Ben Ross

[blacktip-reefy]

He has the right to be annoyed, of course. He was chased after signed and now is not wanted, any player in his position would have their confidence knocked out of them.

But he cannot seriously say that Cronulla needs to tell him straight up.

Stuart made his position quite clear at the end of the year that he was not wanted. He knows that he is STILL part of a club that does not want him.

Coming out in the media and crying about it when he is already 100% aware of the fact is surely not the right move for someone in his position.

It's not that im against him as a player, i believe there are better forwards out there that we should be spending our money on and Mason is certainly one of them.

If you look at the situation from Stuart's point of view, he has one forward on a large amount of money that he feels is unwarranted and he's doing everything he can to sign a forward that he believes would be warranted. That being the situation, of course Ross's name is going to be thrown around every time a class forward is on the market, it's something that he has to live with if he's going to make the tough decision to play with a team that doesn't want him.

And if Bird does a cruciate & spends 1.5 years in rehab chewing up 200-300k, does the club ay he is not wanted? Gallen does a shoulder & spends a year in rehab chewing up 300-350k , do we get rid of him? Luke douglas breaks a leg, do we offload him?
I agree with earlier sentiments. This should not be public knowledge. If the Sharks want to get rid of him, they should, or they should keep him & shut up. Anything else canot be conducive to a tight knit group.
In regards to Ross, lets hope Frank Zappa can learn the lesson of our clubs mistakes whilst Anderson was here.
We had some good props around in 2000-2001 & Anderson renegged & brought in tweedle & wessel, while the club road on the back of marty lang, Longy & Jason Stevens in particular.
When Stevo retired we were already i na bit of a hole after marty had left but Stevos retirement was a killer.
We bought the best prop on the market & probably the best prop in the country at the time on slightly more money than we needed to pay, because we are the Sharks.
lets hope that Frank Zappa & co, never leave us in such a position again, because after Rossco got injured in 06, we had nothing.

 

[Quigs]

I guess what the problem is these days is that nothing ever gets to be kept inhouse until the appropriate time.

As the stinky yanks would say "every club has informants embeded within the club"

And with this dang fangled thingy called the internet then nothing can be kept el secret.

I heard the blokes yacking on Talkin Sports yesterday and they were saying guys like legendary Frank Facer or to a later extent Bullfrog Moore would simply get the blokes in a headlock take them into a back room give them a slap around the ears and then sit down over a few schooners and sort out the problems....... no newspaper crap .... no nuffin'

And luckily for us we have all our own embedded scoops in here - some i appreciate - can come up with the goss. But this type of sh!t with what is happening to Ross everytime some player comes free on the market - no matter what the general League public thinks - it should not be publicly expressed by our club or player.

In defence of Ross - I would be pissed off reading comments attributed to my club officials even if not first hand quotes - about me if I was not told as the events were unfolding.

Sh!t how much is a phonecall.

Cheers
Declared Idiot #88
Quigs

 

[Frenzy.]

What is the Sharks side of the story.

Have to agree with SharkShocked on one point. Ross has known he wasn't wanted for quite awhile. Just because he dug his heels in and rightfully evoked his right to have his contract honoured doesn't mean he suddenly became the most covetted prop in the world in the Sharks eyes.

I'd like to know what the Sharks angle is. I'd bet it hasn't changed much and that Ross knew he'd be under the pump if a player the coach wanted more became available.

FWIW though, I'd keep Ben and go with the majority thinking of letting the evil entity Paris Noddy Simmorley Kimmons take a powder.

BAAAAAAAAA

 

[Quigs]

My point Cap'n

And i believe you are of the same line of thought.

If the club needs to free up cash. What is its priority. Its wishlist.

I know that Ross is on big whoppy - we all know that. But is he the top priority to offload.

I don't think so - I think he could be a valubale member of the side. My opinion mind you.

Instead of mentioning Ross everytime why don't they mention the Dwarf, Paris and some of those extra backs that we don't need.

f**k i'd rather suffer the extra $100,000.00 with Ross then have you know who directing operations as we slip into another exciting race for the last place in thetop eight.

Cheers
Declared Idiot #88
Quigs

 

[Weaponhead]

My suggestion to Tony Z (if he stills reads this stuff) is to do the following -

1. We need to reduce the cash going to Ross. I would sit down with Ross and say 'we think that you are a good player and want you to stay but we can't keep paying you $400k. You did a great deal with the previous management but we can't sustain it. If you can take a pay cut to $300k (still top $ for a player of Ross's standing) we can get Willie and have a great shot at winning the comp. Think about the pack we'll have next year, virtually a rep pack. With Cronulla lpaying well you will have a much better shot at getting back into Origin and then pushing for test selection (Civonceva and Price are getting on). This will mean rep bonuses for you and you can then cash in by going to England in a couple of years time on much bigger money'.

2. We need to free up more cash be offloading another high earner. We have three players capable of playing half next year. We should move Kimmorley on to free up the cash. Seymour, Green and Bird can handle the halves positions next year.

Doing these two things will free up $350-$400k. Allows us to keep Ross and gives us the best pack in the comp with Mason included. Kimmorley is past his best and coming off two ops last season. Now is the time to move him on and give Seymour and Green a go.

It may be a tough negotiation getitng Ross to take a pay cut but I think that this is best case for us and it will allow him to concentrate on footy without the speculation.

 

[carcharias]

um 1 problem Weaponhead..
Willie or no Wilie

The storm.

