Benji Marshall's Manager seeking release from NRL contract

[taste2taste]

This is true for most players but the Benji Marshalls of the world are highly sort after. He would have no problem getting a job in the NRL.

This has just added to the epic meltdown by most on LU in the last couple fo days but the fact is there is a lot more money to be earned elsewhere and the NRL needs to address it. The NRL has 3 options:

- Ignore the issue and continue to lose players
- Allow them to all have 8 month contracts and play Japanese rugby in the offseason
- Find a way to increase wages and bring them more in line with other competitions (French and Japanese rugby in particular).

Obviously the 3rd is the preferred option. If we want to be viewed internationally as a top flight competition the wages need to increase.

STOP SPEAKING SENSE!!! only irrational opinions here please:crazy:

 

[Canard]

Ignore the issue and continue to lose players

Are we losing players? About 0.5% of NRL players in the last 10 years have gone to play Rugby in France and Japan.

- Find a way to increase wages and bring them more in line with other competitions (French and Japanese rugby in particular).

Pretty simplistic solution though isn't it, bit like saying homeless people should just get a job and they would be fine.

I reckon a lot of clubs wouldn't mind the flexibility of a 1 year contract for large chunks of their squad, especially for injuries and form slumps.

 

[roarr]

1. Benji had a quiet year and probably slipped out of the top 10/20 in most people's opinion. His manager is just getting him back into the "elite player" conversation. Ringing the telegraph and saying he's gonna play in Japan is the best way to do it. Get's his name back in the spotlight, backpage of the paper etc etc. Just doing what a scummy manager does to get his % increase.

2. Is Marshall getting married this summer?

3. If done correctly in the future, couldn't some NRL clubs benefit from a bit of asian exposure. Some sort of partnership between the jap rugby club and the tigers could generate a bit of asia-pacifc love. (and by love I mean dollars)

 

[Ulysseus]

I see a couple of problems with letting NRL players enter jap rugby en masse.

1) How the f**k are the little jap guys meant to lift our blokes for line outs if needed
?
2) If anyone can do it - there will be no japs in jap rugby.

 

[El Diablo]

http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/...er-martin-tauber/story-fn2mcuj6-1226517336253

Wests Tigers superstar won't be pursuing a contract with Japanese rugby: manager Martin Tauber

By Ben Glover
FOX SPORTS
November 15, 2012 12:19PM

Benji Marshall's manager has vigorously denied claims the NRL superstar will be pursuing a contract to play rugby in Japan over the off-season.

Reports in several newspapers on Thursday suggested Marshall would be chasing the big dollars on offer in Japan given that Sonny Bill Williams had been allowed to sign with Sydney Roosters despite current rugby commitments and his ongoing boxing career.

While Marshall's manager Martin Tauber was quoted in those reports, he strongly disputed any possibillity the New Zealand skipper would be heading abroad in an exclusive interview with Fox Sports News on Thursday afternoon.

Tauber claimed the idea of juggling the two codes was "impossible" given the possibility of an NRL finals campaign and Marshall's commitments with the Kiwis.

He said he hadn't approached anyone in Japan to try and get a deal done and wouldn't be looking to explore the possibility in the future.

 

[gronkathon]

So much free publicity for the Benji "brand" as much a scumbag as Tauber is he knows how to get the job done

 

[Godz Illa]

lol sounds like a certian player manager has been yelled at recently. What a deadshit

 

[El Diablo]

http://www.weststigers.com.au/news-display/An update from Wests Tigers CEO, Stephen Humphreys/65933

An update from Wests Tigers CEO, Stephen Humphreys

Thursday 15 November 2012 12:53 PM

As many of you are aware, there have been media reports this morning suggesting Wests Tigers star Benji Marshall may seek a release from his current contract with the Club.

Let me put your minds at rest. This will not be happening.

I have spoken with Benji’s manager, Martin Tauber, this morning who assures me that Benji is totally committed to his contract with Wests Tigers for the next three seasons.

The most important message for you, as a Wests Tigers supporter, is that Benji Marshall will remain an integral member of our team and will not be seeking a release from his contract.

Benji is currently with his team-mates at a pre-season training camp on the Central Coast. The boys have been working very hard under the watchful eye of new NRL Coach Mick Potter and Physical Performance Manager Hayden Knowles.

The team has really enjoyed interacting with our supporters on the Central Coast as was evident by the large turnout at The Dam Hotel in Wyong on Monday night.

Let me also take the opportunity to thank the many of you who have already renewed your Membership for 2013.

On behalf of everyone at Wests Tigers, we greatly appreciate your support and I’ll provide you with further updates on the Club on a regular basis.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Humphreys

Chief Executive Officer

 

[juro]

You're telling us that the Daily Telegraph's big news story of the day is a total beat-up? WHAT A SHOCK!!!

 

[El Diablo]

Paul Kent should stick to AFL

 

[Canard]

Physical Performance Manager Hayden Knowles.

Surely this guys nickname is Beyonce?

