Melbourne Rebels in $1m bid for Billy Slater & Israel Folau

[Brutus]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/n...for-billy-slater/story-e6frfgbo-1225858127543

Melbourne Rebels in $1m bid for Billy Slater

• EXCLUSIVE by Dean Ritchie

THE Melbourne Rebels are poised to stun an embattled rugby league by making an extraordinary offer of almost $1 million a season for Storm fullback Billy Slater.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the new rugby union franchise will make a firm bid for the Melbourne superstar within the next 10 days.

The Rebels have also made a gigantic offer for Brisbane champion Israel Folau. His deal is also believed to be worth nearly $1 million a year.

Slater, among the top three players in rugby league, is under contract with Melbourne until the end of next season.

But with the Storm having to shed $700,000 worth of talent before next year, he could be the first to go in the wake of the club's salary cap breach.
"Slater is an athlete. He would be the ideal fullback in rugby," a source close to the Rebels said. "It is just a matter of how much the ARU wants to tip in."

Slater is a true star in Melbourne, immediately recognisable even to AFL-mad residents.

The fledgling Rebels would strike an unbelievable blow for their code by managing to steal one of league's superstars.

An offer for Folau has been tabled. It too is believed to be massive.

Folau left the Storm after 2008 for Brisbane, claiming to be homesick. But it appears he has now overcome his homesickness and is considering the massive offer to jump codes.

Folau could strike a lethal combination in the centres at the Rebels with former Wallaby captain Stirling Mortlock.

New Rebels chief executive Patrick Wilson was not revealing his clubs plans.

A Daily Telegraph analysis shows the market value of Melbourne's top five players exceeds all other clubs, except the Broncos.

The estimated value of Storm superstars Slater ($500,000), Greg Inglis ($500,000), Cameron Smith ($475,000), Cooper Cronk ($350,000) and Ryan Hoffman ($325,000) eats up a phenomenal $2.1 million of Melbourne's $4.1m salary cap allowed for their top 25 players.

The average wage of the Storm's remaining 20 players on their roster is only $100,000.

With so much depth on their roster it's easy to understand why the Storm are so far above the cap.

Brisbane's top five players - Darren Lockyer ($500,000), Folau ($475,000), Justin Hodges ($425,000), Sam Thaiday ($350,000) and Peter Wallace ($325,000) might equal the market value of their Storm counterparts.

However, the Broncos' top-shelf talent quickly drops off.

If fact, no team in the NRL matches the Storm for overall talent. The Storm will have to shed at least one star player - if not two - to come back under the salary cap for 2011.

One Storm source said: "The Rebels would love to strike now given our situation."

What a horrible situation our game is in. We're fighting with our hands tied behind our backs.

 

[Dogs Of War]

Hahaha, the Rebels are going to bleed money if they get all those players. The ARU only contributes $3mil to the team. So Harold has to dip into his pockets. Not to mention that setting up the club will be very expensive, as well that the ARU won't be topping up the contracts as they did with Tuquri etc.

 

[taxidriver]

and we all stressed when sonny bill and le Gaz racked off

let them f**k off

we have plenty of talent coming through

union has more money, what do you want clubs to go broke?

you guys would have a skinnier squad than the sharks if it wasnt for your sugar daddy. guess its easy to whore yourself out and ask for more money

not everyone has that option

 

[Brutus]

So it would be great for a bloke like Slater who is a RL player recognised all over Melbourne, to simply bugger off and promote a rival code?

All the hard work for RL down in Melbourne gone down the drain.

Slater is one of RL's rare faces known on a national basis.

Man there are some small-minded people in RL.

 

[Parra]

Private ownership prompts rugby to consider salary cap

GREG GROWDEN CHIEF RUGBY CORRESPONDENT

April 26, 2010

Rally cry . . . the Melbourne Storm fans turned Etihad Stadium into a sea of purple last night, coming out in droves to support their team. Photo: Penny Stephens

