I personally dont see the big fuss; the Broncos now have some room under the cap after paying overs when he signed so Im sure they are happy (at least Ben Hannant is...) I would have done the same if I was him, I just recently left my job for a competitor for more money so its a no brainer there. But I see a lot of questions popping up regarding the value to the code?
Publicity
· People are talking about publicity value, would you go have a look at some footage of Israel speaking on camera for me please??? Hes the shyest person on the planet and not the media savvy animal that people are expecting, which at least hunt is.
· Hes a Queenslander (or his allegiance lies there as shown in State of Origin) who played for the Melbourne Storm and the Brisbane Broncos. Now hes playing afl at Homebush which is closer to the centre of Sydney City then Blacktown, so how is that supposed to gather interest out west?
· Trust me about Polynesian people, coming from somebody that grew up with and lives in the western Sydney area from Quakers Hill to Auburn. Let me say that to polys as they are affectionately known, they only have one sport and that is rugby union
not league, they dont like league with all its similarities so why would they play afl?
Short term gain for long term pain
· Im sure they wont be getting paid these big salaries after a few years and they wont be able to transfer back as easily to league or union as they will lose all their muscle bulk.
· I think that as a league player you have more transferable skills, which is why they are getting poached for a number of sports. It really strengthens the argument for playing league from a young age. Im yet to see anyone go from the afl to anywhere???
Player angst
· Im sure that as a high profile afl player that I would be pissed off that some nuffie who has never played the game and dare I say CANT KICK is getting the most money.
· Its been done before with Union and depending on who you talked to that experiment failed. Young kids now know that if you want a big contract play the sport you love and then someone will come and pay overs for you. Maybe even a few kids will try league in hope of getting a big afl contract??
End of the day big story in afl land but maybe not so much in Sydney. Hunts story was a doozie and garnered a lot of interest due to being the first to switch. I dont think there is as much value with Israel.