They will go back to back with ease.

 

[Badge]

Look I don't think Ross is worth anything near $400K but there are ways of handling things and I think the club handles these aspects very poorly always have. Seymour was told to go by Ricky didnt train and then he had to swalow his pride and ask Seymour back through injuries. I just hope that the same thing doesnt happen with Ross as it appears that he already has a stale taste in his mouth and is only really hangin around to cop the money. Can't see him busting his arse for Ricky and the club when he knows that he's not really wanted.

 

[Frenzy.]

Look I don't think Ross is worth anything near $400K but there are ways of handling things and I think the club handles these aspects very poorly always have. Seymour was told to go by Ricky didnt train and then he had to swalow his pride and ask Seymour back through injuries. I just hope that the same thing doesnt happen with Ross as it appears that he already has a stale taste in his mouth and is only really hangin around to cop the money. Can't see him busting his arse for Ricky and the club when he knows that he's not really wanted.

Then he shouldn't resist moving on. He'd do better to cut his losses, get his melon out of the papers and stop whining.

 

[samshark]

Ok, we all agree that Ross is overpaid. Not his fault.
But if we are near the $4million salary cap, as is reported then I reckon there is few more players in our squad who are pretty f**king overpaid and thats excluding Kimorley and Paris.

Look at our squad, aside from 8 or 9 players they are all either rejects, reserve grade and fringe NRL players from other clubs e.g Kearney, Anderson, Misi, Filiga, Seymour, Green, Norrie, Snowden, De Gois, Stephenson, etc or young players not fully established e.g. Brown, Selmes, Sua etc

How the hell could that squad currently be costing $3.9-$4million.

 

[The Dodger]

i agree with frenzy.

in my opinion, the club has a right to search for a better option if they are not happy with their current one.

c'mon, how long does it take to get over a knee injury.
even at that, he was told he wasn't wanted, he hasn't played up to his ability and he is being paid over 400k a season.

same goes for kimmorley, if there is a better option, then i would take it.
ATM there isn't.

 

[blacktip-reefy]

I dont think ross is over paid at all.
There is not an origin front rower in the NRL who is not on more than 350k.

Omeley
kite
Bull
Petero
willie
webcke
Stevo
asotasi
Price

just to name a few are or were on the same money as Ross who was a starting front rower for qld when we signed him.
6 games after that, he destroyed his knee.
He will be in the top 4 proprs in the game again, I have no doubt, because the guy is a very good footballer & a lethal defender.

If it wasnt for injury, then he would probably be our captian already.

 

[blacktip-reefy]

c'mon, how long does it take to get over a knee injury.

Minimu 2 years to get back to approx 90%
Ask justin hodges.
Ask matthew head.
Ask Colin best.
Ask Sam Icemonger who had 2

A full knee reco is devastating for a top flight player, especially a guy tackled 20 times a game.

 

[blacktip-reefy]

And for the record, the only prop in the game at the moment I would swap Ross for, is petero, Price who is on 450k per year & fui fui perhaps.

 

[Badge]

I agree to about the club being able to look to better options but there is a way of doing it as to not pissing the the player off IE Seymour/ Hannay just in case egg is put on the face of the club IE Seymour and you suddenly find you need the player. This could be the case if we miss out on Mason then Dougy & or Sua break a leg and Ross is the forward leader , do you think he is going to bust his arse for Stuart when he wanted to piss him off .

 

[Chondricthyes]

You really have to admire a bloke who is told to piss off and then still plays his heart out for us.

I want 17 in my team.

What is wrong with Stick that that type of character is unwanted. Is there something we have missed?

On this occasion I agree totally with Reefy. Ross is and will be worth every cent given a good run and the character he has shown should be valued and used as a benchmark for all future and current Sharks players.

I hope they don't push him too far because I for one think he is everything we need in a player/front rower.

Willie would be a "footballing asset" to any side but I would stick to Ross for the extra he brings.

Frankie if you are reading this ..give the coach an uppercut for me.

 

[doggone]

I think it stinks how the Media and Clubs treat football players like they are a piece of meat. After all they are human and they have feelings like the rest of us also families etc. If Cronulla have signed a player that they don't really want now, that's their bad luck, they made their bed now lie in it. Willie needs to be man enough to fullfil his obligations to the contract he has with Bulldogs. IMO neither player is worth that money, but some idiots have signed them, so that's the way it should be.

 

[Coastal Shark]

My two cents - I think Ross probably doesn't show enough aggression or mongrel for Sticky. He is known to like aggressive forwards particularly at prop. You can see why he loves Bird and Gallen.

Personally, I think Ross was signed for too much but that was the only way we could attract quality players to our club. Sad but true. I believe that has changed a bit with the signing of the Oz coach, but a premiership is the only way. Being a winning club. I know that's stating the obvious and we all agree but this latest shyt fight only reinforces it. I really don't hold out much hope of getting Willy, but f*ck it would be nice to keep Ross, land Willy and flck the gnome.

I am allowed my dreams.

 

[Pie Floater]

and if it doesn't work out in real life, we can all just buy RL2 and play it the way we want it to happen.

 

[roboshark]

piss poor imo...if we dont get willie then we have the same squad as we had 4 weeks ago, but with a fraction more unrest

dont like it, dont like it one bit

 

[TITAN1]

I think Ross was signed by Stuart because Sticky was still in "Rooster mode" (sign the best player atm) regardless of how the player fits your team.