jimlav wrote:
those people saying things such as 'smith is a massive step down' dont blame the club. what are the club suppose to do when the SC is staying at the same level year after year.
each year the SC stays at this level the purchasing power of the SC goes down. 5 years ago we had the same SC, yet the general price level has risen, making the salary cap effectively lower. players are not interested in how many £'s they make, its what those £'s can get them, and the simple fact is those £'s can get you a lot less than they could 5 or 10 years ago.
I agree with what you are saying but our club doesn't exist in isolation and when you see the kind of squad Wire assemble under the same rules people will be very frustrated if for example Finch is allowed to leave when at the same time we no longer have to pay for players such as Roberts, TL and Lima.
That frees up a huge wadge of money. Some will say the club sticking to its guns and only say offering a two year deal or a certain level of wages is the right way to do business but if that means he leaves and we drop out of contention for a couple of seasons as a result what is the point?
We also got lucky having close links with Melbourne when it all went wrong for them, we got players like Finch and Hoffman who would have never come to a SL club other wise. if people want to replace players like Finch and Tommy with players of equal quality the SC must rise with inflation (at minimum) or preferably higher to show we are growing as a sport, then we will get the better quality players coming over.
Given who is leaving we should easily be in a position to retain Finch. The only reason we should not retain him is if he decides he wants to leave but if that is because the club won't meet his demands which I doubt will be outrageous it's a rather hollow victory for prudence.
For the record, I think smith could be a very good signing. he shows potential in a poor Salford squad, and put him with our coaches, and in our system and I think he could flourish.
He's not as good as TL or Finch by some distance and to lose both with him as replacement is no cause for optimism. It is bad business to end up in that position IMO.
