Between Macca and Luke, obviously Luke is the better player overall. He's won a premiership, has the experience and is simply a better player than Macca ever was or will be.
I'm not totally against the Luke signing, my gripe is simply - where are we, the Brisbane Broncos as a team and club heading?
A player coming to the Brisbane Broncos was never an easy thing to do. It didn't happen often because we'd develop our own but when we did sign a player from an opposing club, it was a big deal and everyone took notice like, wow so and so is a Brisbane Broncos player now, he's definitely in the elite status now etc.
The club used to look at players to recruit and the first question asked would be - does this player fit into the Brisbane Broncos culture? Is he a Bronco? What values does he bring to us? Yes, he's a terrific player and is needed here but what's he about and does he fit in for us? Where's his head at? What does he bring to our culture and team?
Recruitment was a well thought out process. It was a privilege to come to us. I feel we've lost that and it's been that way for a few years. I feel we are a charity case signing players willy nilly and for a quick fix.
Look, I realise times have changed but we used to stand for something. Now, we are signing a Isaac Luke or a Ben T'eo or a Shaun Fensom and we should be happy with that? We are becoming just another regular rugby league club.