I reckon he genuinely wanted to leave, but when he found out he couldn't, he put on his big boy pants and decided to knuckle down and do everything he can to have a strong season. I have no way of actually know if this is true or not, but given what his manager has said and what Hoffman has said now, that's the inference I've drawn. If that is the case, I admire his attitude.
Adding another layer to this whole thing. Dobbo on the dead set legends was just saying that after his wife got that message from hoffy, he texted him and said nice work and that was a classy thing to do. Apparently hoffy texted back and said "mate it was a massive media beat up and he wasn't going anywhere"
Now this could mean one of many things.
Either he literally wasn't going anywhere and he is sick of trying to set the media straight
He was always staying but his manager wanted broncos to give a better deal or consideration for fullback etc
Maybe the dogs were in his ear and he was starting to believe the shit, but the meeting with the broncos reinforced that he is valued etc.
Maybe they just said flat out your not leaving and he was saving face.
Could be any combination of that too... Very interesting
What I don't understand is if the Dogs did want him, then why didn't they just ask for Hoffman in exchange for Barba. Of course, maybe they did and it was rejected, but given the situation, I'd have thought it would have been a perfectly reasonable request. "Hey Paul, Josh isn't going to be too happy if you sign Ben, and we'll need to improve our backline, so if you want Barba we want Josh."
What I don't understand is if the Dogs did want him, then why didn't they just ask for Hoffman in exchange for Barba. Of course, maybe they did and it was rejected, but given the situation, I'd have thought it would have been a perfectly reasonable request. "Hey Paul, Josh isn't going to be too happy if you sign Ben, and we'll need to improve our backline, so if you want Barba we want Josh."
I didn't know that. Kinda makes me lolz if he really does want out now.
I wouldn't be surprised if we released him after this season. Griffin is that car with the bad guys in "True Lies" that's right over the edge, where a Pelican sits on it and it falls. If the team doesn't play better, he's gone, so he could be doing all he can to convince Hoffman to stay for at least this season.