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*Official* 2007 NRL Thread

steds

steds

Hall of Fame Member
BoyBrumby said:
From the Beeb:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/warrington/6286982.stm

He really must've been offered a whole wheelbarrow full of money as at his age he should be just approaching his peak and he's a regular for Origin & Tests which will (presumably) go by-the-by for him now.
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On a vaguely related note, he doesn't know what continent he's moving to.

Matt King said:
I really am excited about getting over there. Europe's an hour train ride apparently from London.
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howardj

howardj

International Coach
Lockyer was injured last night, I hear. When you think about it, like Alfie Langer, Lockyer doesn't really seem to sustain many injuries that sideline him for long periods. Certainly no season-ending injuries.
 
Craig

Craig

World Traveller
howardj said:
Lockyer was injured last night, I hear. When you think about it, like Alfie Langer, Lockyer doesn't really seem to sustain many injuries that sideline him for long periods. Certainly no season-ending injuries.
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That isn't the case now.

Lockyer is gone for 6-9 months.
 
Dr_Brad

Dr_Brad

Banned
Mark Gasnier could becoming back this week


What do all you guys think of Matt King signing to Warrington for $600 000?
imo he already played for the best club in the world (Melbourne)

England are stealing our players does this call for a salary cap rise in the NRL
 
howardj

howardj

International Coach
Dr_Brad said:
Mark Gasnier could becoming back this week


What do all you guys think of Matt King signing to Warrington for $600 000?
imo he already played for the best club in the world (Melbourne)

England are stealing our players does this call for a salary cap rise in the NRL
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Mate, it's becoming a real concern. Players like Barrett, Berrigan, King, Carlaw, Gower, Mogg, Hill, Gidley, Flannery, Morrison, Phil Bailey, Brent Webb, Pat Richards, Moule etc are all top shelf players (most of whom have played representative football) who have at least a few years left in them. These guys are not in the last year of their careers - they are bluechip players who the NRL cannot afford to keep losing.

I support the salary cap in the sense that it saves the clubs from themselves - you don't want the embarrassment of clubs going broke, or having one or two superpowers who dominate year after year. However, you still must take action to avoid the player drain that's currently besetting the NRL.

For mine, the solution is to not count personal sponsorship by club sponsors towards the salary cap. In cricket for instance, the mobile company "3" sponsors the Test team and they also are a personal sponsor of Adam Gilchrist - and he is paid handsomely by the company for that sponsorship.

If the same situation existed in the NRL (say if Gatorade, one of the Bulldogs sponsors, wanted to pay Sonny Bill as part of a personal sponsorship) then this is counted towards the salary cap. It's crazy. Personal sponsorships like that are a way of boosting the pay packets of top players (and therefore keeping them here in Australia) and they come at no cost to the clubs. It doesn't increase the chance of a club going broke, as the club is not paying out that extra cash. Rather, the sponsor is.

The point is that the NRL has to think laterally with some sort of a scheme like that - which doesn't increase the chances of a club going broke, but does boost the income of our bluechip players who are currently finding that the gap between salaries in Australia and the UK is so big that playing here is not worth their while.

I mean, if you're Matt King (who was a garbo five years ago) why on earth would you turn down $650 000 and take the $350 000 - $400 000 here in Australia? The best players, as we are already seeing, are not going to keep walking away from an extra $200 000 - $300 000 per year.

If Gallop doesn't act soon we risk, in a few years time, becoming merely a feeder competition to the English Super League. We'll be like the A League - all the best players will be playing overseas.
 
chaminda_00

chaminda_00

Hall of Fame Member
Third party deals already exisit outside the salary. You would be surprised at how many different ways clubs can now stay under the salary and pay their top players more money. You have the option of 3rd party deals and marquee players these days, but problem comes that these options only allow you to fit your top 3-4 players under the cap.

All the players you mentioned above would be in the top 10 players at there clubs, about 5-10. It would take a pretty signifcant increase in the salary cap to be able to offer the amount of money to keep them in Australia. 4th, 5th or 6th party deals might help, but it would result in a couple clubs with a lot of corporate backing getting all the players on the market. The NRL will just become like the EPL, with only the rich clubs fighting for the title.

End of day the clubs could have kept most of those players if they didn't spend majority of their caps on 2-3 top players.
 
steds

steds

Hall of Fame Member
howardj said:
the gap between salaries in Australia and the UK is so big that playing here is not worth their while.
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Can't see how that is possible, yet people keep saying it. The salary cap over here this year is £1.7 million. Next year it's £1.5 million, which is $3,513,312. The NRL website says the cap for 2006 was $3.366m, which I'm assuming hasn't changed since it hasn't been updated. That's a marginal difference when you're talking about how much top players earn.
Seems pretty obvious to me, but for a club to pay Matt King $600k on top of the salaries of Monaghan, Morley, Rauhihi, Gleeson and Briers, they're either going over the salary cap or paying their other players peanuts. And if King's case isn't isolated, if at extreme end, the British players throughout the league must be getting screwed. Either that or the UK as a country offers something that Australia doesn't.
 
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steds

steds

Hall of Fame Member
chaminda_00 said:
I thought the cap in England was based on your expenditure, not just a base cap.
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In theory, it's 50% of the club's income with an absolute maximum amount. But with the money Sky pays for the television rights and the way that all the money made from the playoffs (I think. Might just be Grand Final) is shared between all the clubs, I don't think any of the clubs realistically can't reach the max cap.
 
chaminda_00

chaminda_00

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah El Masri broke it and took it near 50, i think someone else might have taken over at No 2 as well. Or maybe that was El Masri with 1 and 2 spots. Wouldn't surprise me.
 
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