St George Illawarra and NSW centre Mark Gasnier to retire at season's end

[Black Philip]

Surely he's not hanging up the boots altogether? He's got a good 3 or 4 years left in him yet IMO.

Back to rugby perhaps?

 

[Anonymous person]

I came into this thread to make the same point, Fozz. For the conspiracy theorists out there - does it seem odd that Gaz comes back on a massively reduced contract that's only accredited by the NRL once the Dragons back end it with big bucks?. All in time for their run home to the finals..

wow now that you mention it, that is VERY dodgy. typical bennett salary cap cheating.

 

[Nashy]

This does not become a Bennett thread. You've all been warned.

 

[Anonymous person]

fair enough, wasnt intending it to. just thought it was a bit typical since pretty much every year bennetts team gets (however minor) salary cap infringements.

i certainly hope the NRL investigate this. they wont though. basically means they had one of the premier centres in the game help them win a premiership and then play a whole other year basically without him taking up any salary cap space.

 

[Nashy]

Yeah, it's dodgy, and really should be investigated. They should be forced to pay him.

 

[Kaz]

i certainly hope the NRL investigate this.

They won't as they approved it after investigating it.

 

[Anonymous person]

They won't as they approved it after investigating it.

they only approved it because St George backloaded it so hed be paid FAR more his final seasons - in this case 2012/13/14 - than a player would usually get, to make up for in particular his 2010 return only counting as something like 120k (iirc, or something tiny like that) in that years salary cap, and then not much more this year. if they hadve known he would retire and therefore St George wouldnt have the option of backloading the contract while never actually having to pay it out, they would NOT have approved it.

its dodgy as all hell.

it wouldve been like a team signing Slater, Cronk and Smith from Melbourne before the first round of the finals last year on 2 year contracts that were backended so they would be paid $20k for the finals series in 2010 and then 700k each for 2011, winning the premiership for that team in 2010, and then having them cancel their contracts before round 1 of 2011 and they resign with melbourne.

they got the best players for a pittance, got a premiership, then never had to pay the huge payments that were the only reason they were allowed to sign them in the first place.

Yeah, it's dodgy, and really should be investigated. They should be forced to pay him.

not so much pay him, but his contracted amount for 2012/2013/2014 should be taken off their salary cap for that year.

EDIT: read that he was initially signed in 2010 til the end of 2014, for $1.9 million. so they payed out about $120k of that for 2010, probably still far below market value for 2011, and then significantly huge contracts for 2012/2013/2014.

 

[Kimlo]

I hope the media picks up on this and makes a huge issue out of it.

My first thought was dodgy as hell, he's on a hugely back-loaded contract so his entire salary should still be taken out of the salary cap, not let retire without any penalty.

 

[Big Pete]

I didn't see this coming at all, I reckon he'll likely win the Dally M centre of the year.

With that said, I was never a fan of Gaz. Firstly thought he was incredibly overated and there wasn't a NSW commentator or journalist who wasn't prepared to pump up his tires despite always being exposed under pressure. Then there was the 2008 fiasco where he was elected the face of the World Cup and fled because he wasn't receiving tazo money and if anything that decision only hurt his legion of supporters who had given up a number of players to keep him.

Easily one of the biggest premiership passengers of all time and the best career decision he ever made was jumping on Bennett's bandwagon to victory.

 

[Kimlo]

Lolz. Like you wouldn't take Folau back in a heartbeat.

I actually don't want Folau back or Hunt for that matter. We have moved on and don't need them. I would however be much less opposed to Folau coming back because he at least handled it with respect.

 

[Professor47]

In defense of Gaz's voicemail - you can tell he's grown up since then. At the very least, he can portray himself decently to the media - and surely that is doing a good job as a footballer. In terms of conspiracy theories - It's a good plan but what do players get out of it? A good chance at winning a premiership but underpaid their market value? They don't really benefit from it.

 

[Foordy]

he says he was always planning to retire before 30 and he knew this when he was 16. so then why the hell did he sign s 4 year deal when he came back to the dragons ... that is unless he didn't know how old he was going to be 4 years into the future lol

 

[Anonymous person]

In terms of conspiracy theories - It's a good plan but what do players get out of it? A good chance at winning a premiership but underpaid their market value? They don't really benefit from it.

lets look at Gasniers case:

- he KNEW he was going to retire at the end of this year before he even signed with the dragons.
- he just came off a hugely lucrative deal overseas, so was swimming in money
- he wanted a premiership, something he'd never won

now the NRL would NOT register his contract for the original $50k for the remainder of the 2010 season. they said no. they then bumped it up to $120k AND got him to sign an 4.5 year HEAVILY back-loaded contract, even though Gasnier knew he would not be there for those back-loaded years - and you can bet your arse that Bennett and the rest of the dragons staff knew this too.

they back-loaded it so the NRL would approve his 2010/2011 contract for a pittance, because the NRL were under the impression that he would then be getting probably double what he would regularly get in 2012/2013 etc. now as soon as it comes time to cough up the big $, he just retires. now st george got one of the best centres in the game for the price of an absolute nuffie for 2 years.

like i said, dodgy as hell. the broncos should offer Paul Gallen/Nate Myles/Greg Inglis $100k each to sign with them for the remainder of this season, and $1mil for next season with a 'its not working out' clause, and then execute that clause as soon as we win the grand final, allowing them to go back to their old clubs with a premiership ring for them, a premiership for us, and no skin off our backs for next year.

 

[Ari Gold]

I really don't care for Gasnier, but I honestly couldn't give a rats ass about the contract.

No doubt there was some deception, but if he wanted to play for the Dragons for 50k a year what's the big deal? He loves the club and wanted to help them win a premiership without taking much money for it. Obviously he wouldn't do this without the Union money, but isn't this essentially the kind of thing we want to see in the game? People putting club allegiance before money?

Besides, I'm pretty sure TC was paid less than what he was worth after cashing in on the ESL. Other than the jerseys they have a passion for what's the big difference?

 

[Anonymous person]

I really don't care for Gasnier, but I honestly couldn't give a rats ass about the contract.

No doubt there was some deception, but if he wanted to play for the Dragons for 50k a year what's the big deal? He loves the club and wanted to help them win a premiership without taking much money for it. Obviously he wouldn't do this without the Union money, but isn't this essentially the kind of thing we want to see in the game? People putting club allegiance before money?

Besides, I'm pretty sure TC was paid less than what he was worth after cashing in on the ESL. Other than the jerseys they have a passion for what's the big difference?

so would you have no problem with the scenario i outlined above? where teams that miss the finals have players jump ship to a team that is in the finals just for the finals series, then return the next year?

 

[Charmamba]

so would you have no problem with the scenario i outlined above? where teams that miss the finals have players jump ship to a team that is in the finals just for the finals series, then return the next year?

Pretty sure there is a deadline inplace for that.

 

[Ari Gold]

so would you have no problem with the scenario i outlined above? where teams that miss the finals have players jump ship to a team that is in the finals just for the finals series, then return the next year?

I'd have plenty of problems with that. And I cant see anywhere that I said such a situation would be ok. But this isn't what Gasnier did. He played for less money for the club he LOVES to help them win a premiership. It's not like he left Souths mid season coz thy are **** and then went to play for less just to get a ring.

 

[Anonymous person]

I'd have plenty of problems with that. And I cant see anywhere that I said such a situation would be ok. But this isn't what Gasnier did. He played for less money for the club he LOVES to help them win a premiership. It's not like he left Souths mid season coz thy are **** and then went to play for less just to get a ring.

so who decides what reasons for leaving are valid?

he couldnt have loved the club that much since he just up and left them to play in france one day lol.