OFFICIAL Jack Bird released to the Dragons

[Big Pete]

What did he say on his way out ?

“It just didn’t work out. It just didn’t go to plan. I felt like I needed a change as well because of what has gone on up there with me. I felt like they gave up on me because of my injuries.”

Which seems lousy, but if you read the entire article this is what he's referring to:

“Kevvie kept telling me he wanted me to stay,” Bird told The Weekend Australian.

“I felt like if he wanted me to stay he could have stepped in. I love Kev. Me and Kev are good mates. There are no hard feelings.

“I understand the reasons they want to get rid of me. I spoke to Kev last night. He rang me and asked if I was going.

“I told Kev I understand from your point of view and the club’s point of view that you want to free up some (salary cap) space.

“It is a business in the end. I was looking forward to playing for Kev this year but obviously they had different intentions.

“They wanted to get rid of me — they might not tell me that — but I know they wanted to get rid of me.”

 

[theshed]

“It just didn’t work out. It just didn’t go to plan. I felt like I needed a change as well because of what has gone on up there with me. I felt like they gave up on me because of my injuries.”

Which seems lousy, but if you read the entire article this is what he's referring to:

“Kevvie kept telling me he wanted me to stay,” Bird told The Weekend Australian.

“I felt like if he wanted me to stay he could have stepped in. I love Kev. Me and Kev are good mates. There are no hard feelings.

“I understand the reasons they want to get rid of me. I spoke to Kev last night. He rang me and asked if I was going.

“I told Kev I understand from your point of view and the club’s point of view that you want to free up some (salary cap) space.

“It is a business in the end. I was looking forward to playing for Kev this year but obviously they had different intentions.

“They wanted to get rid of me — they might not tell me that — but I know they wanted to get rid of me.”

This reads like a player who wanted to leave and wasn’t specifically asked to leave? Am I wrong?

 

[Morkel]

Okay, that is service,@Morkel you are on return, we have linespeople, an umpire and ballpersons all in place, we will just sit in the stands with our popcorn and watch the rally unfold.

Did I mention that it seems as though it is going to be a really, really long off-season.

Just briefly back on topic, I thought Bird's comments were a bit out of order, but perhaps he operates differently to me. I would have thanked the club and their fans for their support and helping him through the injuries. I would have also made the point that it has not worked out the way that he wanted and left it at that.

Meh no need, public announcement has been declared.

 

[FaithinHook]

“It just didn’t work out. It just didn’t go to plan. I felt like I needed a change as well because of what has gone on up there with me. I felt like they gave up on me because of my injuries.”

Which seems lousy, but if you read the entire article this is what he's referring to:

“Kevvie kept telling me he wanted me to stay,” Bird told The Weekend Australian.

“I felt like if he wanted me to stay he could have stepped in. I love Kev. Me and Kev are good mates. There are no hard feelings.

“I understand the reasons they want to get rid of me. I spoke to Kev last night. He rang me and asked if I was going.

“I told Kev I understand from your point of view and the club’s point of view that you want to free up some (salary cap) space.

“It is a business in the end. I was looking forward to playing for Kev this year but obviously they had different intentions.

“They wanted to get rid of me — they might not tell me that — but I know they wanted to get rid of me.”

Thanks BP for posting that additional part of the story. Initially, I was pissed at Bird's remarks and that comment about him not being wanted and thought to myself, geez what an ungrateful ****.

Looking now though, I think a big part of him really wanted to rip in for us next year with Kev as coach and even if it was to be his final year, he just wanted an injury free season to show us what he's got.

Look, footy players in general aren't known for being eloquent, or for being able to adequately articulate what they may be trying to say, and I think this applies to Bird. Yes, we wasted a lot of money on him, but sometimes things just don't work out and at least now we have that extra cash to spend (whatever the amount), and he hopefully can start having a bit better luck injury-wise.

Life is too short to hold grudges over such trivial matters.

 

[Xzei]

“They wanted to get rid of me — they might not tell me that — but I know they wanted to get rid of me.”
That there reads like someone looking for an out.

 

[Alec]

“They wanted to get rid of me — they might not tell me that — but I know they wanted to get rid of me.”
That there reads like someone looking for an out.

Sounds like George Costanza.

