NEWS Lodge: love you Brisbane

Matthew Lodge has another year on his $700,000 (rumoured) contract, and two more as options. Coach Kevin Walters has invited him to leave to free up some cap space, but Matt wants to remain and prove his worth:

“To be honest, I love it here. I owe a lot to this club for giving me another chance. I‘m always grateful to be at the Broncos. I came here four years ago with a 20kg suitcase and I was on Centrelink payments, so whatever happens happens. I don‘t want to leave the club. I will play as hard as I can and give my all until the day I walk out of here.”

“I don’t know what’s going on. I will keep our chat private, you can ask Kevvie what he said to me. He is obviously still thinking about things and obviously they want to sign a halfback and he has made that clear to me."

Cult following

“Something has to give with the salary cap, but I’ll be giving 100 per cent as long as I am at this club. Four years ago, I had nothing and my career was up in the air. I don’t know what happens but as long as I keep playing well there is hope for me. I never not turn up. I always try and play hard for the Broncos jumper so as long as I’m here, I won’t be letting the club down. I’m happy to put my body on the line and I care about the club so I’ll be trying my best for Kevvie. Hopefully I can stay here a while yet.”

Tevita Pangai Jnr:

“Lodgey has put three or four good games together and we’ve seen what he can do in the middle. With his charges in the middle, he inspires all of us. Hopefully he can stay but it’s up to him and the club.”

McHunt

 

[Nightwatchman]

I work to live and earn just over $100k . Footy players earn at least double that and in lodges case it's 7 times, they also play the game to win a premiership. Sometimes in life you will have to sacrifice something, if he wants to win money can't be everything.
I mean poor guy will need to get by on 5 or 6 hundred thousand but hey I think he'll get bye.
No comparison is the answer to your question.

Yeah, but you can ask Matt Lodge to take a pay cut coming off contract. Not in the midst of a contract and renegotiate the terms that suit the club.

I love how the media and some of the fans think a contract should be only for the club. The Panthers refused to release Matt Burton to the Bulldogs because he is still under contract. But told Josh Mansour either he leaves and finds another club or Penrith will not play him in first grade next year.

 

[heartly87]

I love the words from Lodge and hope he continues his upwards trajectory but if there were a possibility to swap him for Papalii, I'd do it in an instant.

But I think we are all ignoring the elephant in the room, why do we need to free up money for a halfback? How can we still not have enough money?

We have the money but if we sink it on Staggs and another half we will likely be unable to secure another good Fullback or maybe spread it further on some journeymen.

Another thing, are we actually trying to free up money now and a spot in the top 30. Is Kev trying to bring a older half here asap, Widdop or Malonry maybe? Seems to me, that may be a logical reason.

 

[something]

Cuts both ways.

View attachment 12801

Sam Ayoub sounds a bit cancerous doesn't he? KW came out and said 'Dearden is the future at the club', as well as gave him a starting 7 position... The only thing they didn't do is offer a contract before Donuts arrived, which is just business.

What more should they have done? Would be a bit skeptical towards anyone (player or manager) who comes out with such salt over a seemingly innocuous situation. Are any of our other players operating under Ayoub?

 

[heartly87]

I can't realistically see anyone agreeing to do that mid contract, but it does raise the point that there is something to be said for guys being prepared to play for less than top dollar if it means the team they play in has better guys around them and a higher chance of success.

Every player would likely view that sort of thing differently and yes, in today's game that kind of selflessness is largely gone both from the clubs and the players themselves, but I'd wager that if you put it to someone like Nathan Hindmarsh in hindsight now how many small pay cuts he might have been prepared to cop over the years if he'd been able to retire a Premiership winner, then I think there's a fair chance that a price for that did exist.

From memory the Manly boys took some hits to keep that premiership window open. Also BM and RF took pay cuts a few times for the Tigers and were still treated poorly by that dog club. I don't expect Lodge to do that at all and would not be angry if he digs his heals in, but the option is there if he wants to work with the club. I am sure the conversation Kev has had with him is a positive one, it's not a personal thing it's a business thing.

 

[heartly87]

I haven't actually seen anyone at the Storm or Roosters agree to take a pay cut mid-contract

Hard to take a pay cut when your already on base wage and living of the sandwiches uncle Nick leaves in brown paper bags for you in your locker.

 

[Sproj]

We have the money but if we sink it on Staggs and another half we will likely be unable to secure another good Fullback or maybe spread it further on some journeymen.

Another thing, are we actually trying to free up money now and a spot in the top 30. Is Kev trying to bring a older half here asap, Widdop or Malonry maybe? Seems to me, that may be a logical reason.

I'd say it is for the club's long promised chosen one - Billy Walters.

 

[Sproj]

Cuts both ways.

View attachment 12801

If his kicking was that accurate, we would have offered him a contract. Unfortunately, he tended to kick from 65 out to 60 out.

 

[McHunt]

Sam Ayoub sounds a bit cancerous doesn't he? KW came out and said 'Dearden is the future at the club', as well as gave him a starting 7 position... The only thing they didn't do is offer a contract before Donuts arrived, which is just business.

What more should they have done? Would be a bit skeptical towards anyone (player or manager) who comes out with such salt over a seemingly innocuous situation. Are any of our other players operating under Ayoub?

All player managers do, but I tend to believe him in this instance. To Tom's credit, he's said nothing. That said, after Gamble's debut, it does appear Dearden wasn't the answer. Good luck to him. I hope he finds his feet in Townsville. Just not against us.

