As TVOC pointed out, Leeds can hardly take the moral high ground when we did exactly the same thing to Salford when Moon pulled to homesick card, only to sign with us.... At least Segeyaro is wanting to move back to Australia, and not 40 miles down the M62....
I know I'm in the minority, but I'm looking at this as a person.... He clearly wanted to be in Aus and only came to England as a last resort, he wanted to return to Aus but had no suitable options, so again, 8 weeks ago signed the only deal available to him as a last resort (and Leeds knew that was the case and rightly played on the NRL clause deadline to close the deal) - he's since received a better offer financially and gets to stay at home in the better climate, better competition and closer to his family and friends.... Why wouldn't he want to stay in Aus?
Yes the club have lost 8 weeks of potential recruitment time, but in the grand scheme of things, and with the lack of player movement in those 8 weeks, the club are not really that much worse off than if he'd not signed the deal 8 weeks ago... Just let him go - life is too short to force someone into doing something for 2 years that they don't want or have to do.... Let the bloke do what will make him happy and focus on moving forward as a club.
I know I'm in the minority, but I'm looking at this as a person.... He clearly wanted to be in Aus and only came to England as a last resort, he wanted to return to Aus but had no suitable options, so again, 8 weeks ago signed the only deal available to him as a last resort
Thing for me is that signing for Leeds wasn't his last option, if he missed home as badly as he said then he should've turned Leeds down knowing that he was unlikely to see out the 2 years or even come back at all and headed back to Australia. Yes he would be without a club originally and have to wait but so be it. Clearly playing and getting a nice wage was more important than his family and being home then.
He talked about the time in England maturing him as a person....well part of that involves taking responsibility for your actions, not begging for a get out of jail free card. And no one is expecting him to do the 2 years but he should do next year, 9 months over here when he's been given 3 months off season over there and knowing he can go back permanently at the end of it is hardly asking too much.
He's right on one point though, the club can decide at anytime when to let a player move on.....and they're saying now isn't that time so deal with it. Oh I forgot the guy likes to be outdoors and do things like fishing and camping......because obviously you can't do those things in Yorkshire.
Don't you know he likes to go fishing and camping and walks in the country, but thats just impossible living in Leeds... unless your prepared to drive a full 10 minutes!
I know I'm in the minority, but I'm looking at this as a person.... He clearly wanted to be in Aus and only came to England as a last resort, he wanted to return to Aus but had no suitable options, so again, 8 weeks ago signed the only deal available to him as a last resort
Thing for me is that signing for Leeds wasn't his last option, if he missed home as badly as he said then he should've turned Leeds down knowing that he was unlikely to see out the 2 years or even come back at all and headed back to Australia. Yes he would be without a club originally and have to wait but so be it. Clearly playing and getting a nice wage was more important than his family and being home then.
He talked about the time in England maturing him as a person....well part of that involves taking responsibility for your actions, not begging for a get out of jail free card. And no one is expecting him to do the 2 years but he should do next year, 9 months over here when he's been given 3 months off season over there and knowing he can go back permanently at the end of it is hardly asking too much.
But in reality, he was hardly going to make himself unemployed when he had an offer from Leeds on the table - there's not many people of his age that would take that risk of turning down a very well paid job to sit at home and hope something else came up.... he took what was the right option at that time, despite it being a big lifestyle change - Just 8 weeks later he's got a much better offer and opportunity that means he doesn't have to move to the other side of the world - of course he wants that instead, and whilst it's a bit of a dirty trick to pull on Leeds, it's not the end of the world and only puts them 8 weeks behind where they would have been anyway had the Sharks been able to make the offer earlier. It's would have been different if he was in the middle of a contract or mid-season, but it's not.
Leeds should just suck it up and move on from it. Being seen to be so understanding might help with future recruitment (though I accept it might also look a little weak). But in reality, Leeds can't 'win' from this situation - he doesn't want to be here and will resent being made to come over, a large fee will not be forthcoming and there is no replacement of a similar standard available (and wouldn't have been if he'd rejected the offer back in September either). So all the club can do is focus on how they move forward without him as the planned number 9.
No doubt they should enter discussions with the Sharks about some form of recompense, but don't come out all guns blazing in the press denying him a release and all the rest of it - get a deal done S swiftly as possible and move on.... There's no benefit in entering into some sort of battle.
But in reality, he was hardly going to make himself unemployed when he had an offer from Leeds on the table - there's not many people of his age that would take that risk of turning down a very well paid job to sit at home and hope something else came up.... he took what was the right option at that time, despite it being a big lifestyle change - Just 8 weeks later he's got a much better offer and opportunity that means he doesn't have to move to the other side of the world - of course he wants that instead, and whilst it's a bit of a dirty trick to pull on Leeds, it's not the end of the world and only puts them 8 weeks behind where they would have been anyway had the Sharks been able to make the offer earlier. It's would have been different if he was in the middle of a contract or mid-season, but it's not.
Leeds should just suck it up and move on from it. Being seen to be so understanding might help with future recruitment (though I accept it might also look a little weak). But in reality, Leeds can't 'win' from this situation - he doesn't want to be here and will resent being made to come over, a large fee will not be forthcoming and there is no replacement of a similar standard available (and wouldn't have been if he'd rejected the offer back in September either). So all the club can do is focus on how they move forward without him as the planned number 9.
No doubt they should enter discussions with the Sharks about some form of recompense, but don't come out all guns blazing in the press denying him a release and all the rest of it - get a deal done S swiftly as possible and move on.... There's no benefit in entering into some sort of battle.
Leeds can win a proper transfer fee and not just let him go for nothing because it prevents an awkward situation.
At the end of the day he's a contracted player, if a team wants a contracted player they pay a fee. Cronulla want to try and get away without paying one, it's that simple and just letting him go for nothing won't make us look understanding it'll make us look weak.
If he still had no offers from the NRL then he'd come back to Leeds, so that's exactly why we should ignore this homesickness BS and treat it for what it is, a player wanting to move clubs. If Watkins said tomorrow that he wants to join Warrington then should we just let him go for nothing? No not at all.
There's only one team likely to stop Segeyaro from joining Cronulla and that's Cronulla if they don't decide to pay for him.
Don't you know he likes to go fishing and camping and walks in the country, but thats just impossible living in Leeds... unless your prepared to drive a full 10 minutes!
Not in a pair of shorts and a T-Shirt though. Even in what laughably calls itself summer in Yorkshire.
Apparently going back to Cronulla in 2018. Looking for an SL club for 2017. Could be 'encouraged' to go to leeds in exchange for Segeyaro
Would be a bit of a risk, hoping you get the sharks/bulldogs version of Barba, not the one the Broncos got. Not to mention a kick in the teeth for young Golding.
