Israel Folau wants out... I'll show him the door.

[tkday]

What about offering to pay the layers after they retire for a set amount of dollars for a set amount of years? That's not breaking any cap rules. It's probably risky for the players if the club isn't going to be around however. Surely there's got to be something to get around it if the NRL are not?

 

[Major JW Hochstetter]

Badav's right IMO.

Plenty of people - from a fan's perspective - will bag Folau out for being anything from a treacherous gimp or a mercenary following the coin trail, to someone whose a bit of pea-heart, not a team player or simply has no loyalty, and so on. Some of that may be quite valid and I'm sure most of us have some sort of opinion on Izzy's motivation, be it positive or negative.

But in the end, love him or hate him and for reasons that badav pointed out, it's insane to judge Izzy over taking on such huge offers - nor any other player mind you. The people who should be judged are the wankers (and companies) who've controlled Rugby League in the past in both game and club administrations who have brought us to be in such a gross position of financial and structural underachievement. They're the reason why we aren't able to pay these guys anywhere near their market value.

That being said, the way Izzy (or his manager) handles the situation is another matter. I think the rep selectors, although nothing official has come from Izzy's camp as yet, need to assume that he won't remain in the NRL and base their selections on that. Defectors are more than welcome to head elsewhere, but - as big Mal has already implied - I think it's more than fair enough for our rep teams to be made up of players who are committed to future seasons, for a variety of reasons.

 

[Professor47]

Yeh back then he had a big offer esp from ARU (when he signed in 02 or whatever) there was a really big kahuna offer then but he said he decided to stay because he was happy etc etc... we had Webcke, Big dell, Tuquiri, GT, Civo and all those blokes... there was no real reason to go...

ALSO... the differences would not have been as big IMO... so his broncs offer would have been about 300-400 (there abouts) and his ARU offers probbaly about 500-600 at the time...

NOW the difference is like... 300 from RL or 800 (approx) from other codes....

 

[nelly77]

I don't blame the young fella for a second for taking the $$$ and running - heck I would do exactly the same with that kind of money being waved in front of my nose.

In saying that though, I never really saw him as a long-term Bronco...just something about him that made me think he would never be here for the long term and wear the jersey with pride.

So yeah, don't let the door hit yer a$$ on the way out big guy.

 

[badav]

The people who should be judged are the wankers (and companies) who've controlled Rugby League in the past in both game and club administrations who have brought us to be in such a gross position of financial and structural underachievement. They're the reason why we aren't able to pay these guys anywhere near their market value.

That being said, the way Izzy (or his manager) handles the situation is another matter. I think the rep selectors, although nothing official has come from Izzy's camp as yet, need to assume that he won't remain in the NRL and base their selections on that. Defectors are more than welcome to head elsewhere, but - as big Mal has already implied - I think it's more than fair enough for our rep teams to be made up of players who are committed to future seasons, for a variety of reasons.

I agree but i don't see any solution (other than salary cap rorting), since the salary cap is in place as much to make things 'even' as it is to stop clubs going broke.

I know centralisation (like what cricket australia do) of player contracts has been suggested for marquee players in the past. Surely it has some merit in stopping other codes just pinching league players.

This is only going to happen more, and whats also happening is the blokes that are leaving are getting younger and younger.

As for player managers, well they have made it clear that their best interests are in the players (or them) and not the club or the code, so i don't think we can realistically expect this situation to be handled any better than it has.

 

[Major JW Hochstetter]

Apparently Falou has said on the news that he hasn't spoken to GWS.

 

[Coxy]

Folau can go chasing the money, that's fine.

And regardless of whether he confirms it or not, he should not be selected for a representative team until he confirms he is playing rugby league, whether here or in England.

And kudos to those at the ground who either didn't cheer him or booed him on Friday night.

 

[Scorchie]

What about offering to pay the layers after they retire for a set amount of dollars for a set amount of years?

That's one of the things that gets clubs into strife.

 

[Nashy]

Folau can go chasing the money, that's fine.

And regardless of whether he confirms it or not, he should not be selected for a representative team until he confirms he is playing rugby league, whether here or in England.

And kudos to those at the ground who either didn't cheer him or booed him on Friday night.

Why? He's making a decision that will set him up for life. They should be booing Bruno for agreeing to pay him so much.

 

[Major JW Hochstetter]

And regardless of whether he confirms it or not, he should not be selected for a representative team until he confirms he is playing rugby league, whether here or in England.

SMH today says selectors will overlook him for the Test. Good decision IMO.

 

[Foordy]

And regardless of whether he confirms it or not, he should not be selected for a representative team until he confirms he is playing rugby league, whether here or in England.

SMH today says selectors will overlook him for the Test. Good decision IMO.

it also said that Smith would be over looked for Farah . Bad Decision

 

[Major JW Hochstetter]

I reckon. A piss take surely?

 

[666]

Folau has said he may still stay playing for the broncos, and that's fine, I just hope we don't offer him more money that he was already on to keep him. And I don't want us to wait till he decides what he is doing before we go after anyone else. Personally I'd like to see us chase 2 forwards and a centre.

Backs I recon we should chase after are Inu, Lawrence, Kenny-Dowall, Tomane, Neilson, or Tonga. The lesser knowns who are bloody good, but not on Folau's wages. Inu we would stand a good chance of getting as he is in and out of the Eels side, Lawrence would be a great pick up, strong in defense and attack, very quick, Kenny-Dowall would take decent coin to lure, but would be well worth it, Tomane probably isn't on big dollars and may not take much to lure to the Broncos if the Titans can't afford to match us under the cap, Neilson is good, and the Storm might be more open to releasing him than Inglis, and Tonga may be keen if he feels he going to a side with a better chance of winning a title anytime soon, and lets face it, we will most likely win our next before the cowboys win their first.

Forwards we should chase I think are Lima, Kite, Hunt, and Learoyd Lahrs. All would give us added size up front, solid defense. If we keep Tronc then we would only need to land one of these guys.

 

[Dexter]

Falou is out, Smith and Cronk are in

 

[Bucking Beads]

Farah over Smith that would be a LOL. Ennis is in front of Farah anyway IMO.

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

so funny that on the footy show they were saying folau wouldnt be selected because of his form anyway, yet we have players like inglis and lockyer get auto selection despite horrible form

 

[Big Pete]

Lockyer hasn't been THAT bad.

He's had a number of good performances.

 

[Nashy]

Yeah, but if it wasn't Lockyer, he wouldn't be selected. Simple.