OT/ Thurston and Smith testimonial game -thoughts

[FlameThrower]

Just saw this on ch9 news. Thurston and Smith testimonial preseason game at Suncorp. ch9 stated that the takings would not count as salary cap!! Is this a precedent !!
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...m/news-story/8870106b5791ea0738641d9c3363235a
The story above, only paints have of the picture.... talking about donations to charity..but seems a bit grey...

thoughts.....

 

[ouryear]

Just saw this on ch9 news. Thurston and Smith testimonial preseason game at Suncorp. ch9 stated that the takings would not count as salary cap!! Is this a precedent !!
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...m/news-story/8870106b5791ea0738641d9c3363235a
The story above, only paints have of the picture.... talking about donations to charity..but seems a bit grey...

thoughts.....

My thouguts are they deserve it....but so did / do others.
Thurston and Smith obviously very good, but have been favourire sons of the nrl for a long while now.

So many should have been afforded the same farewell.

Amazing how QLD rule the palace, i guess its karma after years of nsw ripping off qld pre state of origin, choosing qld players playing in sydney to play against basically a local Brisbane team.

NSW have been surpassed, smashed almost into oblivion by qld teams with pride, passion and revenge as their motivation. This celebration, however deserved....is another reminder.

 

[FlameThrower]

My thouguts are they deserve it....but so did / do others.
Thurston and Smith obviously very good, but have been favourire sons of the nrl for a long while now.
So many should have been afforded the same farewell.

I get that, but I clearly remember Dragons players paying out of their own pockets to have Fijian Nabuli's family watch his début. NRL counted it in the salary cap...

 

[ouryear]

I get that, but I clearly remember Dragons players paying out of their own pockets to have Fijian Nabuli's family watch his début. NRL counted it in the salary cap...

Pretty tough on Nabulis family and club. ...small minded NRL.

Saints need to be tougher in their stance vs NRL, but difficult when you have big loans from your nrl masters.

If its for charity.....IF..... then thats good.

As long as its not to buy more boats and yachts for the storm players driveways

 

[Brutalitops]

They deserve it, and it's largely for charity so I fully support it.

Maybe I just love the idea of a preseason grand final rematch. That sounds super exciting to me as a general concept.

 

[Life's Good]

The charity part is great but it’s a bit of a red herring in that it’s likely tax deductible so someone will end up with a nice chunk of earnings.
As mentioned in an earlier post why is this reserved for these 2 only?? Plenty of other players have contributed as much(or more)without anywhere near the fanfare or plaudits.
As far as I’m concerned it opens a rather interesting debate regarding salary cap.

 

[dragonssamy61]

Just saw this on ch9 news. Thurston and Smith testimonial preseason game at Suncorp. ch9 stated that the takings would not count as salary cap!! Is this a precedent !!
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...m/news-story/8870106b5791ea0738641d9c3363235a
The story above, only paints have of the picture.... talking about donations to charity..but seems a bit grey...

thoughts.....

Flamethrower
They are exploiting a loop hole.
Definitely grey but also smart

 

[Brutalitops]

As mentioned in an earlier post why is this reserved for these 2 only?? Plenty of other players have contributed as much(or more)without anywhere near the fanfare or plaudits.

Have to strongly disagree here. They are easily two of the strongest of the last several decades. Andrew Johns, Darren Lockyer, etc should have got the same treatment though, but Smith and Thurston are two of the best players in league history and future Immortals

 

[Life's Good]

Have to strongly disagree here. They are easily two of the strongest of the last several decades. Andrew Johns, Darren Lockyer, etc should have got the same treatment though, but Smith and Thurston are two of the best players in league history and future Immortals

For me this isn’t about questioning their status in the game. I’m not. Whether they earn Immortal status is neither here nor there for me because as far as I’m concerned when you have Phil Rothfield voting on Immortals the concept loses a whole lot of credibility(my opinion only but probably shared by others when Provan, Sterling, Meninga etc. are not considered).