THE Australian Rugby Union wants to introduce a salary cap system to stop spiralling player payments, despite the Melbourne Storm NRL fiasco.
Describing the Storm saga as a ''wake-up call'', the ARU will closely investigate player contracts to ensure the five Australian provinces are not breaking the rules covering third-party deals. The recently formed Melbourne Rebels, where Brian Waldron served as chief executive until last week, will be included.
Since the rise of professionalism in Australian rugby in 1996, numerous league players have been tempted to switch because union does not cap salaries. However, ARU chief executive John O'Neill said yesterday the introduction of private equity at the provincial level through the Rebels had prompted a rethink.
''As private equity comes into our game, the prospect of a salary cap for Australian Super rugby franchises should be investigated,'' O'Neill said. ''Philosophically we're in favour of a competition where the playing field is level and where the rich don't get richer and the poor get poorer.
''You have a choice. If you go to a completely open market, you could well find the discrepancy of talent between a rich and poor club so dramatic it makes the competition less than valuable. The competitions that have salary caps work. It does spread the talent and we think the NRL's dedication to a salary cap, though they are confronted by rorting, is the right way to go. What we have in place at the moment is reflective of the ownership of our franchises. Apart from the Melbourne Rebels, they're owned by the unions.
''The ARU currently funds them equally with $4.3million a year, and we tend to have control over player salaries through Wallaby top-ups. But I can see a day where each franchise would operate under an identical salary cap. And like cricket, we would then have 30 to 40 players on Wallaby contracts.
''Whereas to date we've had dual employers - the state and ARU - we may need to look at a contracting system which has a dedicated contract to play Super rugby and a separate contract to play for the Wallabies.''
On top of that would be a licence agreement requiring owners to release players for international duty. Following the Western Force's recent campaign to snare the Queensland Reds five-eighth Quade Cooper, the ARU is also looking at ensuring the provinces abide by the protocol forbidding players from being offered third-party deals to move to Australian provinces.
''It is a protocol that can be rorted if people are dishonest enough to go down that path,'' O'Neill said. ''We have to ensure the protocols aren't simply a nice-to-have document sitting on the shelf, but are put into action.
''[The] inventiveness of people to rort the system, as shown by what has happened at Melbourne Storm, can't be underestimated.
''From my banking days I discovered you can't legislate against dishonesty. No matter how good your regulations are, if people choose to be dishonest, it can be incredibly hard to catch them. Often it is not so much the crime which is the problem, it is the cover-up.''
O'Neill said the ARU was not ''enjoying seeing what the NRL and Melbourne Storm are going through''. ''But it is a wake-up call to all of us to ensure that whatever rules, regulations and protocols you have in place are actually meaningful, and being complied with,'' he said.
''When you read about player files not being kept on the Storm premises, but off the premises in the home of the CEO, that really rings alarm bells. We need to re-invigorate our checking procedures. We are not doubting the integrity and honesty of the people with whom we are dealing, but it only takes one bad apple.''


http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/u...gby-to-consider-salary-cap-20100425-tlqi.html

 

[aussies1st]

Would hate to lose Slater, love watching him play. But no way we can match that sort of offer, so its up to him, cash or love for NRL and its not like hes not making enough money already.

 

[Parra]

The Rebels have had this opportunity handed to them on a platter.

It looked like they were doing the smart thing when they took Waldron as well.

 

[Brutus]

We wouldn't have to match it.

A marquee player system is desperately needed.

Would love to see Folau go to the Sharks or even Slater go to Knights - AS LONG AS THEY STAYED IN RL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[taxidriver]

Brutus

i don't want clubs or the game to go bust at the expense of individuals.

sorry if that's small minded.

 

[Misanthrope]

It's about time the administration looked at this closely. I'm all for a salary cap, but concessions need to be allowed to:
- Keep our top stars from jumping to a rival code. The league would be even better this year with Wing, SBW, and Gasnier going around in it.
- Keep their home grown juniors that the fans have come to identify with

And I'd go one farther. If Union is content to rely on league's development process to fuel their 'elite' competition - why not allow the more cashed up RL clubs to poach Union players outside of the salary cap? Put a limit on the number, obviously, but the press would have a field day if a Dan Carter or Juan Martin Hernandez ran out in Roosters or Dragons colors.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

Easy solution: relax the rules on 3rd party sponsorships for players...

In a few years time they reckon the cap will be $6M or so anyway but until then that'd at least be a quick fix to keep the best players in each team in the NRL.

 

[gunnamatta bay]

I found this piece in the NZ Herald yesterday. The comments are worth reading.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10640643&pnum=2
Gregor Paul on rugby

Gregor Paul is the Herald on Sunday's rugby writer

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Rugby should clean up in Storm aftermath

By Gregor Paul

4:00 AM Sunday Apr 25, 2010



Expand
The timing is perfect. Just as rugby signed off on a massive broadcast deal that will help fund a new venture in Melbourne, rugby league in that city discovered it was sitting on dynamite.

