

[hank37w]

Been plenty of waves out at Penriff Park lately.

 

[twentyforty]

I don’t really understand the 3rd party agreements, how much are each team allowed to use? Just seems like a waste of time having a salary cap if people are suggesting over $300k of Luai’s contract would be TPA?
Also why wouldn’t Panthers just offer him that much in TPA for him to stay?

(Sorry if dumb questions lol)

Not a dumb question at all. I’m trying to understand how the 10 day last right of negotiation needs to run 14 days? 😂
Anyway, these 3rd party deals have nothing to do with the club (apparently). If you we’re totally arms length from the club and wanted a player to promote your business without wearing the club logo, then you could pay him anything you like, the sky is the limit.

 

[hank37w]

I just worry about these so called independent 3rd party agreements and worry that something happens and they fall over or the NRL decide that it is not at arms length and independent and then disallow it etc.

To me they seem like a really dodgy grey area.

 

[88]

We seem to be assuming that whatever Luai is being paid is coming off the cap entirely.

It has been suggested that there is a component of TPA and I've seen $350k mentioned more than once.

If, for argument sake, the offer to Luai was $850k off the cap and $350k TPA, totaling $1.2m pa, would you still have reservations about the offer ?

That scenario would be a fantastic deal for the Tigers in terms of salary cap hit. Would be surprised the Panthers couldn’t offer something similar though with TPDs if they can afford $850k on their cap and keep him though.

Not sure why people would complain about the Luai deal. Pretty accepted on here that the majority of people on the forum have been whinging about the level of our halves for years now. The club has (rightly in my opinion) targeted every elite half that has been on the market (Munster, Moses, Luai). From memory they offered the first 2 even more money (up to $1.4M) and Munster’s offer was before the salary cap increase was confirmed.

I know we haven’t been able to land one of the elite halves as yet but you can’t blame the club for trying when it’s been one of the most talked about deficiencies of our list.

And they’ve also signed a steady veteran (Sezer), and some young halves with very high ceilings (Sullivan and Fainu). Not saying they will make it but you’ve always got to take a punt on young talent. Also got in our system Galvin and Large.

Given what is available and our recent struggles to sign elite ready to go halves, I’d say Luai is a no brainer if we can get him. Great age to mentor the young brigade (with Sezer the stop gap for that in the meantime). And like most bottom sides you need the circuit breaker to start attracting other high end talent.

More upside than downside I’d say and $1.2M for you marquee player is not unreasonable.

 

[gregjm87]

I don’t really understand the 3rd party agreements, how much are each team allowed to use? Just seems like a waste of time having a salary cap if people are suggesting over $300k of Luai’s contract would be TPA?
Also why wouldn’t Panthers just offer him that much in TPA for him to stay?

(Sorry if dumb questions lol)

There is no limit to 3rd party deals, but it is incredibly unlikely Luai would be getting 300k worth. Based on reported 3rd party figures* most clubs wouldn't get that many for their whole team.
*the reported figured would only consider the declared ones. I'd expect most clubs have a few illegal 3rd party deals as well.

 

[Fingers83]

The highest amount of third party deals in history was the Melbourne Storm, which equated to $1 million in 2019. Cronk, Smith and Slater benefitted from those.

Now the total amount of TPA's at any club is around $400k.

I highly doubt Jarome Luai is going to be given $300k in a TPA for himself.

As of last year, Wests Tigers had 0 TPA's.

The top 10 players in the NRL take up about 40% of the TPA market.

 

[Tom Shines]

The highest amount of third party deals in history was the Melbourne Storm, which equated to $1 million in 2019. Cronk, Smith and Slater benefitted from those.

Now the total amount of TPA's at any club is around $400k.

I highly doubt Jarome Luai is going to be given $300k in a TPA for himself.

As of last year, Wests Tigers had 0 TPA's.

The top 10 players in the NRL take up about 40% of the TPA market.

This might be true… but didn’t Harry T from Meriton say recently that he would consider third party arrangements to help out the Tigers ? it was subject apparently to him “meeting” with the player first …

I would assume he could afford to throw JL $300k a year if he wanted ..

