The Football (all sorts) Thread

[jacksplatt11]

Haha yeah I know what you mean Fungal, it's pretty disappointing. I'd hate to see him have to come back and play for another team, and I'm pretty sure he wants to play in the super league too. I'm pretty sure I saw a picture of you in a Storm shirt sometime so sorta put two and two together I'm guessing you heard about Will Chambers going to Union? Don't really know what to think about that one, he was only 20 and was injured most of last year so it's not like he was an integral part, but on the other hand he was a player for the future, guess we'll never know now...

[Fungal Infection]

Its a shame we never really saw Will Chambers play a proper first grade game for the Storm - I've read all the stuff about how he was a rising star and all but you can never tell unless you put him in a game against a decent team with decent team mates rather than as a substitute because 3/4 of the team are on origin duties. But when you consider the Storm still have to make Slater an offer to retain his services, its unavoidable. I think the salary cap needs to be changed - you have so many key players making the move overseas to play super league or union because the pay is better. Case in point - Mark Gasnier. Now, I'm no fan of Gasnier (I consider him very average for what he does in proportion to his pay) but he was the face of the World Cup last year and he ended up turning to union. How does that make the ARL look? Now you're going to have the naysayers who say increasing the cap will make the good teams better and the lesser funded teams playing further catchup. What about adding a "luxury tax"? In the NBA, teams are allowed to exceed the cap, however, they are heavily punished financially for doing so. So say the cap is $5 mil - a team exceeds this by say $100k, the ARL punishes the team by "taxing" them the equivalent amount which gets spread to the other teams which are not exceeding the cap. That way, lesser funded teams get more money to sign players whilst at the same time, acts as a deterrent to overspend. Good idea methinks and I reckon David Gallop should give me a call so I can discuss a move to the ARL payroll office.

[dirge]

I'm not surprised that Crocker has been denied a visa - he's run foul of the law quite a few times.

Eastwood's not an Aussie, FWIW. He's the pastiest Kiwi in League...

[jacksplatt11]

I'm not surprised that Crocker has been denied a visa - he's run foul of the law quite a few times.

Eastwood's not an Aussie, FWIW. He's the pastiest Kiwi in League...

D'oh, ya I just remembered What I meant was, those playing in the NRL, you know what I mean

That is a good idea Fungal, I have friends that are into NBA that have mentioned that system before, could be worth a look at

[i_amtrunks]

The NBA System works great, the Lakers subsidise almost every other team in the league!

Great to see that Bird is not allowed to play in the NSW cup, now if only Gallen could get turfed, we could get rid of two of the games biggest grubs in one hit.

[dirge]

Another way they could look at salary cap exemptions is some sort of loyalty bonus. For example, 10% of a player's salary is excluded from cap calculations for 5 years of service to the club, and 5% more excluded every extra year after that. Aside from the fact that this protects the more established stars, it also serves to encourage player loyalty and provides an incentive for clubs to develop players rather than buy talent without developing any. Some clubs (Raiders, Panthers, formerly Illawarra) develop a bunch of players without any real reward when other clubs buy players without doing much development (Easts mainly, Parramatta to an extent and Melbourne - but they have an excuse to be fair).

The exact numbers and criteria could be thrashed out, but I think this would be a postive way to encourage players to stay loyal to both the code and the league.

The NBA's luxury tax works well, but the big difference is that the salary cap there isn't set up to protect teams from themselves. Even a franchise such as the Clippers or the Thunder aren't in any real danger of collapsing from overspending, as has happened in league (Manly - saved themselves by canibalising Norths, South Qld, Auckland, Gold Coast Seagulls).

[i_amtrunks]

Another way they could look at salary cap exemptions is some sort of loyalty bonus. For example, 10% of a player's salary is excluded from cap calculations for 5 years of service to the club, and 5% more excluded every extra year after that.

It has been raised a few times, and I personally do not see why it would be a bad idea, it encourages a one club player, and those players become a boost to club and fans. I like the setup of your system, 5% every year past 5 years is a good increase, as players barely play for more than 10 years anyway. (at least on the good money).

