How much are wingers worth these days?

[Pac]

Newcastle Knights confident of signing Akuila Uate to new deal

Newcastle Knight Akuila Uate on the run. Picture: Ray Strange Source: The Daily Telegraph
Akuila Uate

2012 Dally M winger of the year Akuila Uate. Picture: Mark Evans Source: The Daily Telegraph

NEWCASTLE winger Akuila Uate is poised to become the club's highest-paid player with Knights officials hopeful he will sign a new deal before the NRL season kicks off.

Knights CEO Matt Gidley revealed yesterday he has already tabled an offer with Uate's manager Darryl Mather and doesn't believe the negotiation process will be drawn out.

"We made a really competitive offer late last week and Darryl's response was really positive,'' Gidley said. "I don't think we are too far away to be honest.

"We could come in and draw this out forever but I know Darryl pretty well and we agreed not to let it drag on.

"We are both on the same page as far as that goes.''

Yen at work: Big money on offer with Japanese rugby

Gidley would not be drawn on the possibility Uate could potentially become a target for a Japanese rugby club.

"I haven't seen anything along those lines and to be honest, I'm just worried about putting our best offer forward,'' he said. "It's up to them to weigh up whatever other offers they might have on the table. I can't control that.

"We'll talk again this week and see where it's at. We'd love to have it all done before the season starts.''

Uate, who will earn around $320,000 this season, will command more than $400,000 in 2014 and could even be the NRL's first winger to break the $500,000 barrier with his next contract given the increased salary cap.

That sort of remuneration would make him the highest earning player at the Knights, surpassing the likes of Kurt Gidley, Darius Boyd and Kade Snowden.

Gidley said Uate's worth to the club goes deeper than his match-winning qualities on the field.

"He's an excitement machine who puts bums on seats,'' Gidley said. "He's comfortable here in Newcastle and our offer reflects the way we feel about him. We obviously want him to stay and that's what we are working towards.''

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...uate-to-new-deal/story-e6frexnr-1226564541162


In the case of Uate I think he's worth 450k including 3rd parties. But I don't think he should be the highest paid player at the club. Also, I don't think other wingers in the game should be worth more than 350k even with the salary cap going up.

 

[Canard]

I thought Lote was on 500K or so already?

Isn't him being a higher paid player at the club is just indicative of the Knights current roster rather than Uate?

350K is about about 275 in the old salary cap era, so its more "mid level" than elite

 

[WayneBennett]

not much

 

[Cockadoodledoo]

Sam Perrett is on $300K + now so Uate would be worth at least double that or more.

 

[Talanexor]

I used to subscribe to the view that wingers were pretty much the least important and lowest paid players in any football team. They don't do a whole lot of work in attack or defence, and all they really have to do is catch the ball and fall over the tryline.

Then I saw John Williams and Michael Bani playing for my club. And realised the difference between a good winger (say, a Matt Sing) and a rubbish winger (Bani) is enormous, and has a massive impact on your team.

Having said that, having the best winger in the game is pointless if you don't have a decent centre who can draw and pass, or a decent half who can give them quality ball, or a decent forward pack that allows the half room to move.

Uate is worth $450K a year. Especially to the knights.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Uate is worth $450K a year. Especially to the knights.

Based on last years form alone, I agree

However Im going to go on record as saying that I dont agree with how Bennett used him last year and that it stifled his natural game and ultimately undermined his confidence. He was told to "play like a winger" and not come in for his usual hard runs like we saw him do in previous years. He also had a centre inside him who couldnt pass for shit (Sau) so as a consequence he barely touched the ball.

Its no coincidence that once Gagai got up to speed and started setting Aku up, coupled with Aku getting more involved early in sets, his game picked up 10 fold and he was just about back to the devastating 2011 form.

Given he is just about the Knights only "star" and with the cap going up I have no real issue with him getting $500K.

 

[Perth Red]

a winger the highest paid player at the club? The world has gone mad!

 

[Armageddon.]

It doesn't matter what position someone plays, if they are the best at what they do then clubs need to pay good coin to get them.

 

[Big Tim]

a winger the highest paid player at the club? The world has gone mad!

His is the first deal done since the new TV deal.

Players are bound to get paid more, it just so happens Aku will be the first paid based on the new income and salary cap increase.

There is probably only one or two players in the team who could get more than him, but most of those are unproven over long periods.

We know what we get with Aku, so we will pay him his value.

 

[rnb11]

First of all, he's not going to be the highest paid player, obviously it's been written to attract attention. He'd be getting a fair chunk LESS than players like Boyd and Gidley and maybe even Smith and Scott or around the same.

He's not your ordinary winger who stands on the sideline until the ball comes his way. The amount of times I've seen him score tries from dummy half and coming in field to attack a broken field is just ridiculous. He's constantly breaking the line, breaking tackles and scoring tries and you know once he's got some space he's almost untouchable.

At the start of the season Bennett said he wants Uate to not get involved "to save his energy" so he was forced to go away from his natural game and become a robot. Then Bennett obviously saw that wasn't working and let him go back to playing his own game, he got his confidence back and scored something like 14 tries from 14 games.

