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Rumours and Stuff

ash411

ash411

Bench
Messages
3,410
El Diablo said:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...s/news-story/53b6edc6d07af1bcb70d13e4a3e60d58

St George Illawarra chasing Corey Norman, Jarryd Hayne, Robbie Farah and Tony Williams
53b6edc6d07af1bcb70d13e4a3e60d58

DEAN RITCHIE, The Sunday Telegraph

53b6edc6d07af1bcb70d13e4a3e60d58

CASHED-up St George Illawarra are circling four of the biggest names in rugby league — Corey Norman, Jarryd Hayne, Robbie Farah and Tony ‘T-Rex’ Williams.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal Dragons management has made off-contract Norman a massive offer to leave Parramatta while also targeting Williams from Canterbury.

Should Norman reject the Saints, the joint venture club would then pursue the brilliant Hayne, who is searching for a football club after missing out on Olympic selection with the Fijian Sevens side.

St George Illawarra would then join Gold Coast as potential suitors for Hayne.

The Dragons are also closely monitoring the Farah drama at Wests Tigers.

After being dumped to NSW Cup for this weekend, just over a week after representing NSW in State of Origin III, Farah would appear highly unlikely to see out the final year of his deal at Concord in 2017.

St George Illawarra want to re-sign current hooker Mitch Rein but negotiations are understood to have stalled. There appears to be a gap in what the club wants to pay and what Rein is seeking.

If an agreement with Rein cannot be found, St George Illawarra could then go after Farah, assuming he moves on from Wests Tigers.

Williams is also wanted by St George Illawarra. Before the club totally focuses on Williams though, they just want to see whether Norman comes.

Norman holds the key to whether Saints try to sign Hayne and Williams. Should Norman stay at Parramatta, Saints would then chase Hayne “big time”.

The Sunday Telegraph understands Norman wants to settle his future soon, given he is now effectively suspended for the rest of this season.

Norman has told friends he wants to be loyal to Parramatta — and coach Brad Arthur — but other mates believe the star five-eighth should start fresh at a rival club.

Saints have successfully rehabilitated previous bad boys Josh Dugan and Russell Packer. The club feels Wollongong offers less temptations for players than Sydney’s bright lights.

It is known that the Dragons’ offer for Norman is larger than what has been thrown on the negotiating table from Parramatta officials. Norman was seeking an annual contract worth around $800,000.


Williams, a former NSW and Australian forward, has been in deep discussions with St George Illawarra. The Bulldogs, his current club, are unlikely to re-sign the former Test forward due to salary cap constraints.

Aged 27, Williams has been in blockbusting form over the past month since an unwanted stint in NSW Cup. Often criticised for a lack of involvement, Williams is among the most damaging strike forwards in rugby league when fit and firing. He would certainly give the Saints pack some grunt and size.

The Dogs are ready to announce the retention shortly of Williams’ Canterbury teammates, Josh Jackson and Greg Eastwood.
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Who aren't they going to link to the Dragons?
 
hybrideel

hybrideel

Bench
Messages
4,086
Happy MEel said:
I actually think he handled that pretty well. Yes he's bitter but so he should be. He also makes a good point regarding the cohesion in attack.
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I don't think he's handled it well at all. Handling it well would have been to shut his f**king mouth and do what the coach wants to try and get back into first grade like any other player that gets dropped would have to. Arguing with the coach through the media about the reasons for the loss is not handling it well
 
C

caylo

Bench
Messages
4,870
Farah on around 200k with the tigs taking the rest would be a massive upgrade. Farah has played origin and test football for a long time and is always one of the best in his team's. In our structure he would add a lot of creativity in the middle which is something we lack.
I take Farah in a heartbeat, IMO he has been treated poorly form the tigers and he is been dropped because he refused a pay cut or leave not because of form. French, Hayne/foz, Normy and Farah is a great spine
 
Last Week

Last Week

Bench
Messages
3,646
caylo said:
Farah on around 200k with the tigs taking the rest would be a massive upgrade. Farah has played origin and test football for a long time and is always one of the best in his team's. In our structure he would add a lot of creativity in the middle which is something we lack.
I take Farah in a heartbeat, IMO he has been treated poorly form the tigers and he is been dropped because he refused a pay cut or leave not because of form. French, Hayne/foz, Normy and Farah is a great spine
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If the tigers let him go, they're going to expect who ever picks him up to pay more than just over 1/5 of his salary.

It'd be like the Jennings contract all over again. The first year the previous club pays most of the salary, but we'd have to pick up the rest.

Now, Farah only has next year to run on his Tigers contract so we'd have to negotiate for the years following. Which is where the value in Robbie is questionable.

He'd be handy for us in my opinion, but he's fading quickly and I can't see us throwing big dollars at him. I'd rather us invest in youth.
 
