[Confirmed] Ben Barba signs with Cronulla

[Super Freak]

So, Barba going to the Sharks.

Steve Mortimer will be absolutely livid :lol:

 

[theshed]

We had serious cap issues with a team that struggled to make the 8. The club needed a clean out and Bennet has done that. I respect the decisions he's made.

I was as if not more excited then anyone about Barba coming but if it's true how much we were going to pay him, he wasn't worth the risk.

I think we have a very exciting roster this coming season and it's much improved on what we've had in recent years

(Hoffman at 5/8 - a spine of Wallace, prince, and Norman - Kennedy as our marquee prop)

Those complaining shouldn't see it as 1 for 1 Boyd for Barba swap.

We have replaced Hoffman and Barba with Milford, Boyd, and salary cap space. I find it hard to believe people don't see this as a massive win for our club.

We are still short one top of the range prop but our forwards weren't doing there job last season and we have cap space, if not this coming season than the next.

 

[Huge]

We had serious cap issues with a team that struggled to make the 8. The club needed a clean out and Bennet has done that. I respect the decisions he's made.

I was as if not more excited then anyone about Barba coming but if it's true how much we were going to pay him, he wasn't worth the risk.

I think we have a very exciting roster this coming season and it's much improved on what we've had in recent years

(Hoffman at 5/8 - a spine of Wallace, prince, and Norman - Kennedy as our marquee prop)

Those complaining shouldn't see it as 1 for 1 Boyd for Barba swap.

We have replaced Hoffman and Barba with Milford, Boyd, and salary cap space. I find it hard to believe people don't see this as a massive win for our club.

We are still short one top of the range prop but our forwards weren't doing there job last season and we have cap space, if not this coming season than the next.

This is spot on

 

[Dazza 92]

Good luck to Ben, i hope you find your niche down in the Sutherland Shire....i wonder privately though if we kept the right Barba though..?

Clearly this was a business decision, it does provide real breathing room under the salary cap, which means Bennett and the board must be seeing eye to eye not only for this season but also next..

I see us having a even busier end of 2014/start of 2015 in terms of recruitment then....

 

[Mr Fourex]

Yes, I thought that as well. We took over Barba's last 2 years of contract at his Bulldogs wage (reportedly $350K) until and including 2015...?

This .....still paying their contract out while they're at another club "thing"

how does it work?

For example.......business wise, would it have made more sense to keep both Kennedy and Barba (playing in QCup, if need be) rather than paying them to play for other clubs?

 

[Kimlo]

This .....still paying their contract out while they're at another club "thing"

how does it work?

For example.......business wise, would it have made more sense to keep both Kennedy and Barba (playing in QCup, if need be) rather than paying them to play for other clubs?

Well if media reports are to be believed, we would've been paying Barba close to a million, let's say 900k, so if Cronulla are paying 800k, we have to cover the last 100k, so essentially the saving on our salary cap is whatever the new club is paying, so we've saved supposedly about 800k per year by moving Barba on, and then signed Boyd for 400k.

So between that swap, we get Boyd for Barba and now have an extra 400k to play with in the cap.

If we're covering the last 100k of Barba's salary, then that's still a loss in our cap but it's better than paying the full 900k and him potentially not even playing first grade and providing zero value.

 

[Kimlo]

Think of it like subleasing a business, if you owe the landlord 50k a year in rent, and your business is about to go bankrupt but you find someone willing to pay 40k per year to take over the lease, you've still got to stump up the 50k owed but at least someone else is covering the first 40k, so it's a saving.

Kind of works the same way, if the player was not providing any value anyway, then it's better to offload him and save some money then to keep him and pay the full amount.

 

[Porthoz]

Well, this reported salary from Barba is apparently bullshit... as we took over Barba's last TWO contract years at the Bulldogs worth reportedly $350K:

Ben Barba has officially become a Bronco after Canterbury releases him from his contract

There goes the story of cap saving to get Boyd... :rolleyes:

 

[Locky]

Well, this reported salary from Barba is apparently bullshit... as we took over Barba's last TWO contract years at the Bulldogs worth reportedly $350K:

Ben Barba has officially become a Bronco after Canterbury releases him from his contract

There goes the story of cap saving to get Boyd... :rolleyes:

That is an article written over a year ago. So how do we know that that one is the correct one and these others aren't?