No one in rugby will feel the slightest sympathy for a code that pillaged at will during the amateur days.
And for many in the 15-man game, what has happened at the Storm is comeuppance not only for historic grievances related to recruitment, but it is also comeuppance for a sport that has become morally and ethically bereft.
Rugby, while far from being squeaky clean these days, does at least try to adhere to core values of honesty, humility, respect, tolerance and compassion.
In Dan Carter and Richie McCaw they have two of the best role models any code could have and there are plenty more.
League on the other hand seems to be barely able to go five minutes without discovering yet another bampot in their midst. And it's not hi-jinks kind of stuff, either.

Alcohol is clearly a problem in the NRL. A big problem. Booze and league players have proved the most volatile mix in recent years with quite staggering revelations last year being made about Cronulla players involved in group sex.
Before that there was the Bulldogs scandal in 2004; Mark Gasnier's ghastly phonecall that same year; Greg Bird; Craig Gower; Willie Mason; Nate Myles; Todd Carney ... and even Alfie Langer.
What the Storm have done is confirm that league is a sport rotten to the core. Even the white collars in a blue collar sport can't be trusted now.
Rugby couldn't ask for a greater opportunity to not only establish itself in Melbourne but also within league's strongholds.
It's Melbourne, though, where rugby must pounce. Australia is the obvious growth market for rugby in the Southern Hemisphere and Victoria is virtually untapped.
There are corporate dollars to chase in a city with a rich financial services background. Even with such a strong AFL presence, an established and growing football culture as well as Formula One and the Australian Open, Melbourne can financially support a Super 15 side.
The Storm and the questionable culture of the NRL should make it that bit easier for the Rebels. Melbourne is a city with a burgeoning, educated, middle class and rugby is a sport with a culture and values that will appeal to those sick of NRL, and to a lesser extent AFL, boof-heads.
Surely rugby will be rewarded for its promotion of ethically sound, well-balanced young men?
The arrival of semi-articulate, polite, community-spirited Rebels players in Melbourne will help rugby win hearts and minds.
When the top end of a sport has respectful, courteous and inspirational people on show, it does much to persuade parents they should push their children in that direction.
League had its chance. It blew it. Now it's rugby's turn and all the sport has to do is be itself.
By Gregor Paul | Email Gregor
_

 

[gunnamatta bay]

The Rebels have had this opportunity handed to them on a platter.

It looked like they were doing the smart thing when they took Waldron as well.

is it all part of a diabolical conspiracy?

 

[Noa]

I so, so, so want the rebels to fail.

 

[gunnamatta bay]

Brother and Sister?

 

[nathanbrown'sghost]

A marquee player system is desperately needed.

Is your choice of words for comedy value? cos I lol'd!

 

[clarency]

I support both League and Union. How could anyone expect this NOT to happen. It was clearly coming. That said people need to settle it down, ay... If League was going to die because of players switching to Union it would have died several times over by now.

If he wants to go just let him go. Someone just as good is going to come along and he will be forgotten. League has a habit of producing players of that quality.

 

[Helen]

If he wants to go just let him go. Someone just as good is going to come along and he will be forgotten. League has a habit of producing players of that quality.

Josh Dugan comes to mind. He is only 19

There are many more who would otherwise never get a chance.

They must be clapping their hands with glee at the prospect of these high profile players leaving.

 

[Noa]

If he wants to go just let him go. Someone just as good is going to come along and he will be forgotten. League has a habit of producing players of that quality.

It will be death by a thousand cuts eventually. Especailly as long as decisions are made to run the league like a hospice.

 

[Parra]

Rugby union never died despite all the whingers in that code complaining for years about league poaching the talent.

Similarly, rugby league will hardly be affected by players moving to union. Despite the whingers in the RL ranks. They are cut from the same cloth as the one-eyed union idiots.

If the cap was raised to $10 million there will still be cheats. Read the O'Neill comments in the article above - they are very good observations.

Particularly this :

"''[The] inventiveness of people to rort the system, as shown by what has happened at Melbourne Storm, can't be underestimated.

''From my banking days I discovered you can't legislate against dishonesty. No matter how good your regulations are, if people choose to be dishonest, it can be incredibly hard to catch them. Often it is not so much the crime which is the problem, it is the cover-up.''