Aside from the fact that this protects the more established stars, it also serves to encourage player loyalty and provides an incentive for clubs to develop players rather than buy talent without developing any. Some clubs (Raiders, Panthers, formerly Illawarra) develop a bunch of players without any real reward when other clubs buy players without doing much development (Easts mainly, Parramatta to an extent and Melbourne - but they have an excuse to be fair).

I too love this idea, as I am sick of seeing Newcastle, Penrith and Wollongong juniors nabbed by Easts and Manly. Parramatta have a great junior system, but they prefer teams like the dogs and Cronulla to buy them young, train them up, and then Parra buys them back. Melbourne technically have their junior system in South East Queensland.

However it'll never happen as then what would Easts, Manly (and to lesser extents) Cronulla, the Dogs (both not going to last much longer) and Souths do, since they have the smaller or in Easts case, non-existant junior leagues.
And if it won't benefit Easts, then no matter how good for the game it is, it won't happen.

Anyone follow the Benji Marshall saga this week? I understand football players need to earn as much as possible in the 10 years of their careers, but when they are already saying they play too much, it's too contradictory to then want to play Union in Japan during the off-season.

[dirge]

I too love this idea, as I am sick of seeing Newcastle, Penrith and Wollongong juniors nabbed by Easts and Manly. Parramatta have a great junior system, but they prefer teams like the dogs and Cronulla to buy them young, train them up, and then Parra buys them back. Melbourne technically have their junior system in South East Queensland.

Cronulla _have_ their junior system, but under Chris Anderson they started to neglect it. Which is to their own peril, really.

However it'll never happen as then what would Easts, Manly (and to lesser extents) Cronulla, the Dogs (both not going to last much longer) and Souths do, since they have the smaller or in Easts case, non-existant junior leagues.
And if it won't benefit Easts, then no matter how good for the game it is, it won't happen.

It's not so much about smaller junior bases - Souths produce enough players in their small pond, as do Cronulla (generally), rather about focusing on them. Easts could/should find another way to develop their juniors, say by tying up a deal with certain country leagues or whatever, but can't be bothered. Parramatta prefer to sign more established players, and Cronulla have gone down that path recently as well.

Anyone follow the Benji Marshall saga this week? I understand football players need to earn as much as possible in the 10 years of their careers, but when they are already saying they play too much, it's too contradictory to then want to play Union in Japan during the off-season.

You've got a valid point, but what's of more concern is that the NRL is fixating on this.

Rugby League's greatest challenge is staying relevant against the onslaught of Football's growing popularity. It shouldn't concern itself so much about losing players to Rugby - another sport which will never be more than a niche sport (on the grand scale) and instead try to do something about the falling junior numbers. Juniors abandoning League for Football now means those same juniors are lost as fans of the game in 10-15 years. If the NRL has 20-30% less fans down the track, it'll be in big trouble. And it'll be too late to fix it then.

[Bartrim]

I'm trying to ignore the Benji saga. I enjoy watching league to watch league I don't try to worry about the off field dramas... Now back onto sport.

It was great to see the Super 14 season kickoff with a vicotry for my team (The Lions... bet that surprised a few of you, hey I love the underdog) I like the ELVs but as a back that is expected as it makes the game more free flowing. The Lions played really well against the cheetahs. They have a great back row especially with the introduction of Clever. Grobblear led really well and Jano Veermak controlled the backline like an experienced Springbok. Earl Rose played better then I expected and Louis Luddik defended really well at fullback. I like the centre pair of Doppies La Grange and Jacuies Fourie and Willemese was superb in his comeback to southern hemisphere rugby.

My only dissapointments were that they let the Cheetahs back into the game by trying to play the clock the down. Hope the rectify that against the sharks and Andre Pretorious wasn't as sharp but he hasn't played in a year and a bit so I'll forgive him.

[i_amtrunks]

enjoy the super 14 while you can, not long before the South African teams pull out to play in a european league so they can finally win.

Means Australia and New Zealand will soon be playing against Argentina and Japan based squads.