McHunt
International Rep
Contributor
- Aug 25, 2018
- 17,935
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Brisbane chairman Karl Morris, who at first rejected the Kevolution, and then paid a million dollar ransom to flush his mistake, insists there was no culture problem:
“People who want to question our culture ... let’s be honest, David Fifita was offered a $1.2 million deal by the Titans. We felt the position was worth $800,000 and we felt that was right for David at this stage of his career. If other clubs wish to overpay or the Titans wanted to fix a problem they felt they had by paying a lot more than we were prepared to, well that’s their option. That’s the reality of it all. It was an option process. We got to a point where we said ‘this is what we are prepared to pay and we won’t go further’."
“I’m not going to say what the Titans have done is wrong, but the maths just didn’t work for the Broncos at the moment. David is a tremendous talent and we didn’t want to lose him ideally, but every asset can be mis-priced. How do you balance up the short-term and long-term contracts to have the best of both worlds? Sometimes it’s impossible."
Culture coming out of our arse
“The culture wasn’t a factor at all. It wasn’t a great year for the Broncos and I’m not saying the environment Dave found himself in was helpful. But would Dave have left for $100,000 more or $400,000 more? Who knows. Dave as a 20-year-old had to decide between $800,000 and $1.2 million. That’s a huge differential. He has a short window as an athlete to make that sort of money so I wish David all the best and hope he succeeds at the Titans.”
“Every team in the NRL has the same amount of money to spend under the salary cap, it’s how you best allocate that resource. It’s simple maths. Everyone has a fixed amount to spend under the cap and the teams that do best handle their salary cap better than others. It’s imperative to get your contract structure right."
“The No. 1 desire of every football team is having the talent to be in the top four, but also having an eye to the future. As the talent comes up, the risk is you do have a David Fifita who can get poached from you. It’s not only what’s in your cap, it’s what is the right amount of money to pay someone. I’m a bit bemused that the Broncos board gets criticism. We aren’t sitting in on recruitment meetings, we aren’t sitting in retention meetings, that’s for the CEO, the coach and the head of performance. The board does not perform the executive’s roles. That’s what they are paid to do.”
Gold Coast co-owner Darryl Kelly said:
“The fact he is a highly-paid player to me is immaterial. He’s only got to do his job. He doesn’t have to win every game for us. It’s a team sport. The other players have to get to the level they were at (last year) so he can do that one-percenter that wins you a game. If they don’t do their job, he can’t do his. He is still a young player learning the game. He thinks Justin (Holbrook, coach) can teach him a lot more about playing football.”
Justin Holbrook said he wasn’t fazed either:
“He is the best young forward in our game. With the bigger dollars you want them to be game-changers, not necessarily what position they play. He will be fine (with the salary expectations). One thing I have said to him is not to worry about that. He is coming to play back row in our team and that’s it. Yeah, he’s getting paid a lot of money but that doesn’t matter to me. He just needs to come on and do his job in the back row for us. That’s what I assured him. There is a bit of expectation there but I just want him to come and play footy. I am excited to be coaching him. He is so young and raw. There is a lot of upside to that. He is not a goalkicking halfback. He doesn’t have a big expectation as a team member.”
McHunt
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