DRAGONS DENIED HINDMARSH FEE
By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport Rugby League Correspondent
Catalans Dragons have failed in their attempt to seek a transfer fee for Australian forward Ian Hindmarsh.
The French engage Super League club released the former Canberra second rower from the two years left on his contract at the end of last season to enable him to return to New South Wales for personal reasons.
But, when the player joined his brother Nathan, the Australian Test forward, at Parramatta, the Dragons insisted on a £16,000 fee and held onto his registration.
A Rugby Football League tribunal today ruled that the contract between Hindmarsh, who turns 30 on Saturday, and the Dragons was mutually terminated and that the player was a free agent.
The tribunal, held via a telephone link between Australia and France, determined there was no clause in the player's contract that prevented him from registering for another club and therefore no fee was due to the Catalans.
The League granted a temporary clearance which enabled Hindmarsh to play in the first two matches of the National Rugby League season for the Eels.
Hindmarsh made 27 appearances in the Dragons' inaugural Super League campaign but was released from his contract after telling club officials he wanted to return home to look after his farm in the New South Wales country town of Cowra, which had been hit by a drought.
..... actually yeah I've gotta say, clause or no clause, he left cos of the farm and then started up playing again - I think I'd consider it wrong too
