RLW: Which club is rumoured to ...

[DeeGan]

RLW: Which club is rumoured to ...

be toying with the idea of offering Sonny-Bill Williams a ten year deal in an effort to lure him away from Canterbury?

Opening to the article written by Tony Adams:

"A leading NRL club is preparing to offer Sonny Bill Williams an unprecedented 10-year contract in an audacious bid to lure him away from the Bulldogs."

Which club(s) do you think could be lining up for his services?

My club, the Gold Coast Titans, will be linked to every other player coming off contract for the next few seasons - so I expect the same speculation will be rife here.

Former glamour club the Sydney Roosters will be linked to this story, Cronulla I expect to see mentioned as well as the rebuilding South Sydney Rabbitohs who have snared some brilliant New Zealand talent. Another club could be New Zealand - SBW as captain of his home town club is a nice story given he is a likely future Test captain as well.

Do you think the deal is a smart one or would you be hesitant given SBW is yet to complete a full season in the NRL competition?

Look forward to reading your comments.

 

[Pierced Soul]

if true would have to be one of the dumbest decisions by a club ever. no player (especially one as injury prone) should be signed up for such a long extent. there's so many things which could go wrong inj the first few years without worrying a decade on

 

[Utey]

Which club is rumoured to?

A VERY STUPID ONE!

 

[Dave Q]

I reckon its the Titans, but I wouldnt put it past the cashed-up Panthers.

They missed Lyon, pockets still full of doshish.

 

[Glenn]

10 year deal??? Got to be Souths, no other club is so desperate to
"re-build" :crazy:

 

[The Colonel]

10 years on one player? F**k. That is a big commitment to one player and if he is offered that deal then he should take it. Very risky investment though for a club. A season ending injury at any point in his career still sees him tied to that club unless they can agree to some arrangement.

 

[Raider Azz]

i cant see any player in their right mind accepting a 10 year deal anyway.

 

[DeeGan]

if true would have to be one of the dumbest decisions by a club ever. no player (especially one as injury prone) should be signed up for such a long extent. there's so many things which could go wrong inj the first few years without worrying a decade on

I tend to agree.

Sonny Bill is one of my favourite players and one of the very few whereby I just have to watch ANY game he is playing in - the concern I would have if I was CEO is the "return on investment" in terms of time on the playing field over ten years.

On th flip side, off the field, he is a marketing dream - there is no player more marketable at the moment in my opinion.

He brings in sponspors, "new fans" and the club who has his services taps in to a potential global market given his sponsorhip deal with Nike.

 

[Lowdown]

Hahaha...me thinks his manager has probably leaked the idea...typical trick trying to talk up opposing offer rumours to keep Canterbury on their toes, and probably reaching for their chequebook with a little more vigour than in the absence of any such offers.

 

[Disco]

i cant see any player in their right mind accepting a 10 year deal anyway.

Seriously????

if i was SBW and got offered 6mil over 10 years, i'd have to take it, future settled.

i mean how many players get 500k+ a season and of those players how many years do you think they comand that money??? 5 years maybe


why wouldn't you take it (with obvious clause's such as, renegotiating if the salary cap increases)

 

[Disco]

However i cant see the benefit of a ten year deal from the clubs point of view

 

[DeeGan]

Hahaha...me thinks his manager has probably leaked the idea...typical trick trying to talk up opposing offer rumours to keep Canterbury on their toes, and probably reaching for their chequebook with a little more vigour than in the absence of any such offers.

Nooo, not Mr Gavin Orr (SBW manager) - surely such a leak would not happen from a "reputable" player manager ;-)

 

[Shorty]

It would have to be either Titans or Rabbitohs....
Won't ever happen anyway though Sonny Bill is a Bulldog and wouldn't be the same anywhere else except representing the Kiwis.

 

[DeeGan]

Won't ever happen anyway though Sonny Bill is a Bulldog and wouldn't be the same anywhere else except representing the Kiwis.

Really?

The same thing was said of Steven Price re: Canterbury - nothing is certain in the professional era of rugby league.

 

[Shorty]

Yeah,but I personally can't see him anywhere but the Bulldogs I think he would look out of place.
He runs along similar lines as Andrew Johns and Darren Lockyer,you just can't imagine him anywhere else.
Obviously if it happened I'd get used to it but I can't see him signing with anyone else either it's like the more people try and lure him,the less he budges.

 

[BrisVegas]

Such a long term deal also posses a degree of risk for Sonny Bill. To what extent the salary cap will increase over 10 years is a bit of a gamble.

600k a year is 15% of a clubs current salary cap. If Williams can retain the same 15% indexed to any future cap increases he would be mad not to take the offer.

 

[Rocco]

its better for him to leave the puppies and take up that 10 year deal.

it will be his best career decision ever

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

I can see the warriors doing it to be honest. Loosing price & wiki next year will be huge and they'll need something to fill the void, and the only way they can attract quality players would be ridiculous offers like this.

 

[DeeGan]

Yeah,but I personally can't see him anywhere but the Bulldogs I think he would look out of place.
He runs along similar lines as Andrew Johns and Darren Lockyer,you just can't imagine him anywhere else.

I understood you the first time.

The point is plenty of players who most thought "I can't see him playing anywhere but [insert club] ..." have moved on chasing the dollar or being forced out.

Examples

Matthew Johns playing for Cronulla
Steven Price playing for New Zealand
Steve Walters playing for North Queensland & Newcastle
Ricky Stuart playing for Canterbury
Brad Clyde playing for Canterbury
Kerrod Walters playing for Adelaide
Brad Fittler playing for Sydney
Greg Alexander playing for Auckland
Tim Brasher playing for Souths & North Queensland

I would love to see more "one club players" (great to see Nathan Hindmarsh looking at being a life time Eel) though the reality is it will become more common to see players play for mulitple clubs.

 

[Shorty]

Yeah but the thing is this isn't the first time he's been offered a tantalizing deal.
We'll see what happens...