Mark Gasnier threads

[Macarthur Saints]

Gasnier edging towards France

By James Hooper | July 06, 2008 12:00am

Going? ... Mark Gasnier is believed to be a step closer towards heading to France. / The Sunday Telegraph



ST GEORGE Illawarra captain Mark Gasnier is inching closer to walking out on the NRL to play French rugby union next year. In a potentially devastating blow to rugby league, Gasnier's European agent has confirmed offers from Stade Francais and Biarritz will be finalised by next Friday.
Despite being appointed Dragons captain this season, Gasnier is prepared to quit the famous club for the 15-man code.
The problem is $1million in missing sponsorship money promised by St George Illawarra when Gasnier signed a five-year deal in May 2006.
The French rugby agent negotiating for Gasnier in Europe, Laurent Quaglia, told The Sunday Telegraph that the Biarritz club were close to offloading another player to accommodate the star centre next season.
"I have an official offer from Stade Francais and I am waiting on an offer from Biarritz as we speak,'' Quaglia said.<SPAN>

"First they must release another player because this is Mark Gasnier, so it is going to be a very big contract.
"It will all be finalised next week.''
Biarritz is the picturesque surfing town in the south of France where former Panthers captain Craig Gower currently resides.
Gower is playing for nearby Bayonne.
Former Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie, who has taken charge at Stade Francais, confirmed that he was interested in luring Gasnier to Paris, but stressed his name was one of 60 mentioned by the club's recruitment officers.
"I know there's a few clubs interested in him. He's a guy who has interested me in the past, but I must stress that doesn't mean he's going to be playing for Stade Francais,'' McKenzie said.
"I tried to get him to the Waratahs so I can't say I wouldn't be interested in him as a rugby player.
"I always thought the deal he was rumoured to have gotten to stay in league was fraught with danger. To me, it sounded like a deal that couldn't be sustained.
"I've had a lot of rugby league agents ringing up saying: 'What about my bloke?"
Gasnier's Australian agent George Mimis admitted his French counterpart was "working feverishly'' on the European prospects, then said that St George Illawarra were also manoeuvring to retain Gasnier.
"Over the last six weeks there's been a lot of people working diligently and productively to resolve the situation,'' Mimis said.
"While the income Mark is owed is yet to crystallise, we are always reviewing what the alternatives are.''
Since signing his latest contract with the Dragons, Gasnier has played 15 of a possible 38 games for the club.
The Kangaroos centre managed only six games last season because of a pectoral injury sustained in the pre-season Charity Shield.
He was ruled out of Origin III with a back problem.
Dragons legends John Raper and Graeme Langlands said they could understand Gasnier wanting to leave the club considering he was owed so much money.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/nrl/story/0,27074,23974539-5016551,00.html

 

[Syren]

Dragons legends John Raper and Graeme Langlands said they could understand Gasnier wanting to leave the club considering he was owed so much money.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/nrl/story/0,27074,23974539-5016551,00.html

Couple of things...

1. Third party payment has screwed us up, but its not like owed money wont be going to Gaz, its about sorting it out rather than switching the code altogether for more money, which is essentially the motive behind this move, all the other so called reasons are just excuses. His gf is French, so she does hold some persuasive power in this, which we cannot do much about.

2. Our legends can understand our best player leaving? Fair dinkum, unless they know Gaz is never gonna get his money then that sort of attitude is why we are losing some of our best players, money talks.

 

[juanfarkall]

Buy Raper a few beers and he will say anything you want.

 

[gregstar]

further to this story, it is in the news up here today that brisbane will be unable to afford both lockyer & cutie beyond next season.

it will be interesting to see how this unfolds.


i sensed as soon as boyd was mentioned as a possible signing that gaz was gone. the upside is the money freed up will provide either one champion player or 2-3 top quality players.

i'd suggest first & foremost a hooker.

 

[Gaba]

Buy Raper a few beers and he will say anything you want.

lol

 

[Hutty1986]

If you go, don't come back

 

[j0nesy]

They should just cut him loose. All this p1ss1ng around is not doing any favours for the club. What club in their right mind would give a player such an open-ended contract? It's the type of contract the club could do without , so far it has cost us resigning Josh Morris and could end up resulting in us missing out on signing key replacement players during the NRL transfer window.

Don't get me wrong Gaz is a great player and I would love him to stay at the club, but it is simply not worth the cost to the club. Doust needs to toughen up and give Gaz a realistic ultimatum, provide he can do so under the p1ss weak contract he has obviously given Gaz.

 

[Godz Illa]

If you go, don't come back

Hedging bets much?

 

[_Johnsy]

I am, sick of this, it shows one thing. How important is the red V to Gaz ? I'd suggest not that important, otherwise he'd stop fuggin around the fans.

FMD, Make a decision, come out and say your staying or Piss off already Gaz.

 

[dallymessenger]

further to this story, it is in the news up here today that brisbane will be unable to afford both lockyer & cutie beyond next season.

it will be interesting to see how this unfolds.


i sensed as soon as boyd was mentioned as a possible signing that gaz was gone. the upside is the money freed up will provide either one champion player or 2-3 top quality players.

i'd suggest first & foremost a hooker.

dont want to see him go but as you say it would provide money to strengthen the squad.

id like to see rangi become the hooker. hope he isnt forced out of the club as the kid can play.

they are doing well with young starting at 9, then rangi taking over.

if gasnier leaves id like to see the forwards strengthened.

you can never have enough props.

weyman is OK if he can sort out his discipline, smith will be solid too. look how good reynoldson has been. if saints had 2 or 3 more like that the team can only get better.

you dont need flashy forwards like ryles, just good solid players to cart the ball up when needed and leave the flashy stuff for the backs

wendall has to stay on the wing. playing him in the forward is really dumb

 

[stg666]

let him go. use the money over wisely.

 

[Godz Illa]

Relax boys, the Telegraph is baiting you and you're getting all emo like certain Knoughts supporters.

 

[albert]

Even if he does go we have proven we can win games without him.We still Have Coops!

 

[Double Dragon]

One of my fave players of all time but if this is going to hang over our heads I say he should just go.

 

[redvscotty]

dont let the door hit you on the way out....

 

[redvscotty]

Even if he does go we have proven we can win games without him.We still Have Coops!

We've proven we can win games without both of them. mind you cooper is awesome and adds so much more when he plays.

 

[Wyreema Saint]

Gaz has not played half the games he should have, so I would say he hasnt earned the extra Million. We wouldnt really miss him if we had have kept Josh.

 

[dragonfire]

Morris would have been resigned if we knew for sure Gaz was going imo. Mark Geyer was right when he said that Brett and Josh jsut have something when they play together on the field and with one at centre and the other at fullback the chance for them to run off each other is a lot greater.

 

[sting]

Pretty over the whole situation! I will be absolutely filthy if he goes, not because of the player that he is but the josh morris situation. I mean if he goes why couldn't he have decided months ago so we could've kept Josh??!!? A double loss if it happens..

I wish he could renege on his contract steve turner style or something!

 

[Wyreema Saint]

Maybe Josh may have been resigned if we didnt see how much of a heart attack he was at fullback. I think he only signed on for two years at the dogs so maybe we will see him back in the future. Coops will be finishing up & Gaz too.