: Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:47 am  

the thing about warrington is they have a person in charge worth hundreds of millions and signing on or off fees do not come under cap.i would imagine king got a lump to come and a lump when his contract is up wired to his bank on his way home mid air tax free

: Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:03 pm  

Stormin' Robin wrote:

I agree, BUT WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING TO COME FROM????

Sydney clubs are struggling with the new pokie tax. Parra, Wests, Canterbury even Penrith with their hundred million dollar Leagues club turnover are crying poor. St George couldn't come up with a third party sponsor to pay 100K a year to keep Gasnier. Even your Sea Eagles are tight for cash and Max pays plenty for them.

We do not have billionaires falling over themselves to give out money hand over fist. Rusty paid 3 million for 75% of the Bunnies with the fan's approval - so the Rabbits fans only think their club is worth 4 million.

I don't know what the answer is, but open slather isn't it. Open the cheque books, and we'll have a four team comp in next to no time.

Clubs like Brisbane, Storm, Titans, Cowboys and Warriors are currently in a good position. Unfortunately Sydney clubs have been struggling prior to poker tax, but now in a worse position due to this tax. Eventually the Sydney teams will have no choice, but to merge to survive. This may be a bad thing in the short term, but would be healthy for the game in the long term.
Currently sponsors associated to the club are restricted in paying players. Only 3rd party sponsors not associated to the club can sponsor players. Why would a 3rd parties not associated to the club want to sponsor players? This restriction needs to be lifted to allow sponsors associated to clubs to also sponsor players.
The answer is no more salary cap and let the teams pay what they can afford. Successful teams will find ways to bring in the money.
Its worked for soccer and now working for rugby. Why not go for it with RL?

: Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:33 pm  

BrisbaneRhino wrote: You've got Sydney clubs struggling to survive. Nothing new here. In the main Sydney clubs always have struggled for $ and always will until the League stop protecting them and let the weak die a natural death. BrisbaneRhino wrote: I suggest you're hopelessly exaggerrating to suggest that new 'stars' can be manufactured that easily. Not really. SBW is a perfect example of how a favourable media relationship contributes greatly to your 'stardom' BrisbaneRhino wrote: Citing the following as 'stars' is exactly my point: <snip>... Smith - Cameron? A hooker as celebrity. Hmm. No. Next please. ...<snip> Of course they are all stars. Surely you don't expect all to have the profile of a Lockyer?? As for corporate pulling power, I'd much rather have a bloke like Petro or Price associated with my brand than a SBW. Cameron Smith is arguably the world's best in his position, a Premiership winning captain, Origin winning captain and incumbent National captain. But in your eyes not a Star?? I'm fascinated to hear about your criteria for determining our game's role models / stars?? I loved this angle as well http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/07/28/Surely_rugby_league_is_better_than_Sonny_Bill

BrisbaneRhino wrote: You've got Sydney clubs struggling to survive. Nothing new here. In the main Sydney clubs always have struggled for $ and always will until the League stop protecting them and let the weak die a natural death. BrisbaneRhino wrote: I suggest you're hopelessly exaggerrating to suggest that new 'stars' can be manufactured that easily. Not really. SBW is a perfect example of how a favourable media relationship contributes greatly to your 'stardom' BrisbaneRhino wrote: Citing the following as 'stars' is exactly my point: <snip>... Smith - Cameron? A hooker as celebrity. Hmm. No. Next please. ...<snip> Of course they are all stars. Surely you don't expect all to have the profile of a Lockyer?? As for corporate pulling power, I'd much rather have a bloke like Petro or Price associated with my brand than a SBW. Cameron Smith is arguably the world's best in his position, a Premiership winning captain, Origin winning captain and incumbent National captain. But in your eyes not a Star?? I'm fascinated to hear about your criteria for determining our game's role models / stars?? I loved this angle as well http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/07/28/Surely_rugby_league_is_better_than_Sonny_Bill

: Tue Jul 29, 2008 3:48 pm  

I have to agree Price and Smith are stars, don't know how he could consider Cameron Smith anything other but some of the others aren't. Nooo way near.

: Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:51 am  

cornerposter - I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume you're being naive.

When I'm talking about 'stars' I'm talking about the players everyone has heard of - ESPECIALLY not hard core fans of the sport. None of the names you gave would be well known to anyone outside of league. Gasnier, SBW, Mason, Marshall are names that are well known.

If you don't know the difference, imagine trying to sell these players to sponsors, who would make decisions based on the value of the player to their brand, not whether they're actually any good on the field.

Still, you and the NRL can continue to stick your head in the sand about this, but some of the stuff we're seeing from club bosses smacks more of waving the white flag than doing anything positive.

: Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:48 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

When I'm talking about 'stars' I'm talking about the players everyone has heard of - ESPECIALLY not hard core fans of the sport.

In that case you're not talking about stars of the game at all. You're simply referring to the media whores with reputations built on notoriety.
C'mon are you serious? What company would want to tie it's brand with players who screw scrags in toilets, get shot at while out on the grog, pee on others, harass / assault women, associate themselves with criminals etc etc etc.

Good ridance SBW, Gasnier, Gower, Tim Smith, Carney and hopefully Willie Mason. It's no wonder the game struggles to grow the Corporate $. What company in their right mind would want to associate their Corporate Culture with players such as the 6 mentioned above?
The true stars of RL are simply the type of players that would win a good old fashion 'Best and Fairest Award'. And I haven't seen too many of them leave our game.

: Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:25 am  

nice to see toulon saying he's not getting more than his doggies contract

: Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:52 pm  

"It is disappointing," he said. "We'd have thought that they would have an obligation to conduct some inquiry, given they are the governing body of rugby union worldwide. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... 66,00.html

"It is disappointing," he said. "We'd have thought that they would have an obligation to conduct some inquiry, given they are the governing body of rugby union worldwide. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... 66,00.html

: Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:07 pm  

fredie wrote: "It is disappointing," he said. "We'd have thought that they would have an obligation to conduct some inquiry, given they are the governing body of rugby union worldwide. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... 66,00.html Who does Gallop think he is kidding? The people he'll want to talk to are the French governing body, who will register SBW to play in their league. Failing that try talking to the French club themselves, to talk them out of it, if Canterbury are still threatening legal action. Having said that, who am I kidding if I think he'll be smart enough to do that.

fredie wrote: "It is disappointing," he said. "We'd have thought that they would have an obligation to conduct some inquiry, given they are the governing body of rugby union worldwide. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... 66,00.html Who does Gallop think he is kidding? The people he'll want to talk to are the French governing body, who will register SBW to play in their league. Failing that try talking to the French club themselves, to talk them out of it, if Canterbury are still threatening legal action. Having said that, who am I kidding if I think he'll be smart enough to do that.

: Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:17 pm  

A private investigator working for the NRL and the Canterbury Bulldogs will stakeout Sydney airport in a bid to intercept the manager of runaway rugby league star Sonny Bill Williams, and serve him with a subpoena http://rugbyleaguelive.com.au/Articles/ ... asser.aspx

A private investigator working for the NRL and the Canterbury Bulldogs will stakeout Sydney airport in a bid to intercept the manager of runaway rugby league star Sonny Bill Williams, and serve him with a subpoena http://rugbyleaguelive.com.au/Articles/ ... asser.aspx