CEO payments / K Hunt

[NRLMad]

I can not understand why people keep raving on about karmichael hunt. He was ok as a player but he was not that great. Not just that but he'd struggle to play at the same level after 3 years or whatever he signed for. Does anyone else agree that he should not even be mentioned in the same line as special dispensation rules? I can understand it applying for folau, but what options does this bloke have anyways. No one in afl will pay him after he is in 2nd grade now and then on top of that he was an utter wanker on the way out..

 

[Brutus]

Agree.

 

[Card Shark]

Way too much fuss is made of players threatening to leave the game or wanting to come back.

Bugger em I reckon - put the $ into developing the next superstars

 

[hineyrulz]

He'd be worth a pie and coke deal, playing at 17 has come back to haunt him injuries have slowed him down. Just like every other mercenary who left to chase the cash he has been replaced comfortably and easily forgotten. Thats what RL does, breed superstars. Poaching them is all the inferior codes can manage.

 

[NRLMad]

The CEO deal should be used to prop up the international game. I.e. Steal the best Pacific Islanders, English players from Union

 

[Perth Red]

Burgess is a much much bigger loss for the game, both in NRL, international and UK where he could have really helped grow the game as a RL ambassador. It's a massive shame his talent is going to be wasted in onion and he will help the English RU no end in marketing to northern audiences.

Hunt? Did he used to play RL once upon a time?

 

[Bring it home Knights]

You guys have seriously short memories. Hunt was one of the premium fullbacks in the game before he left. He also regularly played for qld and Australia, plus he was good enough to make his debut at 17.

 

[Perth Red]

Can you honestly say the NRL has been negatively impacted without him though? Not like Australia or qland didn't find a replacement t, not like thousands of fans switched to afl to follow him, not like his profile wasn't replaced by other stars as soon as he left.

 

[Jason Maher]

The same will happen with Burgess.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Personally I'd prefer hunt back then folau. Hunt was awesome, I loved watching him. Folau was the over rated one. Yeah he carves up union, so what. Joseph Tomane was a reserve grade winger for the titans the year they got the wooden spoon and walked into the wallabies side. Daniel toupou is a carbon copy of folau, he isn't missed.

 

[Perth Red]

The same will happen with Burgess.

I doubt it, it is rare to get a forward with media personality, throw in the pommie aspect and the reality that for England he could be the difference between them one day winning something or staying third and it's a major loss. Imagine what it would have done for international RL if England won the Ashes series next year.

Talent wise sure other NRL forwards will replace him but it's the other things that are hard to replace with him.

 

[Charlie124]

You guys have seriously short memories. Hunt was one of the premium fullbacks in the game before he left. He also regularly played for qld and Australia, plus he was good enough to make his debut at 17.

Yeah.... WELL before he left, he'd lost his origin spot (shifted to the bench with little to no impact) and was on the steep decline at club level too. People remember him as the kamikaze fullback he was when he first debuted but those days had already passed him by by the time he left. We don't need him back.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Can you honestly say the NRL has been negatively impacted without him though? Not like Australia or qland didn't find a replacement t, not like thousands of fans switched to afl to follow him, not like his profile wasn't replaced by other stars as soon as he left.

Nope, but always a great news story when our stars turn there back on other codes and return though.

Makes us look like the top dog.

 

[kbw]

Both Burgess and cutie are no losses to the game. Burgess is the biggest grub the game has seen in a long time and cutie was just not that good.

With this funding pool, who is going to have the final say , Ch9 ?

 

[Bring it home Knights]

Yeah.... WELL before he left, he'd lost his origin spot (shifted to the bench with little to no impact) and was on the steep decline at club level too. People remember him as the kamikaze fullback he was when he first debuted but those days had already passed him by by the time he left. We don't need him back.

So he was still in the QLD team then before he left? Sounds pretty good to me. Who replaced him at fullback? Was it a bloke called Billy Slater, who some experts are saying is one of the best fullbacks of all time?

So you are saying his form wasn't as good as it was slightly earlier in his career? Because players don't ever have form slumps (not that it was a big one if he's still selected for his state)?

