Rumour Thread

[Sea_Eagles_Rock]

Hodkinson always should have been our priority signing. I rate him a lot more than Foran. Foran is good, but Hodkinson we can build a team around for years. Load his damn contract to pay more at the end if necessary. 200k is peanuts for what he will offer us long term.

 

[Sea_Eagles_Rock]

Hodkinson going to the Dogs


Bulldogs bound...Manly's Trent Hodkinson. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: The Daily Telegraph



CANTERBURY are planning to take an $800,000 gamble by signing a rookie who has played just nine first-grade games.

After missing out on Parramatta halves Kris Keating and Daniel Mortimer, the Bulldogs have opened their chequebook in a bid to snare Manly's City Origin halfback Trent Hodkinson.
Disappointed Manly officials have all but conceded the 21-year-old will sign with the Dogs this week.
The Bulldogs have dangled the huge carrot in front of Hodkinson in the wake of prop Ben Hannant's move back to Brisbane.
The Sunday Telegraph has also learned that the Bulldogs are poised to free up more room in the salary cap, with veteran fullback Luke Patten considering a move to the UK Super League.
But signing Hodkinson to a three-year deal is the club's priority, with the former Parramatta junior regarded as the club's long-term replacement for NSW halfback Brett Kimmorley.
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Related Coverage

• Manly: Brookie's the place for me - Hodkinson

Hodkinson has been a revelation alongside young Kiwi Kieran Foran this season as Manly have covered for the loss of grand final-winning No 7 Matt Orford.
"We've identified him as a player of interest (and) I can confirm we've been in negotiations with his manager for a period of time," Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg said. Hodkinson has said he wants to stay at Brookvale following his sudden rise to prominence this season under coach Des Hasler.
But even Hasler can recognises an offer that's too good to refuse.
Despite offering the promising No 7 a four-year deal, the Sea Eagles can't match the money offered by the Bulldogs.The Bulldogs have every intention to extend Kimmorley's career by a further season.
Should they lure Hodkinson to the club, they would boast a plethora of halves, including Ben Roberts and Ben Barba.
With a decision on Patten's future expected within two weeks, the club's interest in Canberra fullback Josh Dugan is set to spike.
The Bulldogs see Dugan as the perfect replacement for Patten.
The veteran fullback, who has played 10 seasons with Canterbury, has a get-out clause at the end of this season and is seriously considering an offer from Super League club Huddersfield for the next three years.
"Huddersfield, among others, have made an offer for him," said Patten's agent George Mimis, who left for London on Friday.
Mimis is expected to return home in two weeks when the veteran fullback's future should be determined.


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/hodgkinson-going-to-the-dogs/story-e6frfgbo-1225872949309

 

[zombie jesus]

Hodkinson always should have been our priority signing. I rate him a lot more than Foran. Foran is good, but Hodkinson we can build a team around for years. Load his damn contract to pay more at the end if necessary. 200k is peanuts for what he will offer us long term.

Think you're wrong there, Foran > Hodkinson by a mile.

Disappointing if it all comes true, but sh*t happens I guess.

With the cap about to increase I don't see why we can't afford to keep him.:?

 

[Sea_Eagles_Rock]

$4.8m player pay rise

• By Phil Rothfield

The door...the Melbourne Storm may be forced to show Billy Slater the door despite the proposed increase in the salary cap? Source: The Daily Telegraph



IN a huge victory for players, the NRL salary cap will be increased by $4.8 million across the 16 clubs next season, but it still won't allow Melbourne Storm to keep all their stars.

