The Tupou Effect ??? : Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:18 am
Right. So a bit back the Bulls sign one Tame Tupou from the Southern hemisphere and all is well. He arrives, plays abit and scores (If I remember correctly 10 tries in 11 games.) Then the lad gets a pretty serious knee injury, which lets face it; could happen to any professional player. So you would presume its the treatment table and rehab whilst Tame gets back to fitness....Instead he gets his P45?
Now im impartial on the whole Tupou issue and as much as I can see Bradfords as a clubs reasoning behind it (Or rather my percieved reasoning) I can't help but wonder whether this has had an effect on the squad??? Lets face it, professional RL players are pretty tough blokes. They put their body's on the line week in and week out and to see a collegue go out, play a game, get an unfortunate injury and then get his contract ripped up may leave them thinking "Hang about? That could be me?" Tame; if he is a well liked member of the squad may just have the players on side in his argument. Whilst this is irrelevant in the sense of the Bulls pay the players wages so the players will play for the bulls, surely it cannot be good to see a collegue, and possibly a friend "lose their job."
I appreciate Bradfords poor form and results aren't down to the fact Tame's contract has been ripped up. But im just wondering whether some of the players are thinking "One injury and 26 weeks down the line, that could be me gone for some cap space and salary cap?" What do we think? Is this likely to cause abit of friction or do we think the players will just accept it as part of Rugby League? As I said before Im unsure but just thought it was an interesting discussion point?