It sounds like you are one of those people who will refer to a slight form slump as equaling a player in decline. All players suffer form slumps during their careers. Get over it.

 

[joshreading]

I think CEO payments should be used for players that are of strategic importance to the whole game. The NRL needs to start thinking like a Competition with it's eyes on the world not just our backyard.

The NRL needs to be ready to recruit players not for increasing our own viewership in Australia solely but the profile of the NRL in strategic markets where there is a Rugby presence in particular and bring financial benefit. This could also be done by partnering with Australian centred RL connected companies that have a presence in these nations (killing two birds with one stone) to help fund these raids.

These nations would be like France, Italy, Argentina, Japan, South Africa and New Zealand.

Recruiting the highest profile players from these nations from Union and INTENTIONALLY using marketing initiatives to bring a focus on the NRL as the toughest and biggest 'Rugby' competition in the world.

Imagine recruiting strategically the highest profile African background Springbok and key Africaans background player (this would particularly work well with expansion into Perth as well) BUT the point would be to flood SA TV and the web with Vox Pops of these players declaring 'Watch me step up into the toughest Rugby Competition in the world!"

Increasingly and creating foreign TV markets and strengthening the International presence of RL is crucial to our long time growth.

The NRL also needs to make it 'normal' for ALL Blacks in NZ to consider a stint in the NRL as the only way to prove they are truly world class 'rugby' athletes.

 

[eozsmiles]

He'd be worth a pie and coke deal, playing at 17 has come back to haunt him injuries have slowed him down. Just like every other mercenary who left to chase the cash he has been replaced comfortably and easily forgotten. Thats what RL does, breed superstars. Poaching them is all the inferior codes can manage.

The Bronco's still haven't replaced him. They've had one good season since he left. He is not the prime reason, but he is one of them. And as so many other threads remind us, the Broncos are a prime piece of the ratings/crowds/funding puzzle.

I don't think he would be the number 1 recruitment target for a couple of reasons, one of which is that I don't think he would rise to the top level again.

Replacing players at the rep level is easy. Replacing players at club level is very hard.The broncos haven't replaced Locky (obviously) or Hunt. Nor the Knights with Johns (obviously). Souths are losing their gun forward next year. Teams can't just replace top players. It will be tough for them to improve. Those three clubs all hold significant tactical importance for the NRL. We really don't want them getting weaker for any reason. Saying "we can replace him with a kid from 20's" is crap and saying "we can recruit a player from another club with the cap space" just weakens another club and therefore the NRL as a whole.

 

[hineyrulz]

The Bronco's still haven't replaced him. They've had one good season since he left. He is not the prime reason, but he is one of them. And as so many other threads remind us, the Broncos are a prime piece of the ratings/crowds/funding puzzle.

I don't think he would be the number 1 recruitment target for a couple of reasons, one of which is that I don't think he would rise to the top level again.

Replacing players at the rep level is easy. Replacing players at club level is very hard.The broncos haven't replaced Locky (obviously) or Hunt. Nor the Knights with Johns (obviously). Souths are losing their gun forward next year. Teams can't just replace top players. It will be tough for them to improve. Those three clubs all hold significant tactical importance for the NRL. We really don't want them getting weaker for any reason. Saying "we can replace him with a kid from 20's" is crap and saying "we can recruit a player from another club with the cap space" just weakens another club and therefore the NRL as a whole.

Just because the Bronco's in recruitment have been clueless the last 4 or 5 years doesn't mean hunt has been a big loss for the code. The Bronco's have been clueless since bennett left, look at the idiot in charge of recruitment?? Gee lol, "who are the Bonco's" Derp!!

QLD and Australia have really missed him..........

 

[bluey]

I Actually think if Israel came back he would become the best back in the game anywhere.

 

[oikee]

Leave him in AFL to rot.
Hunt is no great loss to rugby league. The game has moved on, so has Hunt.
Dont reward code hoppers just because they cant make the grade in another code,
Look no further than Benji returning with tail between legs.
If they go to union shut the door, no returnee's or make it damm hard for them to return. No bronze statues for code-hoppers.
We dont need Falou either.
Maybe we should start looking at smart AFL fringe players who can catch highballs. Pay them less for the same results.