 

[Renegade]

“They wanted to get rid of me — they might not tell me that — but I know they wanted to get rid of me.”
That there reads like someone looking for an out.

Yeah this is self-rationalization to justify the move elsewhere.

 

[Big Pete]

I see it as Kev saying one thing to Bird but then doing another to make it clear that Bird wasn't wanted.

I don't expect a full blown expose, but judging from all the noise out of the Broncos, it's not that difficult to believe they needed his cap space.

 

[Xzei]

I see it as Kev saying one thing to Bird but then doing another to make it clear that Bird wasn't wanted.

I don't expect a full blown expose, but judging from all the noise out of the Broncos, it's not that difficult to believe they needed his cap space.

What would we need cap space for?
Do you think the nrl would sign off on any loan deal for McCullough if it was going to put us over for this year?
Did the fifita money not exist?
were Boyd and kahu being paid in peanuts?

 

[Morepudding]

What would we need cap space for?
Do you think the nrl would sign off on any loan deal for McCullough if it was going to put us over for this year?
Did the fifita money not exist?
were Boyd and kahu being paid in peanuts?

The Fifita money wax Boyd and Kahu going off the books, and since we didnt match the titans offer, for all we know all we could offer was the $750k, and that would have just been an upgrade on probably $200k contract.

We paid overs for Lodge, Offa and TPJ in the past couple seasons, and resigned Isaako at his peak. I wouldn't be shocked if we don't have much spare at all.

It's pretty evident that our recruitment have no idea what they are doing and that's evident with the player options. A player option is literally the worst thing possible. If the player does well, they get an upgrade or leave, and if they do shit or get Injured, you're stuck with them.

Player options shouldn't exist. It's flat out stupid.

 

[Big Pete]

What would we need cap space for?
Do you think the nrl would sign off on any loan deal for McCullough if it was going to put us over for this year?
Did the fifita money not exist?
were Boyd and kahu being paid in peanuts?

New signings, Kev is looking to make changes and has been looking to clear space.

 

[Xzei]

The Fifita money wax Boyd and Kahu going off the books, and since we didnt match the titans offer, for all we know all we could offer was the $750k, and that would have just been an upgrade on probably $200k contract.

We paid overs for Lodge, Offa and TPJ in the past couple seasons, and resigned Isaako at his peak. I wouldn't be shocked if we don't have much spare at all.

It's pretty evident that our recruitment have no idea what they are doing and that's evident with the player options. A player option is literally the worst thing possible. If the player does well, they get an upgrade or leave, and if they do shit or get Injured, you're stuck with them.

Player options shouldn't exist. It's flat out stupid.

This is only my opinion but I don't think the nrl would let a loan deal like McCullough happen with out it being counted on the 2021 cap,if he found a deal for 2021 it would have gave us more money for 2021.

I think bird wanted to go back to Sydney and the club being push overs facilitated that happening.

 

[Xzei]

New signings, Kev is looking to make changes and has been looking to clear space.

Yeah I was more talking about the word getting round that we needed to move him on to fit McCullough back in

 

[Midean]

Are there any other clubs that have as many player options in their contracts as ours?

 

[roo-ted]

You want to believe there's some sort of trend but nobody should be surprised as you're the easily led type. You'll believe literally anything and lack critical thinking skills.

Only you are making some weird connection to the Sharks. Aside from the fact Bird once played for the Sharks I cannot see any connection to my view that 'people should not unquestioningly swallow whole that which is reported in the media'. How has that got something to do with Cronulla?

Edit: Keep insults out of it.

Are you genuinely a really angry person that yells at kids riding their bikes up and down your street ?

 

[roo-ted]

That we gave up on him due to his injuries.

Well can you blame us ? We paid him hundreds of thousands to enjoy the broncos rehabilitation facilities and programs. Best paid holiday to Queensland ever !

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Are you genuinely a really angry person that yells at kids riding their bikes up and down your street ?

 

[Big Pete]

Yeah I was more talking about the word getting round that we needed to move him on to fit McCullough back in

I thought the story was that Macca's 600K was largely going to make up the difference of Fifita's pay-rise?

They still have some cap left over, but if they want to make moves to bring in some 2022 players in early, they need to offload a few.