For me it’s simply a question of 2 things:

1). Why does the NRL see fit to sanction this game, which will earn money OUTSIDE of the cap, when the whole issue of TPA & salary cap is such a contentious issue?
2). Thurston & Smith are quite vocal about player burnout yet will turn up for this game which is essentially a trial match. Would they bother playing if the ‘testimonial’ wasn’t attached to it?? Maybe yes, maybe no. It will be interesting to see if they turn out for the WCC.

Again, my thoughts which was the point of the thread.

 

[Gippsy]

Why do the highest paid players in the game need a testimonial?

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

Why do the highest paid players in the game need a testimonial?

Times are tough...This was mentioned about a month ago, but totally agree, why do they need the testimonial, why not make it all money goes to 1 or a few nominated charity's, make it a yearly event, NRL giving back to the community, not money for nothing to a couple of millionaires...

 

[JDHD]

I get the distinct impression that the NRL, as usual, didn't think this idea through because the criteria they gave for which players qualify feel like they were done after someone asked what they were.

 

[grouch]

If all the money goes to charity, then this is a fabulous idea and both players, particularly Thurston, deserve it.

However, if any money goes to the two players then it is seriously stinky. Testimonials are from a bygone era when players were on a pittance and retired almost penniless. The last one I recall was for Mark Coyne back when he retired, and even then, 17 years ago, it was old-fashioned and Coyne gave all the proceeds to charity.

I find it hard to hate JT so I'm going to assume the best in this case.

 

[Old Kogarah Boy 1]

Pretty tough on Nabulis family and club. ...small minded NRL.

Saints need to be tougher in their stance vs NRL, but difficult when you have big loans from your nrl masters.

If its for charity.....IF..... then thats good.

As long as its not to buy more boats and yachts for the storm players driveways

Remember Warnie set up his own charity fund.

I’m thinking of starting my own charity, so feel free to swipe the credit card in my direction. You’ll be helping a good cause ( my Dan Murphy’s credit line)

Phone - 1800-OKB1

We accept all cards and have operators waiting right now for your call.

Plus, if you ring us today, you get a free set of steak knives.

Ring in the next 15 minutes and we’ll double the steak knives!!!!

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Do it now!!!!!!!

 

[Maxwell]

They are not retiring at the moment so why should they be having this benefit game for them, its just a loop hole that's been exploited. Fui Fui Moy Moy family was coming out to watch him in a grand final , no cannot that would put them Parra over the cap, the NRL does what it wants when it wants for who ever they want to do something. Then they wonder why people don't go to games.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

They are not retiring at the moment so why should they be having this benefit game for them, its just a loop hole that's been exploited. Fui Fui Moy Moy family was coming out to watch him in a grand final , no cannot that would put them Parra over the cap, the NRL does what it wants when it wants for who ever they want to do something. Then they wonder why people don't go to games.

pretty sure same thing happened to Luke Priddis, was playing for Saints, milestone game possibly 300 against Gold Coast, saints wanted to bring his whole family, but would have counted in the cap...

 

[coast_dragons]

Its a game that channel nine can have a wank over.

 

[ouryear]

Have to strongly disagree here. They are easily two of the strongest of the last several decades. Andrew Johns, Darren Lockyer, etc should have got the same treatment though, but Smith and Thurston are two of the best players in league history and future Immortals

They are great players but also millionaires times over.
Why do they need this?
And they are still playing.
It stinks of rorting to me with a strong dose of egotism.

What happened to the indeginous game they used to play......ohhhh, player burnout they said!

 

[JDHD]

Pretty tough on Nabulis family and club. ...small minded NRL.

Saints need to be tougher in their stance vs NRL, but difficult when you have big loans from your nrl masters.

If its for charity.....IF..... then thats good.

As long as its not to buy more boats and yachts for the storm players driveways

It's not for charity. The main advertising point of the game was that smith and Thurston were going to profit from it

 

[Coffs dragon]

Different strokes for different Folkes! I can't imagine the NRL allowing this to happen for Paul Gallen & Robbie Farrah!!!
Cam Smith & JT hold much power in the game and are seen as the next immortals in the game. The NRL see them as $$$