The Sunday Telegraph understands the Storm's current player roster is $850,000 over the cap this year - but a staggering $1.2 million for 2011.
In a major boost for players, each club will be allowed to spend an extra $300,000 next year as a result of the NRL's recently negotiated $45 million contract over 10 years with the NSW Government to keep the grand final in Sydney.
NRL management has decided to give the clubs an extra $3.2 million ($200,000 each) in grants from the $4.5 million a year that will be coming from the Labor Government coffers. On top of the grants, they will be allowed to spend an extra $100,000 on players.
NRL boss David Gallop will wait until after the upcoming chief executives meeting to confirm the biggest salary cap increase since the Super League war.
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The game's hierarchy has been under huge pressure to increase player payments since the Storm salary cap rorting was exposed.
Gallop has personally met with more than a dozen of the game's biggest names in recent weeks to discuss salaries and ways to increase payments without putting struggling clubs in danger of collapse.
"We've always been willing to listen to the players and their concerns," Gallop said. "At our last CEOs' meeting, we agreed the clubs would put some ideas and proposals together to improve the salary cap.
"That's our next step and obviously the money we are getting from the government deal to keep grand finals in Sydney will be part of our next lot of discussions."
But the Storm are still likely to have to offload one of their big four players - Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Greg Inglis or Cooper Cronk - following revelations that their salary cap cheating only gets worse next season.
The Sunday Telegraph understands salary cap auditor Ian Schubert and forensic accountants have discovered Storm officials were planning to spend $5.3 million next year. The club has already off-loaded Aiden Tolman ($250,000) to the Bulldogs and Brett Finch ($150,000) is expected to announce he is leaving within days.
That leaves Storm with $4.9 million on their books for 2011 and means they will have to lose another $500,000 worth of players to get back to the increased $4.4 million salary cap. Kiwi international Jeff Lima ($200,000) is also expected to leave.
A salary cap increase will put life back into a player market that has been slow because clubs have been waiting to see which Storm players will go onto the market and find out how much they will have to spend next year. It will also help St George Illawarra in their bid to sign centre Mark Gasnier for a minimal amount this year and back-end the deal into the next two seasons.


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/m-player-pay-rise/story-e6frfgbo-1225872938689


Hopefully we can claw our offer up to the Dogs level. They clearly have plenty of halves already. Greedy buggers. Unbelievable how the Herald can post two articles and not pin a link between them? Journalists are seriously uneducated. Brings back memories all those years ago when I was sitting on a loo in the Engineering block at Uni, turn to grab paper and read "Bachelor of Arts, please take one."

 

[RainMan]

I saw Trent down at Dee Why a few nights ago , so I asked him about wether he was going to re-sign, he said his close to re-signing.

All players say that, especially if they are talking to their own teams fans. I hope I'm wrong but he is good as gone. DCE time to step up and replace if Bulldog signing goes ahead?

 

[cupid]

Hodkinson going to the Dogs


Bulldogs bound...Manly's Trent Hodkinson. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: The Daily Telegraph



CANTERBURY are planning to take an $800,000 gamble by signing a rookie who has played just nine first-grade games.

After missing out on Parramatta halves Kris Keating and Daniel Mortimer, the Bulldogs have opened their chequebook in a bid to snare Manly's City Origin halfback Trent Hodkinson.
Disappointed Manly officials have all but conceded the 21-year-old will sign with the Dogs this week.
The Bulldogs have dangled the huge carrot in front of Hodkinson in the wake of prop Ben Hannant's move back to Brisbane.
The Sunday Telegraph has also learned that the Bulldogs are poised to free up more room in the salary cap, with veteran fullback Luke Patten considering a move to the UK Super League.
But signing Hodkinson to a three-year deal is the club's priority, with the former Parramatta junior regarded as the club's long-term replacement for NSW halfback Brett Kimmorley.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

