for what its worth (pardon the pun)
The collapse of Andrew Fifita's deal with Canterbury has returned balance to the transfer market and highlighted why players' contract details should be listed publicly.
Increased transparency would also help Manly and Glenn Stewart come to terms over his future while reducing the possibility of salary cap cheating.
With Fifita telling Cronulla officials he was unable to turn down a four-year, $3.4 million offer from Canterbury, other players suddenly believed their worth had also increased, and began seeking inflated deals.
As a result, Fairfax Media has been told that some clubs have put contract negotiations on hold for the past four weeks as they considered the demands by players for bigger pay packets to be unrealistic.
"What the Bulldogs did was to draw a line in the sand about the value of players, and they completely polluted the market," one recruitment manager from a rival club said. "Ever since that deal was done, every player you deal with thinks their value has gone up by about 25 per cent."
The fact Canterbury couldn't deliver on the deal Fifita believed he had agreed to has raised questions about the transparency of player contracts and how clubs manage their salary caps.
If Fifita rejected more than $700,000 a season to stay at Cronulla, it goes to reason that he expected significantly more from the Bulldogs, but Fairfax Media was told that the full contract tabled to him included payments of just $335,000 under the salary cap and $250,000 in third party deals for 2015.
For those who still think Canterbury scaled down their offer following Fifita's comments about wishing he'd gone to rugby union instead, he received the formal document the day before and spoke out in frustration at what he felt was a significant shortfall from the amount he expected when he signed a memorandum of understanding more than two weeks earlier.
What also hasn't been disclosed is whether Fifita expected the Bulldogs to pay the management fees for his former agent Daryl Mather, who recently agreed to a settlement to release him from his contract so representatives of I.am Athlete management group could negotiate his deal.
However, if the deal between Canterbury and Fifita hadn't turned sour, we would know little of the details of his contract or how much the Bulldogs were registering under the salary cap.
Making information about player's salaries public would ensure clubs dispelled speculation about salary cap issues, as Canterbury - who say they still have $500,000 left under this year's cap after releasing Ben Barba to the Broncos - could easily explain how they were going to accommodate Fifita.
If they did not have the room for Fifita, it would become clear that either players coming off contract could not be re-signed or others needed to be moved on.
Publicly listing player contracts, as a number of major US sports do, would also help to ease tensions such as those at Manly over the future of Glenn Stewart as his teammates and fans would know whether the club can afford to keep him.
As it stands, Sea Eagles officials and Stewart's management are tiptoeing around the issue, with neither wanting to be seen as the party responsible for calling time on the 12-year stint of one of the club's most popular players.
Fairfax Media understands that Manly officials would prefer Stewart to outline his contract demands so they can decide whether there is enough room under cap to keep him.
However, the 30-year-old former Test back-rower's management wants the Sea Eagles to table their best offer so Stewart can look to finish his career elsewhere without any guilt about leaving as the club had left him with no choice.
If the salaries of all of Manly's players were listed publicly, he would know how much money the club had to spare, and they wouldn't have to insult him with an offer that was below his expectations.
Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...sfer-bubble-20140407-zqrrj.html#ixzz2yBTWIZbE
