NEWS Oates's brutal assessment of his Broncos future

[Reyter]

Agree with you on the boring part but not on the other two points. Sailor and Tuqiri were earning more early in the millennium than what Milf is on now just to give you some perspective. Union will always have the upper hand when it comes to player contracts. Thankfully the big name poachings have halted in recent years.

That is false. I mean the part about Union always having the upper hand insofar as player contracts/payments. Out of desperation they bet hugely on a few big name league recruits, got a temporary bounce, pissed off the existing (and probably better insofar as Union) Union players with their massively inflated contracts (much like according to rumors Milford and Bird are doing now at the Broncos) and now are in an even bigger hole.

I know it's hypothetical but one could speculate guys like Ponga and Crighton (and I'm sure many lesser players) would be playing Union now if the ARU hadn't bet so large and lost on a few league players.

I guess the main reason why the NRL isn't raiding the ARU of it's best players is because NRL clubs think so few of them would make it in the NRL.

I'm not the most positive guy (if everything were proceeding just how I like it, why would I bother commenting on it?) but one has to give the NRL credit for the way they have managed some aspects the product. No knee-jerk reactions to the ARU or AFL raiding the NRL players and rapidly expanding before a large enough market was present.

 

[WASSHHH]

That is false. I mean the part about Union always having the upper hand insofar as player contracts/payments. Out of desperation they bet hugely on a few big name league recruits, got a temporary bounce, pissed off the existing (and probably better insofar as Union) Union players with their massively inflated contracts (much like according to rumors Milford and Bird are doing now at the Broncos) and now are in an even bigger hole.

I know it's hypothetical but one could speculate guys like Ponga and Crighton (and I'm sure many lesser players) would be playing Union now if the ARU hadn't bet so large and lost on a few league players.

I guess the main reason why the NRL isn't raiding the ARU of it's best players is because NRL clubs think so few of them would make it in the NRL.

I'm not the most positive guy (if everything were proceeding just how I like it, why would I bother commenting on it?) but one has to give the NRL credit for the way they have managed some aspects the product. No knee-jerk reactions to the ARU or AFL raiding the NRL players and rapidly expanding before a large enough market was present.

Case in point, Koroibete.

In the Australian Union side but just a slightly better than average winger (and at times, god awful) in the NRL.

 

[GCBRONCO]

That is false. I mean the part about Union always having the upper hand insofar as player contracts/payments. Out of desperation they bet hugely on a few big name league recruits, got a temporary bounce, pissed off the existing (and probably better insofar as Union) Union players with their massively inflated contracts (much like according to rumors Milford and Bird are doing now at the Broncos) and now are in an even bigger hole.

I know it's hypothetical but one could speculate guys like Ponga and Crighton (and I'm sure many lesser players) would be playing Union now if the ARU hadn't bet so large and lost on a few league players.

I guess the main reason why the NRL isn't raiding the ARU of it's best players is because NRL clubs think so few of them would make it in the NRL.

I'm not the most positive guy (if everything were proceeding just how I like it, why would I bother commenting on it?) but one has to give the NRL credit for the way they have managed some aspects the product. No knee-jerk reactions to the ARU or AFL raiding the NRL players and rapidly expanding before a large enough market was present.

I would say money was definitely a big factor, but they also used the appeal of the international game (which is superior to League even now despite it's Super competition suffering) to draw them. Sailor also said at the time though he is making the switch, Lockyer would really be the big win for Union and if they manage to lure him there it would have been a huge loss for League, which I agree, where the likes of Rogers, Sailor and Tuqiri can be replaced, a player like Lockyer comes around very very rarely. That said the short term gain really hasn't paid off for Union long term and it didn't work out for the AFL either though they haven't suffered from it.

 

[Reyter]

I would say money was definitely a big factor, but they also used the appeal of the international game (which is superior to League even now despite it's Super competition suffering) to draw them. Sailor also said at the time though he is making the switch, Lockyer would really be the big win for Union and if they manage to lure him there it would be a huge loss for League, which I agree. That said the short term gain really hasn't paid off for Union long term and it didn't work out for the AFL either.

I'm sure Sailor said that. And I'm also pretty sure it was at least 90-95% about the money.

 

[GCBRONCO]

I'm sure Sailor said that. And I'm also pretty sure it was at least 90-95% about the money.

Money was definitely a huge factor but Union still did have the draw card of their international game which as a player is quite appealing, I'm not saying it's as big an appeal as the money, but it's certainly something a player would like.