Related Coverage

• Manly: Brookie's the place for me - Hodkinson

Hodkinson has been a revelation alongside young Kiwi Kieran Foran this season as Manly have covered for the loss of grand final-winning No 7 Matt Orford.
"We've identified him as a player of interest (and) I can confirm we've been in negotiations with his manager for a period of time," Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg said. Hodkinson has said he wants to stay at Brookvale following his sudden rise to prominence this season under coach Des Hasler.
But even Hasler can recognises an offer that's too good to refuse.
Despite offering the promising No 7 a four-year deal, the Sea Eagles can't match the money offered by the Bulldogs.The Bulldogs have every intention to extend Kimmorley's career by a further season.
Should they lure Hodkinson to the club, they would boast a plethora of halves, including Ben Roberts and Ben Barba.
With a decision on Patten's future expected within two weeks, the club's interest in Canberra fullback Josh Dugan is set to spike.
The Bulldogs see Dugan as the perfect replacement for Patten.
The veteran fullback, who has played 10 seasons with Canterbury, has a get-out clause at the end of this season and is seriously considering an offer from Super League club Huddersfield for the next three years.
"Huddersfield, among others, have made an offer for him," said Patten's agent George Mimis, who left for London on Friday.
Mimis is expected to return home in two weeks when the veteran fullback's future should be determined.


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/hodgkinson-going-to-the-dogs/story-e6frfgbo-1225872949309

f**k!:x$800,000, thats over 4 years? Gutted, f**kin hate the Bulldogs, can understand why Parra hate us so much.f**k Orford, lets get Cooper Cronk here.

 

[Harold Bishop]

Foran is the better player by far out of the two. Foran has played 9 games for 11 try assists, Hodkinson 11 games for 6 try assists.
Hodkinson went missing against the Eels and the Cowboys - last night Glenn Stewart had to take over in the last 20 mins! Certainly not worth the 800k at this stage..

 

[cupid]

Foran is definitely a class above Hodkinson, and has made him look better then what he is, but he is still a very good player with a ton of potential, but not 800k worth.

 

[APRIL BELLE]

Confirmed today by Bob Fulton that Manly has conceded that Trent Hodkinson is leaving the club.

 

[cupid]

Atleast it's Trent leaving and not Foran.

 

[caspersparks]

blows :x

 

[Daddycool]

Well if he does sign with the Dogs, not only will it be a bad career move, it'll be very poor advice from his manager.

1. With the Dogs already having Kimmorley on their books, that'll mean at least a year of playing out of position in the number 6.
2. They also have Barba & Roberts in the squad... that makes 3 halves.
3. If the rumours are true about the Dogs signing Beau Henry from the Dragons... there's another one, that makes 4. Plenty of competition for spots.

At the Sea Eagles he IS the number 1 half and could be for the next five + years.

On top of that, a good 2010/11 could see his asking price rise higher than $200,000 a year for the 2011-14.

The only person set to gain out if it would be his manager with a nice juicy commission.

Trent... as Gus would say, "no no no no no!"

 

[cupid]

All this talk about Hodkinson to the Dogs was before the salary cap announcement, maybe it has allowed us to increase offer? I say if he goes it is because we dont believe he is worth $800,000.

 

[SRB_SEA_EAGLE]

If Hodkinson does leave , then odds on ,Orford to take over...who else is there?....Cronk would be good.

 

[Harold Bishop]

Orford rumour is apparently rubbish Bradford aren't letting him go.
I like the look of Riccardi i think he has been one of the standout halves in Toyota Cup.

 

[Daddycool]

How's Daly Cherry-Evans going up on the Sunny Coast? Would he be able to make the step up, or is he still a few years away?

 

[winnyason]

let's sign sbw to piss them off

 

[zombie jesus]

Manly to fight for Steve Matai, Trent Hodkinson

THEY are being offered big money elsewhere but Manly are poised to retain New Zealand Test centre Steve Matai and rising halfback Trent Hodkinson, The Daily Telegraph understands.

The Sea Eagles believe the NRL's impending $300,000 increase in the salary cap will allow them to re-sign both players.

Canterbury are ready to officially lodge a three-year deal worth about $270,000 a season for Hodkinson - remarkable money for a player who has played just 10 NRL games. The Bulldogs see Hodkinson as the long-term replacement for veteran Brett Kimmorley.

It is unclear whether Canterbury will retain Kimmorley if they secure Hodkinson, who represented City this year in the annual match against Country.

Hodkinson was tipped to leave Manly but one club source said: "We will keep both players once the extra money is allowed under the salary cap."