 

[newman]

There really are some reactive simpletons on here with talk of banning players or blanket preventions of players playing other comps in the summer.

Look at it from a players perspective: the money IS good in Japan. The season IS short, and you would stay match fit without doing sand dune runs and wind sprints in the summer heat. All while making a couple of hundred thou.While Japanese rugby is seen as "easy money", and with pay rates that make the Nrl look like bush league, there will always be a desire for the top echelon of players to want to go there. Banning players, shut outs, restrictions etc etc (particularly when the NRL is at the low end of the pay scale, relatively speaking) will only rile players up and could result in losing, not retaining or holding players.

And if you want the NRL to be of a high standard, you need to have the best players. Thankfully we havent seen a mass exodus (worst was probably when we lost Lote, Dell, Rogers and Fraser Anderson) to Rugby, but with big money being thrown around its an issue the ARLC will have to manage carefully.

 

[eozsmiles]

The main reason this is BS is because Benji won't command massive dollars over there. The money will be good but it won't be a million dollars, not close. $BW is a test level rugby union player and he got a million. Benji is a rugby league player, and let's be honest, neither he nor his club have set the world on fire lately.

Andrew Johns went overseas and played for Warrington in the off season LONG before $BW did, probably even before Benji got the idea 3-4 years ago. So if an immortal can play for another club in the off season there is no reason why any other player couldn't.

 

[Cockadoodledoo]

thats why it is different and any attempt at a comparison is a long bow drawn.
SBW is not contracted to an NRL club & playing union in Japan at the same time

you can't be contracted to 2 clubs in 2 different codes at the same time
nice try Benji .... but it will be a no this time , like it was last time.

spot on.. hilarious reading all the geniuss trying to blame SBW coming back to play League and the Benji situation. Lote Tuqiri joined the Tigers 3 years back after finishing his European Rugby committments a week before the NRL season began. Not one person wants to bring up the 'precedent' that set. It is all about SBW.

 

[bottle]

Here we go again, another person calling for player bands

They never work, just ask Eric Grothe Jnr. Not a musical bone in their bodies.

Sounds like Paul Ima Kent had an idea for a made up story and fitted a few quotes in to suit. Absolute tripe by the sounds.

As for letting guys go to play Jap Rugby -

1) The player drain is a myth, particularly at present with the strong $AUD. A few have left, they weren't missed, almost all have come back.
2) Notwithstanding 1) above, dangerous territory. What if they're good at it and spotted by European scouts and offered longer term contracts, then we could have an issue.

Unless they want to do a Sonny Bill and slink away from their contract like a rat in the night, and/or back themselves to engage in short term RL contracts, they are contracted to RL. End of.

 

[Perth Red]

I'm confused, do players want a rest at the end of an NRL season or not? It would seem that maybe the rest isn't as needed as thought. in which case the answer is simple. Move the WCC to two weeks after the NRL/SL Gf and run a proper Interantional calendar from mid October to Xmas with at least 7-10 test matches in it. Pay them a decent rep appearance fee regardless of which country they are representing and lets at least pay them to be playing RL and growing the game.

 

[newman]

The burnout theory is a myth. Players feel that they play enough games as is AT CURRENT PAY RATES. Offer to pay them more, and they will play just about every week if the money is equivalent to the energy expended; but as it stands they are not going to play extra for very little extra money. The Kangaroos payments are atrocious, and players often dont see the money for 12 months!

Dont forget that in the 80s players would pay the regular season, the mid week cup (for extra pay) and then go to England and do a full season there (again, for extra pay).

An extended rep programme, that is remunerated at an "elite" level is the solution to all this as Perth Red suggests. Will we get it? I doubt it.

 

[nrlnrl]

You're telling us that the Daily Telegraph's big news story of the day is a total beat-up? WHAT A SHOCK!!!

yeah, keep it in mind that this is the player manager who Moltzened the Dragons.

 

[Canard]

yeah, keep it in mind that this is the player manager who Moltzened the Dragons.

He should be lauded as a hero at the Saints for that, helped them dodge a massive bullet.

So this was all a beat up, the irony is that SBW will be back playing Rugby in NZ in 2014 for probably less than the top NRL players will receive.

 

[LineBall]

The main reason this is BS is because Benji won't command massive dollars over there. The money will be good but it won't be a million dollars, not close. $BW is a test level rugby union player and he got a million. Benji is a rugby league player, and let's be honest, neither he nor his club have set the world on fire lately.

Andrew Johns went overseas and played for Warrington in the off season LONG before $BW did, probably even before Benji got the idea 3-4 years ago. So if an immortal can play for another club in the off season there is no reason why any other player couldn't.

True Eoz. The difference here though is that Benji wants to play another sport more than anything else which seems to be the big bugbear for everyone.

Your example of Andrew Johns is a good one, and let's not forget that before superleague, many big name Australian players went over to play in England in their competition. Look at the 1985 challenge cup final with Brett Kenny, Peter Sterling, Chicka Ferguson all playing.