Then there's Gagai who's probably the best centre prospect in the world, the combination those 2 formed for the second half of the season was nothing short of amazing and they're only going to get better.

He's the most powerful, fast, explosive, athletic and try scoring winger in the game. His 3 consecutive Winger of the Year medals reflect that and not to mention his marketing value is sky high. He may have some occasional defensive issues but they're nothing to worry over, you can coach that but you can't coach Uate's natural ability.

He's worth every cent of that 450k

 

[Red Bear]

I used to subscribe to the view that wingers were pretty much the least important and lowest paid players in any football team. They don't do a whole lot of work in attack or defence, and all they really have to do is catch the ball and fall over the tryline.

Then I saw John Williams and Michael Bani playing for my club. And realised the difference between a good winger (say, a Matt Sing) and a rubbish winger (Bani) is enormous, and has a massive impact on your team.

Having said that, having the best winger in the game is pointless if you don't have a decent centre who can draw and pass, or a decent half who can give them quality ball, or a decent forward pack that allows the half room to move.

Uate is worth $450K a year. Especially to the knights.

Yeah, i think it's the case where the best wingers tend to be a bit over rated, because alot of the try scoring etc relies on those inside them, however a solid, safe first grade winger is an under rated position

 

[SaintArsenal]

I reckon that class wingers shouldn't be considered that far off centres these days when you look at what each position offers a team. Especially a winger with good hands, in attack and defence, that regularly makes good metres in kick returns. Taking pressure off the forwards coming out of their 20 could become even more important with reduced interchanges. They make some average kicks across field (something which becomes a staple play with ordinary or out of form halves) look good as well.

Definitely don't think they should be the highest earners but think they contribute more than some of the lazy catch and pass centres.

 

[Fire]

Uate is a tackle busting machine.

He is worth $500K.

Wayne will give him $425K.

 

[rnb11]

He's constantly taking hit ups too, and I mean the same sort of hit ups that props make. I agree wingers like Uate should be looked at as centres payment wise.

If blokes like Hopoate and Jennings are getting the 500k there's no reason for Uate not to. Especially with the cap rise and his marketability value.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Yeah, i think it's the case where the best wingers tend to be a bit over rated, because alot of the try scoring etc relies on those inside them, however a solid, safe first grade winger is an under rated position

Honestly I think Uate is the winger who is least reliant on his inside man of pretty much all the wingers in the NRL when he is allowed to play his natural game.

The below video highlights just how many scoring opportunities he creates for himself just by taking on the line and beating defenders with speed, strength and agility.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rGvOqQD0Oc

 

[Pierced Soul]

gone are the days when wingers purely stood on the wing waiting for the ball to come to them. a good winger gets a lot of kick return metres, gets the set of 6 off to a good start and these days has the role of defusing the cross kicks.

they're expected to get in and do the hitups in the early part of the set whilst the forwards are getting back into position.

a good winger is also a game breaker, scores and saves tries. so for someone like Uate he would be worth a fair bit, add to that he's a crowd pleaser and helps generate non-quantifiable support for the club.

on the other hand an average winger aint worth shit

 

[POPEYE]

Depends on what sort of team player a winger is, they used to be opportunistic and sometimes reticent
whereas now they are more intimidating, ala Brett Morris. If they can follow instructions like Sisa Waqa
they're worth their weight in gold

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Depends on what sort of team player a winger is, they used to be opportunistic and sometimes reticent
whereas now they are more intimidating, ala Brett Morris. If they can follow instructions like Sisa Waqa
they're worth their weight in gold

Geez Pop. Sisa Waqu weighs 97kgs and the price of gold per kilo is $51411.70. Therefore Sisa would be on $4,960,744.90 a season! That's a fair bit of the cap.

I'd pay Uate $400k if he promises to play like he did in 2010 and 2011. If not axe him and send him to the roosters.

 

[Raider_69]

Shandor Earl is costing us about 150k a year, he's a middle of the road winger. If you want a top notch superstar winger, you might have to pay 350k for him

anyone paying more than that to a winger is kidding themselves, they are a dime a dozen. Just about very U20's team has wingers who can come in and be productive starters. If the knights want to pay someone in that backline near 500k, just give the money to Gagai and be done with it. At least that money in the ball park of what star centres earn.

Uate is a beast, there is no question of that. On his day, he is by far the games best winger imo... but if im building a club in a salary cap era, and ive got the choice of Uate @ 400k, or someone middle of the road guy @ 150-200k.
Ill take the latter every day, leaves me more money to spend on positions that arent so easy come, easy go.

 

[rnb11]

You only come by a Uate once in a blue moon. As if you'd take someone like Earl when you can have one of the most dangerous attacking weapons in the world for less than guys like Jennings.

You can't replace Uate both on and off the field, you might get close but when he's the most potent attacker by a mile and one of the the biggest threats in the NRL and one of the most liked players too.

We're not talking about any winger here. The cap is going up, everyone is getting payrises, Uate deserves his 450k.