$5,000,000 for Thurston?

[betcats]

The plan is to spend to the salary cap so that means it is must be affordable.

My bad.

You are the one who said "there is no way we can afford the Thurston offer". Thats a pretty strong statement.

Ive seen nothing and you have said nothing that makes that true.

Clubs grant is 7mil, The salary cap will be what 6.3m next season?

How the f**k can we not afford it?

 

[darkbloom]

Football operation lost $3.7m last year. I guess they have cut salaries for the coming year by dumping membership manager, marketing manager, media manager.

If you think the grant alone is enough to run a football, that is ok.

I happen to think the grant needs to be considered in the context of the entire operation.

I have exaggerated with my first statement to make a point. But according to your logic we could afford any player at any time for any amount just so long as the grant was enough to cover the elite squad. I disagree.

 

[darkbloom]

I agree, although we already have 4 teams in the west - Canterbury, Parramatta, Wests and Penrith.

Do you think these clubs are thriving? Canterbury may be but I don't think any of them have more than 15000 members - two of them can't crack 10k. Their average crowds are low to not bad and are volatile. None of these clubs come close to breaking even from football, they are all dependent on huge grants from poker machine clubs.

Rugby League has to make a decision soon about how its clubs can become financially viable from football.

That will involve a careful look at the saturation of the marketplace.

 

[betcats]

I was just questioning how you know we can't afford him, which you don't.

I said given the clubs financial situation and the fact that the entire salary cap and then some is covered by the clubs Grant and the fact that we are actually making the offer to Thurston it would seem that we can afford him. Pretty reasonable logic if you ask me.

 

[herbert henry1908]

I agree, although we already have 4 teams in the west - Canterbury, Parramatta, Wests and Penrith.

Yeah I know , I was responding to darkblooms claim that we have too many teams.

 

[Doomednow]

Looking at those Western teams from a geographical perspective, all are justified and important. The problem is getting local NRL fans to embrace their local team instead of supporting some other team their dad supported.

Geographically, you could barely even count Wests as a Western team. Real estate agents will tell you anywhere East of Parramatta is now the "Inner West". You can't exactly trust a real estate agent, though.

 

[murraymob]

our history of failing is the real problem.Since coming into the comp we have had around 5 good years. What kid at school wants to support a losing team.
The simple facts until we can be a competitive club constantly crowd support will be small.
Getting Thurston brings interest in the club on many levels.From the school kid to the local business who may be half way to sponsoring.I see more positives to negatives in him arriving and well worth the price tag

 

[Pantherjim.]

I honestly think that we've already missed out on Thurston... We've just signed Isaac John... why would we even bother if we were serious condtenders for JT's signature?

Depth in the halves? Come on, we already have Luke Walsh and Tom Humble.

 

[MaxPower]

Penrith have signed John for 2013, and are chasing Thurston for 2014. In what possible way is John a substitute for Thurston?

 

[Doomednow]

Yeah Thurston won't be till 2014. John is a stop gap. I'm not confident we'll get Thurston but signing John doesn't write us out.

 

[Pantherjim.]

Penrith have signed John for 2013, and are chasing Thurston for 2014. In what possible way is John a substitute for Thurston?

Ah Ok... gotcha.

Thought we were chasing Thurston for this season.

 

[Kilkenny]

The Thurston situation is becoming a 'drag' and I hope it is resolved sometime soon. If he's coming great, but if not we need to know so we can put plan B in place and see if we can secure a cheaper option in an up and coming half with real potential to be a top liner.

 

[herbert henry1908]

There would have to be an announcement before Friday , otherwise it will be weeks away IMO.

No way they announce the week before the start of the season.

 

[maple_69]

Worst possible outcome is this continues to drag out, we eventually miss Thurston and then are forced to pay overs ala Sandow for a solid halfback. We need to give Thurston a reasonable timeframe for a decision which will allow us to get into the market for the next best option.

 

[murraymob]

Penrith may already have the answer

 

[Hunted]

Thats true Penrith probably do have the answer and are trying to work out who will be the best choices to play around him.

 

[EvolutionUber]

I doubt he'll want to goto Penrith, not many people want anything at all to do with a shit hole like Penrith.

 

[some11]

I don't think you're going to hear any contract news regarding JT for a long time.

 

[EvolutionUber]

Or maybe jt enjoys 18 year old females around that have 3 kids and men with the equal amount of teeth.

 

[Shire Panther]

I doubt he'll want to goto Penrith, not many people want anything at all to do with a shit hole like Penrith.

You are obviously the result of a homosexual relationship:crazy: