NRL Player Movements & Rumours

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SMH reporting some stuff about James Roberts leaving Souths ... basically:
  • The only way that Souths management would allow Bennett to sign Roberts was for a one strike termination clause to be added to his contract, so they could sack him, first time he stepped out of line
  • Souths had multiple opportunities to trigger the clause early in the year, but due to his psychological history, they decided not to pull the trigger
  • they paid $30k in psychological support for him and his family
  • They began to question Roberts commitment to the team.
  • 3 months ago the discussed Roberts contract breeches, but decided against immediately sacking him, instead agreeing to pay him for the remainder of the rugby league financial year, costing them 100k they didn't have to pay under the terms of Roberts contract
  • the Knights are considering offer Roberts a lifeline, but no other NRL club has shown interest.
  • The NRL and Souths have been discussing Roberts release and they are comfortable with the mutual understanding that has been struck between the two parties.
 
Foordy said:
SMH reporting some stuff about James Roberts leaving Souths ... basically:
  • The only way that Souths management would allow Bennett to sign Roberts was for a one strike termination clause to be added to his contract, so they could sack him, first time he stepped out of line
  • Souths had multiple opportunities to trigger the clause early in the year, but due to his psychological history, they decided not to pull the trigger
  • they paid $30k in psychological support for him and his family
  • They began to question Roberts commitment to the team.
  • 3 months ago the discussed Roberts contract breeches, but decided against immediately sacking him, instead agreeing to pay him for the remainder of the rugby league financial year, costing them 100k they didn't have to pay under the terms of Roberts contract
  • the Knights are considering offer Roberts a lifeline, but no other NRL club has shown interest.
  • The NRL and Souths have been discussing Roberts release and they are comfortable with the mutual understanding that has been struck between the two parties.
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Unfortunately he's a basket case who is probably lucky that he's a supremely gifted athlete because he wouldn't get that level of care in the real world. I hope for his sake he can get on the right path, because he's a good bloke from everything I've heard/read about him but is just really mentally troubled. I'd love him back at the Broncos one day if he can genuinely resolve his mental demons.
 
Foordy said:
SMH reporting some stuff about James Roberts leaving Souths ... basically:
  • The only way that Souths management would allow Bennett to sign Roberts was for a one strike termination clause to be added to his contract, so they could sack him, first time he stepped out of line
  • Souths had multiple opportunities to trigger the clause early in the year, but due to his psychological history, they decided not to pull the trigger
  • they paid $30k in psychological support for him and his family
  • They began to question Roberts commitment to the team.
  • 3 months ago the discussed Roberts contract breeches, but decided against immediately sacking him, instead agreeing to pay him for the remainder of the rugby league financial year, costing them 100k they didn't have to pay under the terms of Roberts contract
  • the Knights are considering offer Roberts a lifeline, but no other NRL club has shown interest.
  • The NRL and Souths have been discussing Roberts release and they are comfortable with the mutual understanding that has been struck between the two parties.
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Sad. Clearly very difficult guy to help. From the point of view of the average person it’s disappointing that he can’t get it together in time to really take advantage of his physical talent and set himself up for life. But maybe over time he will heal enough to join a more normal workforce and find some fulfilment in the labour and the camaraderie of the average workplace without pressure and scrutiny.
 
Kimlo said:
Unfortunately he's a basket case who is probably lucky that he's a supremely gifted athlete because he wouldn't get that level of care in the real world. I hope for his sake he can get on the right path, because he's a good bloke from everything I've heard/read about him but is just really mentally troubled. I'd love him back at the Broncos one day if he can genuinely resolve his mental demons.
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Out of interest what has shown him to be a genuinely good bloke? Everything I have seen from him on and off the field shows him to be a disrespectful grub.
 
Sione Mata'utia off to St. Helens and Marcelo Montoya off to the NZ Warriors.

Mata'utia has been a frustrating player to follow. He came in, killed it and had many fans wondering why it took Bennett so long to give him ago. Bennett goes up north, Stone takes over re-signs the entire family on lucrative contracts and Mata'utia becomes the worst centre in the competition. Brown takes over, he can't improve Sione's game in the centres so he throws him into the backrow. He shows some promise there, but it's clear there's a long road ahead. Brown goes backwards and forwards with him and by the time he's through Mata'utia is struggling to get his head right for most weeks. In the end, he barely makes it onto the field before the Knights finally cut him loose.

I look at Sione as a central figure behind their demise. It's a shame too because he seems like good bloke but the Knights actually competed with Des' ridiculous offer and it just left them with this huge dead weight on their salary cap. Not only Sione, but all his brothers as well (they eventually signed Peter Mata'utia over as well).

