NEWS Macca is as good as gone

[McHunt]

Emerging supercoach Kevin Walters has told Andrew McCullough not to come to training today with the expectation he'll be scuttling off to the Dragons this season. Issac Luke shapes as his replacement in the top 30. Meanwhile Manly and Newcastle hooker Danny Levi has joined feeder club Norths Devils.

Ben Hunt is our man with words:

“We’ve had a couple of conversations. I’d love to be back with Macca and I’ve told him that. We understand each other pretty well. We played 10 years of footy together.”

McHunt

 

[Huge]

I wish him well and I don't think the Broncos will be badly disadvantaged in the financial sense. Having Macca by Hunts side might just be fantastic for the Staints.

I do think Macca would have been great for us this year but I also think Macca was totally correct in trying to get a solid contract in what may be his last years in the NRL.

 

[Cult]

Whose idea at the club is it to replace our players (and coach) with worse people every single time? It’s not how a club improves. Danny Levi is an unwanted hooker by every single club, so of course he’s a perfect replacement.. constantly moving backwards

 

[pagey]

Whose idea at the club is it to replace our players (and coach) with worse people every single time? It’s not how a club improves. Danny Levi is an unwanted hooker by every single club, so of course he’s a perfect replacement.. constantly moving backwards

Yeah he isn't what we want but Turpin is who most people think is our best option , so Levi is a backup option only. Ultimately, C Smith for a year and then Turpin or paix and Grant when of contract.

 

[The Strapper]

I wish him well and I don't think the Broncos will be badly disadvantaged in the financial sense. Having Macca by Hunts side might just be fantastic for the Staints.

I do think Macca would have been great for us this year but I also think Macca was totally correct in trying to get a solid contract in what may be his last years in the NRL.

I just hope we aren't subsidising any of his salary.

 

[Big Pete]

Brisbane will supposedly only cover $150,000 of his contract, they will not cover any of the rest which will leave them roughly $500,000 according to Dan Walsh of NRL.com.

 

[Kimlo]

Brisbane will supposedly only cover $150,000 of his contract, they will not cover any of the rest which will leave them roughly $500,000 according to Dan Walsh of NRL.com.

I'm guessing the "subsidising" part is the 3-4 months of his contract we've already paid from October 1st which tells me the club said they won't pay a cent towards the transfer/release, so at least they've done something right.

 

[Kimlo]

@theshed captain Macca dream shattered.

 

[McHunt]

Brisbane will supposedly only cover $150,000 of his contract, they will not cover any of the rest which will leave them roughly $500,000 according to Dan Walsh of NRL.com.

Given he's the one who wants to leave, why are they covering any of it - or is that for the time he's spent in training?

 

[McHunt]

@theshed captain Macca dream shattered.

Pretty sure he was talking about at St George next season.

 

[Big Pete]

I'm guessing the "subsidising" part is the 3-4 months of his contract we've already paid from October 1st which tells me the club said they won't pay a cent towards the transfer/release, so at least they've done something right.

Given he's the one who wants to leave, why are they covering any of it - or is that for the time he's spent in training?

Yeah that's exactly how it was explained in the article.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Win, win. We finally lose one of our most stagnant players (in a crucial position no less, maybe THE crucial position) and we get a tonne of cap back to upgrade better players. There is simply no chance the club has made the wrong call here, especially after McC screwed us by taking off to Newcastle for what, 8 games? Rather than buck up and try to play better to help the team out of the pit, he packed his shit and bolted to another club only to blow his hammy shortly before finals.

I'm pissed that we seem to be still paying players to play elsewhere, but at this point it's the only way we can dig ourselves out of this salary cap mess we've sunk into.

 

[McHunt]

I think we're allowed to post this. If not, apologies in advance and please delete:

Macca's on Dragons' menu: Broncos hooker set for immediate switch

Brisbane are set to release Andrew McCullough to join the Dragons on a three-year deal that will extend his career and free up around $500,000 in the Broncos' salary cap.

www.nrl.com

Brisbane are set to release Andrew McCullough to join the Dragons on a three-year deal that will extend his career and free up around $500,000 in the Broncos' salary cap. NRL.com understands the protracted saga around McCullough's future will be resolved in the next few days after further discussions between the veteran rake and coach Kevin Walters. Neither the Dragons or Broncos have made official comment on the matter.

But after new Red V coach Anthony Griffin targeted McCullough as the "game-managing hooker" he wants in his set-up, the clubs have been negotiating around a McCullough move since the new year.

The 31-year-old returned to Brisbane after a short stint at Newcastle last year in which McCullough impressed early, only to tear his hamstring off the bone and undergo a lengthy recovery. His pre-season training form at the Broncos had him in consideration for a leadership role under Walters and jostling for a starting No.9 role with Jake Turpin.

Brisbane still has fellow veteran rake Issac Luke on a train and trial contract and also ex-Knights and Manly hooker Danny Levi as another option after he joined Intrust Super Cup club Norths Devils last week. McCullough's exit is set to free up much-needed salary cap space as the Broncos work on keeping their best and brightest young talent beyond 2021 including Kotoni Staggs, Tom Dearden and Xavier Coates.

The Broncos have been insistent throughout talks with St George Illawarra that they would not chip in any further to McCullough's salary if he were to move south, having already covered around $150,000 of his wage since November 1. Walters had also planned for the former Maroons hooker to be a key, experienced pillar of his 2021 campaign. But with the added job security on offer under Griffin, McCullough was a noted absentee at Broncos training on Thursday ahead of his mooted move.

McCullough's arrival at the Dragons is unlikely to trigger an early exit for Cronulla-bound star Cameron McInnes at this point.
Griffin plans to shift McInnes to lock, the same position he will fill at the Sharks, to accommodate McCullough, while Cronulla also do not have the salary cap space to bring the 27-year-old in a year early.

Ben Hunt meanwhile has been assured his future lies in the halves as he McCullough and Corey Norman all rekindle a set-up under Griffin that was first seen in their under 20s days at Brisbane.

McHunt

 

[IceWorks]

Seems like a positive move, freeing up money to build the squad Kev wants. If Macca was only 2nd or 3rd in line for hooker replacing his position in the squad with a 5th stringer like Luke on a much lower salary looks smart to me.

 

[The Strapper]

Given he's the one who wants to leave, why are they covering any of it - or is that for the time he's spent in training?

I'm guessing its for the 3 months we've already paid him.
As I understand it (and I may be wrong) contracts start on 1 Nov each year so we have already paid Macca for Nov, Dec & Jan ( and will probably pay for Feb too as the admin work to move him to Saints will take a few weeks). That is the part we have 'subsidised' him.
Hopefully we don't pay any more and Saints will be paying full freight for him from March onwards.

 

[IceWorks]

Excited to see how the Broncs will start the season, everything looks to be trending in the right direction for the first time in several years.

 

[Nashy]

Danny Levi? Come on.

 

[Kimlo]

Danny Levi? Come on.

“Not to be cocky but I’ve always thought I was better than a lot of the hookers in the NRL but I thought I was never given a fair chance to show it,” - Danny Levi

To copy from Reddit.