 

[Tiger_claws]

When I was younger I had a friend who lived in Whalan. Every night she’d sit out on her veranda and call me when all her neighbours would set off on each other. Good times.

Good old Whalan. My brother played footy for them. The area was such a strong league area. So many clubs with brilliant players. Great memories

 

[Fingers83]

This might be true… but didn’t Harry T from Meriton say recently that he would consider third party arrangements to help out the Tigers ? it was subject apparently to him “meeting” with the player first …

I would assume he could afford to throw JL $300k a year if he wanted ..

I am sure the NRL has rules in place to stop this kind of significant money being thrown around though.

 

[KH1988]

Welsby extends at St Helens till end of 2027

’Generational talent’ knocks back interest from Dragons to extend stay in Super League

Another blow for Dragons as ‘generational talent’ snubs NRL with big career call

www.foxsports.com.au

 

[gregjm87]

I am sure the NRL has rules in place to stop this kind of significant money being thrown around though.

Not really. The player would have to do something beyond sign to earn that money e.g. commercial, guest appearances. The business providing the money can not be directly affiliated with the club e.g. an existing sponsor, club employee, board member.

 

[Tom Shines]

I am sure the NRL has rules in place to stop this kind of significant money being thrown around though.

From what I can see… there is no limit on the amount…provided the Club did not “source the agreement with the third party” … which could be an issue… but how could he have had time on his own to sort out any deal already ?

NRL Unpacked: How does the salary cap work?

A deep-dive into the NRL's rigorous salary cap process, why the cap exists, how it works and how it's managed across the game.

www.nrl.com

 

[PrattenParkMagpie]

Don't know if you're joking or serious bro lol

Very serious, have lived at Mt Druitt for 46 years and I can assure you there are many worse places around Sydney. Every suburb, even the affluent ones who think their shite don't stink have a degree of effluent residing there.

Got to see many different parts of Sydney at all different hours of the day and night during my working life and got to see that most regions had their own group of deadbeats, druggies and wannabe gangsters.

 

[Needaname]

From what I can see… there is no limit on the amount…provided the Club did not “source the agreement with the third party” … which could be an issue… but how could he have had time on his own to sort out any deal already ?

NRL Unpacked: How does the salary cap work?

A deep-dive into the NRL's rigorous salary cap process, why the cap exists, how it works and how it's managed across the game.

www.nrl.com

The club sets up the manager with an interested party.
That’s how they are done.
Richo goes on to explain getting the Inglis deal over the line on that podcast with James Graham.

 

[weststigers]

I still have to be one of those people, so I'll say it now (in advance of any possibility that the deal doesn't go through), but I'm not all in on Luai myself.

I like the guy but I think you can do more with the $1M+ he is being offered. I do recognise that we are rock bottom and need a "win", and that a marquee signing can be the tentpole for bigger and better things, just that I've never been a particular Luai fan, especially as the primary half. I would have preferred someone like Dearden.

Valid point and my response is aimed generally because a few hold the same opinion, but the flip side is this...let's say we are overpaying for Luai by $300k.

Is that so bad in a key position when we have our second half on a moderate contract, Nofa on $500k and Doueihi on $600k? Once these contracts expire and we replace with better value players, that whole equation is back in line. Some teams have over $2 million wrapped up in their first string halves. Penrith, Parra and Manly come to mind.

If I had to nit pick the deal it would be the length and whether or not there are ratchet clauses in there. But as you pointed out, we are without a marquee half and there's not that many available. There's a few old halves running around that will retire soon also, so that will just make it even harder to jag someone that's considered marquee. Amone being de-registered has an impact also.

There's a lot of opinion about what Luke Brooks was being paid, but would we say that we would get more value out of Luai than Brooks? As it stands, I'd think so. What would we have had to pay Deardon to get him to move to Sydney? We just don't know.

 

[hammertime]

It would be very hard to get money for a 3rd party deal, with no ties to the club, without some benefit to the entity.

For example, harry uses them for meriton promotion. My old man used to help the knights and get them down in the car lot to have a special sales day.