NSW Cup side?

[madunit]

I can only speculate but at this stage I would assume it will remain Cronulla Sharks.

The very few players that the storm signed from the NSW Cup side (Cahill, Kelly, Widdop and about 2-3 others) will play essentially for Cronulla, however if the Storm NRL side needs them they will be the only players eligible to fill in for them. It appears the Storm are hinging a lot of time and effort onto their Under 20's.

Now, as I said, all merely speculation, but if the Storm NSW Cup players aren't picked up elsewhere, they will essentially sign NSW Cup contracts with Cronulla, making them eligible to play first Grade for the Sharks and not the Storm.

Unfortunately, and it's the same with most NRL Clubs now, NSW Cup is seen as a third grade comp behind Under 20's, so a lot of these players are essentially sent to the scrapheap when it is pretty clear they are a damn sight better than most Under 20's players.

 

[madunit]

I began writing for Rugby League Review magazine this year. My boss there recently had an interview with Greg Brentnall, regarding the Storm and Cronulla merger.

Here are the facts:
*The team will still be known as Cronulla Sutherland Sharks
*All home games will be played at the Sharks NSW Cup teams home ground
*Any surplus Storm players from NSW Cup will be sent to the Sharks, however due to the Salary Cap issue, they will not be Melbourne aligned players. They will actually be Cronulla players
*The Storm will not have any part time players outside of their top 25.

So it wasn't really a merger, it was a takeover. Storm NSW Cup players had nowhere to play and the Sharks took them all, and the Storm let them.

The NSW Cup players that the Storm signed will play with their feeder club Easts Tigers in Brisbane.

 

[nqcowboy87]

so let me get this straight the sharks nsw cup side has basically tken all the players from the storms nsw cup side and next year when a player misses out on the storms 17 hell be playing for easts tigers (i thoguth the broncos had an aranngement with them?)

 

[madunit]

Bronco's severed ties with Easts Tigers.

Any Storm players not in the 17 will be playing for Easts Tigers. The only other players they can use will be their Under 20's players.

 

[MsStorm]

Thanks for filling us in with all the info. So we have been gobbled up by the Sharks...frig that!

 

[madunit]

well it appears that the Storm could not fit the NSW Cup side under their caps, so the players unfortunately had to go somewhere and Sharks were the very lucky recipients.

With any luck, the young guys will get a run with the Sharks next season. With the quality of players in the Storm squad, a lot of these guys may have never made first grade, but I guess they now have a better chance.

 

[Delboy]

Billy Rogers has signed a contract to play at Parramatta Eels for 2011