C

caylo

Bench
Messages
4,870
Last Week said:
If the tigers let him go, they're going to expect who ever picks him up to pay more than just over 1/5 of his salary.

It'd be like the Jennings contract all over again. The first year the previous club pays most of the salary, but we'd have to pick up the rest.

Now, Farah only has next year to run on his Tigers contract so we'd have to negotiate for the years following. Which is where the value in Robbie is questionable.

He'd be handy for us in my opinion, but he's fading quickly and I can't see us throwing big dollars at him. I'd rather us invest in youth.
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We only need to offer an extension if we want to and the competition offers an extension.
Now if it's between us and the tigers Robbie would probably to play in first grade for his final year and perform to get an extension. Also for the tigers it's not up to them, it's either he stays for 1mil to play nsw cup or sign with a team he wants to. They can't force him to move, ball is in his court.
Robbie lives in Leichhardt, the closets teams are roosters, rabbits, parra, dogs. Dogs and roosters have hookers, souths and us makes sense from location and team balance.
 
Barry O'Speedwagon

Barry O'Speedwagon

Coach
Messages
19,173
I don't want to see Farah anywhere near our club, but on reflection I think the club and the NRL have got this 'no dickheads' policy slightly wrong. I think every club should have a 'dickhead player allowance', identical to the 'marquee player allowance' and for the player(s) who fit within that cap expenditure it's open slather with respect to what they do off the field (as long as they're not in jail). It would allow clubs to take a risk on some real lollipoping bandits, and stop the league discriminating against selfish arseclowns, who through every fault of their own, just can't help f**king up.
 
Happy MEel

Happy MEel

First Grade
Messages
9,436
Barry O'Speedwagon said:
I don't want to see Farah anywhere near our club, but on reflection I think the club and the NRL have got this 'no dickheads' policy slightly wrong. I think every club should have a 'dickhead player allowance', identical to the 'marquee player allowance' and for the player(s) who fit within that cap expenditure it's open slather with respect to what they do off the field (as long as they're not in jail). It would allow clubs to take a risk on some real lollipoping bandits, and stop the league discriminating against selfish arseclowns, who through every fault of their own, just can't help f**king up.
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What has Farah actually f$&ked up through every fault of his own? He has an ego? Yep, so what. He has too much influence on coaching decisions at the Tigers? Yep, I'm sure Jarryd was the same (there was plenty of references to Jarryd advocating for BA at the time). Both are quality players and I'd be disappointed if we weren't at least enquiring about their services.
 
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Happy MEel

Happy MEel

First Grade
Messages
9,436
hybrideel said:
I don't think he's handled it well at all. Handling it well would have been to shut his f**king mouth and do what the coach wants to try and get back into first grade like any other player that gets dropped would have to. Arguing with the coach through the media about the reasons for the loss is not handling it well
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IMO, not handling it well would have been personally attacking the coach (eg. The coach is a prick and has no idea). It sounded to me like he was responding directly to journos and they edited it without the questions so it looked like he was "emotional".

I took it more as him defending his ability, which is fair enough if your employer is trying to get rid of you and you'll be entering into negotiations with another club in the near future.
 
hybrideel

hybrideel

Bench
Messages
4,086
So saying, and i'm paraphrasing here "the reason we are losing is our defence. i find it funny that he is saying it's the cohesion in attack that our problem"
That sound a lot to me like saying the coach has no idea
 
Happy MEel

Happy MEel

First Grade
Messages
9,436
hybrideel said:
So saying, and i'm paraphrasing here "the reason we are losing is our defence. i find it funny that he is saying it's the cohesion in attack that our problem"
That sound a lot to me like saying the coach has no idea
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He sounds spot on to me. Why not call a spade a spade? If the coach is going to drop him, at least make the reasoning legit. If not, expect to get called out on it.

I think the way he phrased it was actually quite diplomatic.
 
C

caylo

Bench
Messages
4,870
Mate he is the nsw 9 and one of the best 9s in the nrl who has been benched and then dropped for a makeshift 9 all season. So him speaking his mind after 9-10 months of bullshi* is being a merkin?
 
Noise

Noise

Coach
Messages
17,298
hybrideel said:
So saying, and i'm paraphrasing here "the reason we are losing is our defence. i find it funny that he is saying it's the cohesion in attack that our problem"
That sound a lot to me like saying the coach has no idea
Click to expand...

Farah is spot on with his assessment of the Tigers attack and defence.
 
hindy111

hindy111

Post Whore
Messages
59,207
Farah would have to compromise I think. If he is owed 900k next season and another club would pay 350k the tigers mays fork out 400k. I think this would be in his best interest. I reckon he will fire up if he plays for a new club. A new challenge. An upgrade on Peats tbh
 
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