: Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:13 am  

If what we read in the T&A article is true and Sam wants to play down under, then I for one won't hold that against him. I think there's two ways of looking at this;
Do we allow an NRL club to buy Sam, the artcle states that the Aussies would be unwilling to part with a large sum of cash, rather a player exchange, and as a result quota rules will be problem (which one player would you swap for Sam ?)
Or, do we hold on to Sam, delaying the enevitable, until his contract is up and we have no bargaining power, and Sam becoming more and more uneasy and wanting to leave.
I would like to see a descision which benefits the club, but unfortunately we won't know the result until well after which ever deal is done.

: Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:07 am  

There's nothing in the T&A story that's not been on here already.

Still don't quite get why he'd sign a contract then go back on it within months.

[Bullseye]

: Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:53 am  

Looking at the way Hape was playing in his final year with us there seemed little point in keeping him as he was obviously hankering to leave and not putting in anything like the effort he did beforehand. If we'd have dug our heels in and made him honour his contract we'd have been stuck with a player who was obviously under-performing. If he was unhappy then that mood could be poison in a dressing room.

I have no gripe about any of the players who have left being allowed to leave (apart from Peacock). My gripe is that the players who were brought in as their replacements were almost all of inferior quality.

: Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:57 am  

af wrote:

There's nothing in the T&A story that's not been on here already.

Still don't quite get why he'd sign a contract then go back on it within months.

Nail.

Head.

Unless there had been some major fallout, Sam was happy - obviously after a year to think about it, after full investigations, after full and doubtless extensive enquiries and discussions by his agent, to sign on the dotted line for us. Some people are talking as if it might have been a spur of the moment thing which he regrets, or ignoring the significance of the above.

Also I'd add his brothers (and other players) have joined the club as part of the general 'building for the future' of which same is a major, if not the major, part.

I don't know Sam personally, but given all the circumstances I'd be amazed if he was after reneging on his contract. A deal at the end of his contract, sure - why wouldn't a top young man want to test himself in the NRL, anyone can see that, sad though it would be for us.

: Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:12 am  

Well plenty of fans have decided that the club is going nowhere fast under the current coaching set-up in the last few months, it's not exactly impossible to think that a player might have come to the same conclusion.

: Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:33 am  

I doubt Burgess will leave immediately. When was the last time an NRL club paid a transfer fee for an English-based player? Wasn't Burgess signed up on a long-term deal recently?

I'm not sure if it is fair to label Bradford a 'selling club' now. Retaining the likes of Lynch shows that there is no long-term trend in this regard. More question marks remain over the degree of quality recruitment, however.

: Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:05 am  

Asim wrote:

Well plenty of fans have decided that the club is going nowhere fast under the current coaching set-up in the last few months, it's not exactly impossible to think that a player might have come to the same conclusion.

Maybe not impossible, but highly unlikely, given that he's had an 100% inside track on it all for some years.

: Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:44 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Maybe not impossible, but highly unlikely, given that he's had an 100% inside track on it all for some years.

Was it last season when Garreth Carvell signed a contract at Hull then the next day went back and decided he had made the wrong decision? He'd been there a few years too.

Everyone has a tipping point.

: Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:26 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Nail.

Head.

Unless there had been some major fallout, Sam was happy - obviously after a year to think about it, after full investigations, after full and doubtless extensive enquiries and discussions by his agent, to sign on the dotted line for us. Some people are talking as if it might have been a spur of the moment thing which he regrets, or ignoring the significance of the above.

Also I'd add his brothers (and other players) have joined the club as part of the general 'building for the future' of which same is a major, if not the major, part.

I don't know Sam personally, but given all the circumstances I'd be amazed if he was after reneging on his contract. A deal at the end of his contract, sure - why wouldn't a top young man want to test himself in the NRL, anyone can see that, sad though it would be for us.

I told you all the other week there had been well before all the rumours started.