 

[Kooly87]

All player managers do, but I tend to believe him in this instance. To Tom's credit, he's said nothing. That said, after Gamble's debut, it does appear Dearden wasn't the answer. Good luck to him. I hope he finds his feet in Townsville. Just not against us.

Once they leave us, no matter how badly they might otherwise be going, they seem to almost always find their feet, even temporarily, whenever they play us.

 

[McHunt]

We have the money but if we sink it on Staggs and another half we will likely be unable to secure another good Fullback or maybe spread it further on some journeymen.

Another thing, are we actually trying to free up money now and a spot in the top 30. Is Kev trying to bring a older half here asap, Widdop or Malonry maybe? Seems to me, that may be a logical reason.

The longer the Staggs fiasco goes on, the less I care about losing him. In the meantime, we're not exactly racking up the marquee signings.

 

[abashii]

300k max for Milf. If he wants to stay, 300k is what he is currently worth.

That's never going to happen. Someone will take a punt on him at a higher wage, and even if they didn't Milf at 300k would just be a waste of a spot. Either he plays well enough to keep his spot and earns a commensurate contract, or he can tell his story elsewhere.

 

[McHunt]

That's never going to happen. Someone will take a punt on him at a higher wage, and even if they didn't Milf at 300k would just be a waste of a spot. Either he plays well enough to keep his spot and earns a commensurate contract, or he can tell his story elsewhere.

Maybe some Japanese rugby team might take him.

 

[Kooly87]

That's never going to happen. Someone will take a punt on him at a higher wage, and even if they didn't Milf at 300k would just be a waste of a spot. Either he plays well enough to keep his spot and earns a commensurate contract, or he can tell his story elsewhere.

I reckon you're about right. I can see him attracting a bit of interest at 400-500k and if that was the case then we should probably be looking to pay about $400k or so as his incumbent club.

Unless he was to go on and have a Dally M standard season at this point then I can't see how he could justify the risk of much more than that salary wise.

 

[abashii]

I reckon you're about right. I can see him attracting a bit of interest at 400-500k and if that was the case then we should probably be looking to pay about $400k or so as his incumbent club.

Unless he was to go on and have a Dally M standard season at this point then I can't see how he could justify the risk of much more than that salary wise.

I'm thinking similar, but 500ish or nothing. NRL quality halves aren't that easy to find. It's still early days, we've only had a couple of games this year where the team actually played as a team. It'll be worth seeing if he lifts along with the others or gets left behind in the back half of the year.

 

[Sproj]

I'm thinking similar, but 500ish or nothing. NRL quality halves aren't that easy to find. It's still early days, we've only had a couple of games this year where the team actually played as a team. It'll be worth seeing if he lifts along with the others or gets left behind in the back half of the year.

He's still so lazy, how many breaks did he support the other night? I am aware of what someone else will offer him but 500k is too high for what he has given us over the years.

 

[abashii]

He's still so lazy, how many breaks did he support the other night? I am aware of what someone else will offer him but 500k is too high for what he has given us over the years.

Maybe, I thought he had a decent game and was fairly involved, most of the things he was doing off the ball didn't pan out though so would have been harder to notice. But that's all moot anyway, I'd be looking at his performances going forward to determine a salary and not what he's done the last few years. If there's confidence he can play at or above the level of a 500k 5/8 then great, if not I wouldn't be keeping him on a lesser amount. Don't worry so much about the total dollar figure - why would you want to have a shitty player who apparently lacks ticker playing in one of the most critical roles on the team just because they come cheap?

 

[Kooly87]

He's still so lazy, how many breaks did he support the other night? I am aware of what someone else will offer him but 500k is too high for what he has given us over the years.

I know this is starting to get into 'wrong thread' territory, but I think all the talking about a specific number for Milford is a little premature and unnecessary at this point.

Realistically, there is around 2/3rds of the season to go. He's obviously not attracted significant interest from any other party at this point, and it's highly unlikely his Manager isn't at least trying in this regard.

Let's not worry about trying to guess his value right now, let's sit on this one and let him make the first move here. He is obviously aware Brisbane are not ready to re-commit yet so it's on him if he wants to test his value on the open market. He can do that now, or he can wait until the season is done and back himself to have some more runs on the board, it's entirely his and his Manager's call.

When he's fielded interest from other parties and has some idea of what he's really worth, then we can decide if we want to go down this path again. It may be that he gets a big offer and we wish him well and send him on his way, or it may be that he gets crickets and we can decide whether we want a guy, even for $300k, if literally no one else did.

We should be leaving this all until the last possible moment to make a call either way and for as much football to be played as possible beforehand, so we can then make the most informed decision possible. Ideally that would be seasons end, but we should only make a call earlier than that if another club forces the agenda on us. We absolutely shouldn't be setting the price, we should let the market do that first, and we absolutely shouldn't be tripping over ourselves to be the top bidder. If Milford wants to be a Bronco and give back to the club then he can take a $400k offer from us when the next offer up is $500k from somewhere else.

 

[Morepudding]

Lodge is certainly saying all the right things and I do see on field at least a guy who sincerely seems to be trying pretty hard. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he genuinely means it and isn't simply saying he wants to be here because it's pretty unlikely he could earn the same money elsewhere as it stands currently given the way the game has shifted.

I do get the feeling it's going to potentially end in tears though because he's got such a long time to go at a club where he's obviously aware they'd prefer if he moved on and that can't be a very comfortable situation to be in for either party. I could certainly see a scenario down the track where he eventually signs his next deal elsewhere and then becomes fairly vocal and bitter about how Brisbane have handled this one.

Coates says all the right things too but he’s about to sign with Melbourne.