No wonder Vaealiki wanted to go to Wigan.......

[Hurriflatch]

Check out what he'll be on for the next 3 years

Super League

Vaealiki signs with Wigan for $1.5m

By DEAN RITCHIE

July 28, 2004

ENGLISH Super League giants Wigan last night outlayed $1.5 million to secure Parramatta centre David Vaealiki for the next three seasons.



The money had been earmarked for St George Illawarra's Mark Gasnier, but the Dragons refused to release him. Vaealiki was Wigan's next target.


Sources told The Daily Telegraph Vaealiki had a yearly contract at Parramatta worth about $200,000.


It is understood he will have his Wigan payment increased at the end of the season but the contract on average will be about $500,000 a season.


Vaealiki still had one season remaining on his Parramatta deal but the club last night granted the New Zealand Test player an early release.


Vaealiki, who joined the Eels in 1999, is out for the season with an achilles injury – meaning he has played his final match for the Eels.


"It seems on average that English clubs are paying up to 50 per cent more for players than they are able to attract here in the NRL," said Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald.


"It was an offer too good to refuse. But David has made a great impression on everyone at the club.


"He has a tremendous opportunity to set himself up for life, and he goes with our blessing."


Vaealiki played 93 first-grade matches for Parramatta, scoring 32 tries.


Parramatta's NSW Origin representative Nathan Hindmarsh was sorry to see Vaealiki go, but said:

"He probably got a nice deal at Wigan.


"I'm a bit surprised the club let him go but then again I'm sure they didn't want to stand in his way. Players chase better contracts and if it means leaving well that's part of rugby league. You just have to re-build.


"Just so long as David has made the right choice and he plays some good footy over there in England."


Wigan had enthusiastically chased Gasnier.


There were suggestions five weeks ago that Gasnier was poised to quit the NRL and shift to Lancashire. But the Dragons could not be guaranteed he would return to the club and refused to grant the NSW Origin centre a release.



Wigan have already signed Canberra prop Luke Davico to a three-year contract.

 

[Hurriflatch]

I know that the media is prone to over stating players deals but still if true the Wigan and budget don't like each other

 

[bartman]

That's the Gasnier money. Maurice Lindsay (CEO) wants a centre, badly. Gasnier fell through, rumours are they wanted Ryan Cross, but they snapped up Vaealiki.

The pounds available here are there for the taking for players that are able or willing to uproot to another country, or have achieved all they think they will in NRL.

 

[Hurriflatch]

This has got me thinking

You'd hope that Wigan are paying Vaealiki's full Eels contract because if they are not then whatever Parra do pay him gets counted under the cap. When Parra released Solomona to Wakefield last year they payed his entire Eels contract + some extra.

 

[bartman]

I'm sure any English clubs would be paying out the entire contracts for any NRL based players! Looks like Parra's got some more spare $$$ for 2005?

English clubs see these signings as major coups, and they plan a lot of their marketing etc around their imported stars. That's why they made such a big deal announcing even Wise Kativerata :lol:

 

[Eels Dude]

This has got me thinking

You'd hope that Wigan are paying Vaealiki's full Eels contract because if they are not then whatever Parra do pay him gets counted under the cap. When Parra released Solomona to Wakefield last year they payed his entire Eels contract + some extra.

Since he'll be earning 500k a season there would be no need to payout his contract. He's simply going for a better offer, Parramatta would be offering him nothing. Big bucks for him though eh? He's not in Gasnier's class, i'm surprised they're offering so much for a player who hasn't played his best for a while and is carrying a serious injury on top of that.

 

[BD5733]

I wonder how long he will last there?

Surely no club no matter what they can afford will pay $500,000 per season for a centre who doesn't score alot of tries.

 

[The Colonel]

I wonder how long he will last there?

Surely no club no matter what they can afford will pay $500,000 per season for a centre who doesn't score alot of tries.

He'll last a while I think especially if he can set up some of the speedsters that Wigan have.

 

[fish eel]

Hope for Dave's sake he doesn't turn into another Tony Currie with his achilles.

 

[Eelementary]

Well:

* He never got much ball

* The ball he did get was not quality

* He never quite recaptured his best form

* And now we went and signd Tim Tam, his best friend.


In all seriousness though, it's all very well to sign players like Tahu and Riddell.

But we are realeasing talented players.

The Armit brothers and now Freshy - who's next? Lyon? Hindmarsh? :twisted: Cayless? :evil:

 

[Hurriflatch]

12 weeks ago people were bagging Smith for keeping older players and letting Tonga go.