Sea Eagles chief executive Graham Lowe yesterday rejected talk his club would attempt to bring Matt Orford back to Brookvale. Orford left Manly last season for English club Bradford but is homesick and seeking a return to Australia.

Matai is also off-contract at the end of this season with his manager Gavin Orr saying the Kiwi star was likely to quit Brookvale.

But Lowe said the club would have to look carefully at whether it could afford Hodkinson. "I'd like to say with a degree of confidence we will keep him," Lowe said. "But realistically, we're not in a position to get into a bidding war with anyone.

"We will look at it as carefully as we can but he could be a victim of the salary cap."

Asked was he upset at possibly losing Hodkinson, Lowe said: "That is the way the game is at the moment."

Manly coach Des Hasler is a big Hodkinson fan and is fully focused on retaining the young halfback.

The Sea Eagles will have some room to move in their salary cap when Test prop Josh Perry joins St Helens, as is expected.

But Manly will keep New Zealand five-eighth Kieran Foran. He has agreed to terms but is yet to sign the contract. That is expected to be done sometime this week.

It would be tragic for Manly fans if the Foran-Hodkinson halves combination was ripped apart.

Manly officials see the pair as being their club's leaders for the next decade.

Manly centre Jamie Lyon will have scans today on an injured ankle. He could miss up to three matches including State of Origin II.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...-trent-hodkinson/story-e6frexnr-1225873209223

 

[zombie jesus]

Looks like this will drag on until the extra cap money is 100% confirmed whenever that is.

 

[cupid]

All this talk about Hodkinson to the Dogs was before the salary cap announcement, maybe it has allowed us to increase offer? I say if he goes it is because we dont believe he is worth $800,000.

Manly to fight for Steve Matai, Trent Hodkinson

THEY are being offered big money elsewhere but Manly are poised to retain New Zealand Test centre Steve Matai and rising halfback Trent Hodkinson, The Daily Telegraph understands.

The Sea Eagles believe the NRL's impending $300,000 increase in the salary cap will allow them to re-sign both players.

Canterbury are ready to officially lodge a three-year deal worth about $270,000 a season for Hodkinson - remarkable money for a player who has played just 10 NRL games. The Bulldogs see Hodkinson as the long-term replacement for veteran Brett Kimmorley.

It is unclear whether Canterbury will retain Kimmorley if they secure Hodkinson, who represented City this year in the annual match against Country.

Hodkinson was tipped to leave Manly but one club source said: "We will keep both players once the extra money is allowed under the salary cap."

Sea Eagles chief executive Graham Lowe yesterday rejected talk his club would attempt to bring Matt Orford back to Brookvale. Orford left Manly last season for English club Bradford but is homesick and seeking a return to Australia.

Matai is also off-contract at the end of this season with his manager Gavin Orr saying the Kiwi star was likely to quit Brookvale.

But Lowe said the club would have to look carefully at whether it could afford Hodkinson. "I'd like to say with a degree of confidence we will keep him," Lowe said. "But realistically, we're not in a position to get into a bidding war with anyone.

"We will look at it as carefully as we can but he could be a victim of the salary cap."

Asked was he upset at possibly losing Hodkinson, Lowe said: "That is the way the game is at the moment."

Manly coach Des Hasler is a big Hodkinson fan and is fully focused on retaining the young halfback.

The Sea Eagles will have some room to move in their salary cap when Test prop Josh Perry joins St Helens, as is expected.

But Manly will keep New Zealand five-eighth Kieran Foran. He has agreed to terms but is yet to sign the contract. That is expected to be done sometime this week.

It would be tragic for Manly fans if the Foran-Hodkinson halves combination was ripped apart.

Manly officials see the pair as being their club's leaders for the next decade.

Manly centre Jamie Lyon will have scans today on an injured ankle. He could miss up to three matches including State of Origin II.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...-trent-hodkinson/story-e6frexnr-1225873209223

Called it