edabomb said:
Maybe because Jamaal got a far better offer from the Bulldogs than he did here, and had a young family to take care of. Joel left for similar or less money.
that whole "look after my family" thing is just an excuse to act out of self-interest, and a good excuse at that, because just about everyone falls for it. here's my reasons for thinking it's baloney:
1.Any first-grade salary could easily provide for a family, there's no need to earn hundreds of thousands.
2.They would have taken the larger offer even if they didn't have a family. This is shown by all the players without families who accept the larger offers.
It used to annoy me how easy it seemed to be to lure and essentially control players with money, but now i view it with a calm acceptance: all people love money, therefore people who have money have power (and by "power" i mean the ability to control people). self-interest always wins out, in one way or another. it still annoys me how the players try to lie about it - "i didn't do it for the money, i did it for my family", or, "i didn't do it for the money, i did it for my career". one of my favourite lines from a footy player is this (from 1997 when Mundine was playing for the Broncos):
Interviewer:Anthony, which club will you be playing for next season?
Mundine: Whoever offers me the most money, to be honest.
I love that, its refreshing to hear someone be so frank.