Now he keeps Ben Smith & Luke O'Dwyer but lets Vaealiki go and the same people still bag him.

I've got no problem with people not agreeing with EITHER

a) Keeping experienced players to try and win a comp quickly but losing a few younger talents

b) Keeping the younger guys to build for a couple of years down the track but lose a couple of big name big money players.

 

[Eels Dude]

12 weeks ago people were bagging Smith for keeping older players and letting Tonga go.

Now he keeps Ben Smith & Luke O'Dwyer but lets Vaealiki go and the same people still bag him.

I've got no problem with people not agreeing with EITHER

I see it more as BUYING older players and letting young players go, that's what I have a problem with. We bought useless players and sacrificed Tonga in the process. I would have liked to have seen us hang on to Vaealiki and Smith and O'Dwyer.

 

[The Colonel]

12 weeks ago people were bagging Smith for keeping older players and letting Tonga go.

Now he keeps Ben Smith & Luke O'Dwyer but lets Vaealiki go and the same people still bag him.

I've got no problem with people not agreeing with EITHER

I see it more as BUYING older players and letting young players go, that's what I have a problem with. We bought useless players and sacrificed Tonga in the process. I would have liked to have seen us hang on to Vaealiki and Smith and O'Dwyer.

We never sacrificed Tonga - have a read of today's League Week and read the article. ;-)

 

[fish eel]

12 weeks ago people were bagging Smith for keeping older players and letting Tonga go.

Now he keeps Ben Smith & Luke O'Dwyer but lets Vaealiki go and the same people still bag him.

I've got no problem with people not agreeing with EITHER

a) Keeping experienced players to try and win a comp quickly but losing a few younger talents

b) Keeping the younger guys to build for a couple of years down the track but lose a couple of big name big money players.

I'm disappointed to see Vaealiki leave, always had a soft spot for him and think he still has plenty to offer, whilst acknowldging he has not been performing at his best recently.

However....some people have been calling for a clean out of our club. OK, we are letting some talented guys go, but we are also bringing some real talent into the club for the first time, since, geeze....96 and even then it was super league assisted.

What I'm looking forward to seeing next year though, is what the guys coming to the club will contribute off the field. We are bringing in guys like Robinson and Tahu, grand final winners and in chad's case some one coming from 'the benchmark'.

Then there are guys like Riddell, Stringer and Morrison. Don't think I've seen any of those guys put ion less than 120%.

Perhaps Smithy has decided that to many guys in our club are coasting...living on past glories and tough decisions needed to be made and it was time to bring in winners and guys with plenty of ticker.

If thats the case, full credit to him for having the backbone to make these calls.

After all, if next season goes like this one......Smith is going to find it real hard even showing up to parramatta stadium on game day.

 

[The Colonel]

Perhaps Smithy has decided that to many guys in our club are coasting...living on past glories and tough decisions needed to be made and it was time to bring in winners and guys with plenty of ticker.

If thats the case, full credit to him for having the backbone to make these calls.

After all, if next season goes like this one......Smith is going to find it real hard even showing up to parramatta stadium on game day.

Very true IMO.

 

[Misty Bee]

A coupla points:

90 odd games, 30 odd tries - that's 1 try every 3 games - not a bad average!

The Kimmorley rumour - which states that Parra want to swap Noddy for Dykes. Suddelny, we are cleaning out the cupboard - Thorman, Wise and Vaealiki. And saving @350k. Noddy money?

 

[Stagger eel]

A coupla points:

90 odd games, 30 odd tries - that's 1 try every 3 games - not a bad average!

The Kimmorley rumour - which states that Parra want to swap Noddy for Dykes. Suddelny, we are cleaning out the cupboard - Thorman, Wise and Vaealiki. And saving @350k. Noddy money?

Just to add further intrigue to this rumour! can anyone confirm whether or not Kimmorley does have the Anderson clause in his contract?? because apparently he was asked that very question by a reporter last year when the Anderson/sharks thing blew up and he neither confirmed nor denied that the clause was there.

 

[The Colonel]

I don't think he does anymore. He changed it when he re-signed. Bailey was the only one that had it apparently but he to re-signed.

 

[Redback71]

im still in shock when i read the paper today :shock: :? like why.
so does that mean where a quality center down. hope he doesnt return too the nrl in 2 or 3 years time and play for another team

 

[Eels Dude]

I can't believe people are seriously taking this Kimmorley rumour seriously. It's not even a rumour, it's one bloke saying saying we are chasing him, and this bloke has been proved wrong several times in the past! Game First is a joke and his rumour deserves to be dismissed until there is at least another source. You're a fool to believe him, there is definately no reason to.