The final insult. Spoke to Matty yesterday re his desire to remain with the Dragons for the next 2 yrs (at least). Matt advised me that he was talking to Browny that afternoon in the hope of negotiating renewal of his contract at a reasonable figure. Have since learned that he has been told by Browny that he can remain at the Dragons but again for less money than he is on this year. Matt is absolutely shattered. He is also filthy that he was not listed by the Dragons as off contract in 07 after the 30/6 deadline. I know this may seem to be a bit of a fixation or crusade for me but I honestly feel for the bloke. He's given his heart and soul this year and been a consistent performer who deserves better than what he's got. It seems incredible to me that after losing players of the likes of Bailey, Barrett, Henderson, Millard, Best and in spite of retaining Head, Creagh, Sims, Poore etc that we can't find enough funds to reward Matt and to a lesser extent Sammy for solid seasons. I'm all for the youth policy of the Club but I still insist that we need "old heads" to take us to the next level. These young blokes are gonna absolutely sh*t themselves when they walk out in front on 40 - 50,000 at finals time and players like Matt are what we need to "do the hard yards" and settle them down; provide leadership. I for one think that Matt is worth more than $50,000 a year and that Browny & co have dead set dudded him. Hollow words from Peter Doust on Talking Sport yesterday, I don't think they had any intention of keeping them and if they did they weren't prepared to up the ante to do it. That's it, the Bickerstaff Bandwagon" has ground to a halt.