 

[Renegade]

confirmation bias

 

[Anonymous person]

lol @ people thinking we were paying him $900k in 2015.

We took over his contract from the Bulldogs, which was <$400k a year for the first 2 years.

 

[Locky]

lol @ people thinking we were paying him $900k in 2015.

We took over his contract from the Bulldogs, which was <$400k a year for the first 2 years.

I read that article at the time too, I am simply asking how do we know which one is correct.

So to rephrase that, yourself and Porthoz obviously believe that the article stating he would be paid his Bulldogs contract in 2015 is correct so I am interested to know what you are basing the disregard for the current articles on?

 

[Porthoz]

I read that article at the time too, I am simply asking how do we know which one is correct.

So to rephrase that, yourself and Porthoz obviously believe that the article stating he would be paid his Bulldogs contract in 2015 is correct so I am interested to know what you are basing the disregard for the current articles on?

It was widely publicised at the time, that the Bulldogs would only release Barba on the premise that he wouldn't earn more at the Broncos than his Bulldogs contract value. Raylene Castle and Paul White even said so in interviews from memory.

I just didn't remember for sure whether he still had 1 or 2 years to go.

 

[Locky]

It was widely publicised at the time, that the Bulldogs would only release Barba on the premise that he wouldn't earn more at the Broncos than his Bulldogs contract value. Raylene Castle and Paul White even said so in interviews from memory.

I just didn't remember for sure whether he still had 1 or 2 years to go.

Yes I remember that too. I would suggest just because they made a statement about it doesn't mean it is concrete and it is important to look at possible bias etc. when there are conflicting statements. At the time there was a huge amount of angst about everything with many people wanting him out of the game. Perhaps it was discussed between the two that making an announcement suggesting that Barba will in fact be profiting quite handsomely from the whole situation would have gone down like a lead balloon.

If in fact we were only paying him 350k why on earth would the sharks be paying him 800k?

 

[Anonymous person]

I read that article at the time too, I am simply asking how do we know which one is correct.

So to rephrase that, yourself and Porthoz obviously believe that the article stating he would be paid his Bulldogs contract in 2015 is correct so I am interested to know what you are basing the disregard for the current articles on?

I'm basing it on the fact that the Bulldogs and Broncos confirmed that Barba wouldn't earn more than he did from his Bulldogs contract, which was <$400k a year for the first 2 years.

 

[kingpest]

Yes I remember that too. I would suggest just because they made a statement about it doesn't mean it is concrete and it is important to look at possible bias etc. when there are conflicting statements. At the time there was a huge amount of angst about everything with many people wanting him out of the game. Perhaps it was discussed between the two that making an announcement suggesting that Barba will in fact be profiting quite handsomely from the whole situation would have gone down like a lead balloon.

If in fact we were only paying him 350k why on earth would the sharks be paying him 800k?

Because we were matching his bulldogs contract which runs out at the end of this year and was set to skyrocket, obviously to around the 800k mark

 

[Splinter]

I am at a loss on this one. Seems the story is not correct somewhere along the line and i dont have the relevant info to speculate

 

[Porthoz]

Yes I remember that too. I would suggest just because they made a statement about it doesn't mean it is concrete and it is important to look at possible bias etc. when there are conflicting statements. At the time there was a huge amount of angst about everything with many people wanting him out of the game. Perhaps it was discussed between the two that making an announcement suggesting that Barba will in fact be profiting quite handsomely from the whole situation would have gone down like a lead balloon.

If in fact we were only paying him 350k why on earth would the sharks be paying him 800k?

There are no certainties in this, but as far as credibility, I'll go with the club CEO's as opposed to the media, who speculate wildly and very often take rumour as fact. I am assuming the deal would have been backdated and Barba would be handsomely paid in 2016 though.

Remember, Barba was in a weak negotiation position, as he was moving to Qld to follow his family and essentially "reboot his life". Why would the Broncos offer that kind of money? It makes absolutely no sense!

There is also no doubt in my mind that a club like the Sharks needs to pay overs to attract any player, especially one like Barba who had just settled in Brisbane and appeared to have his life back on track.

It would certainly suprise me more that Brisbane was paying $900K than the Sharks $800K, even to the blindly Bennett faithful... but as you said, bias is in play, and it is a powerful thing!