I actually don't mind Montoya as a depth signing. Knows how to score a try which is what you want out of a winger and can play centre at a pinch. He fell victim to a disorganised rabble that was the Bulldogs who had no idea what they were doing and just throwing players into a teamlist and seeing what stuck.

I'm liking the moves from the Bulldogs lately. They're clearing out a lot of the deadwood, bringing in some quality players and they even managed to dodge a bullet in Blake Green. It's going to be a good test for Barrett who when it was all said and done had a horrible stint at Manly. Even his recruitment which I thought was among the best in the league was a result of cheating the salary cap. If he can get them out of the bottom 4 in 21 and into the 8 for 22 and keep them there, he may have a career in coaching.
 
Big Pete said:
Sione Mata'utia off to St. Helens and Marcelo Montoya off to the NZ Warriors.

Mata'utia has been a frustrating player to follow. He came in, killed it and had many fans wondering why it took Bennett so long to give him ago. Bennett goes up north, Stone takes over re-signs the entire family on lucrative contracts and Mata'utia becomes the worst centre in the competition. Brown takes over, he can't improve Sione's game in the centres so he throws him into the backrow. He shows some promise there, but it's clear there's a long road ahead. Brown goes backwards and forwards with him and by the time he's through Mata'utia is struggling to get his head right for most weeks. In the end, he barely makes it onto the field before the Knights finally cut him loose.

I look at Sione as a central figure behind their demise. It's a shame too because he seems like good bloke but the Knights actually competed with Des' ridiculous offer and it just left them with this huge dead weight on their salary cap. Not only Sione, but all his brothers as well (they eventually signed Peter Mata'utia over as well).

I actually don't mind Montoya as a depth signing. Knows how to score a try which is what you want out of a winger and can play centre at a pinch. He fell victim to a disorganised rabble that was the Bulldogs who had no idea what they were doing and just throwing players into a teamlist and seeing what stuck.

I'm liking the moves from the Bulldogs lately. They're clearing out a lot of the deadwood, bringing in some quality players and they even managed to dodge a bullet in Blake Green. It's going to be a good test for Barrett who when it was all said and done had a horrible stint at Manly. Even his recruitment which I thought was among the best in the league was a result of cheating the salary cap. If he can get them out of the bottom 4 in 21 and into the 8 for 22 and keep them there, he may have a career in coaching.
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I agree, the Dogs are making a lot of strong moves in the right direction.
 
broncos4life said:
Out of interest what has shown him to be a genuinely good bloke? Everything I have seen from him on and off the field shows him to be a disrespectful grub.
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I really havent heard about him being disrespectful. He's just a very trouble individual
 
Wolfie said:
I really havent heard about him being disrespectful. He's just a very trouble individual
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I don’t mean to be daft but if you aren’t disrespecting anybody, how troubled can you be? Teams surely aren’t moving him on because he’s sad or has some drinking problems?
 
theshed said:
I don’t mean to be daft but if you aren’t disrespecting anybody, how troubled can you be? Teams surely aren’t moving him on because he’s sad or has some drinking problems?
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I just havent heard anything from any of the blokes i know that have been around him that he is that sort of character. You can have demons without it being disrespectful to people. I guess he may disrespect people on occasion as a bi product of his problems, but i dont think he goes out of his way to do it deliberately. He has clearly got a problem with alcohol on top of problems that have followed him around from when he was a child.
 
Ha I remember when the Mata'utia bros were all the rage
 
Morkel said:
Didn't at least one of them sign a massive deal with the bulldogs, with no intention of going, just to force a better deal from the Knights? I guess he was honest about it unlike DCE.
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Plus he wasn't any good, so in hindsight, no one cares.
 
Morkel said:
Didn't at least one of them sign a massive deal with the bulldogs, with no intention of going, just to force a better deal from the Knights? I guess he was honest about it unlike DCE.
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Yes, Des offered him and his brothers ridiculous Des contracts and instead of letting them go the way of T-Rex they offered them more money to stay. Then they went onto sign Peter Mata'utia from the Dragons just to double down on it.
 
Big Pete said:
Yes, Des offered him and his brothers ridiculous Des contracts and instead of letting them go the way of T-Rex they offered them more money to stay. Then they went onto sign Peter Mata'utia from the Dragons just to double down on it.
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I think they bought into the hype that Joey was creating (think it was Joey)... then they started seeing dollar signs thinking about the marketing associated with having 4 siblings in the same side
 
Sproj said:
Addo-Carr staying at Melbourne next year. I wonder when his boat will be delivered.
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I wonder if Smith goes 1 more year to go back to back. He'd want it bad i reakon
 
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