Rumoured Signings - 2015/2016.

[POPEYE]

How is that?

You're not going to buy the Harbour Bridge from a 46 poster are you

 

[Alex28]

Souths have a fair shot at Roberts now it looks like.

Last week they couldn't register Sam Burgess's contract. Now they can sign James Roberts.

Totally legit.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Last week they couldn't register Sam Burgess's contract. Now they can sign James Roberts.

Totally legit.

Chris McQueen was on $7billion a year.

 

[BranVan3000]

Last week they couldn't register Sam Burgess's contract. Now they can sign James Roberts.

Totally legit.

Walker and McQueen have formally moved on in the past week

May depend on Grant moving on I suppose. Much like the rumour of Broncos is dependant on moving on Copley and/or others

 

[Liddell]

Last week they couldn't register Sam Burgess's contract. Now they can sign James Roberts.

Totally legit.

Where'd you read that? The same place that reported Reynolds was heading to the gold coast?

 

[BranVan3000]

Chris McQueen was on $7billion a year.

No but if we assume that our whole cap was used up at the start of the off season we have since lost McQueen, Stewart and Walker while gaining Sam Burgess. Those three would combined would be on more than Sam Burgess is.

Rumour floating around that Grant is off to your team. Have you heard that?

 

[Vic Mackey]

Rumour floating around that Grant is off to your team. Have you heard that?

I was at the sponsors breakfast last week and Pascoe said 'I know it's frustrating that we aren't talking to Roberts, Lafai etc however we have no money in the cap for 2016, 2017 will be different and we are already identifying talent we want.'

I've heard the rumours too but I can only imagine we'd take him if souths pay virtually all his contract. In 2010 we picked up Wade McKinnon mid season from the warriors for nothing. They hoped we would then take his 2011 contract from them which we did. South may try something similar.

 

[POPEYE]

Grant > Mason . . . you don't need a boat anchor

 

[DiegoNT]

Obviously have my red and green glasses on here but still here me out.
Souths will be accused of being over the salary cap but when you break down the squad we are going to have 2 superstars (inglis and sam) about 7 or so decent players on good money (twins, Johnstone, Reynolds, keary, Sutton, grant) and the rest of the squad made up of average first graders (plodders in some people's books, tyrell, clark, goodwin, auva'a, Turner) and reserve graders and rookies (cook, mcinnes, gray)
Now a lot of confusion seems to stem from the reports that sam burgess contract initially wasn't let through. At the time it seemed that it wasn't far off being completed and that negotions were in place for mcqueen to go to Titans and that that would be enough for sam to be registered. Where the confusion comes in is that in the mean time walker has been let go, and people assumed that that money would go straight to sam. When Sam's contract wasn't finalised after walkers exit people assumed souths didn't have the cap space to cover sam. Now souths have been rumoured to be in talks with roberts for months, so by letting walker go they planned all along to use that money to buy his replacement while continue as planned to finalise Sam's contact with the money that's made available with McQueen's contract.

 

[Nice Beaver]

Obviously have my red and green glasses on here but still here me out.
Souths will be accused of being over the salary cap but when you break down the squad we are going to have 2 superstars (inglis and sam) about 7 or so decent players on good money (twins, Johnstone, Reynolds, keary, Sutton, grant) and the rest of the squad made up of average first graders (plodders in some people's books, tyrell, clark, goodwin, auva'a, Turner) and reserve graders and rookies (cook, mcinnes, gray)
Now a lot of confusion seems to stem from the reports that sam burgess contract initially wasn't let through. At the time it seemed that it wasn't far off being completed and that negotions were in place for mcqueen to go to Titans and that that would be enough for sam to be registered. Where the confusion comes in is that in the mean time walker has been let go, and people assumed that that money would go straight to sam. When Sam's contract wasn't finalised after walkers exit people assumed souths didn't have the cap space to cover sam. Now souths have been rumoured to be in talks with roberts for months, so by letting walker go they planned all along to use that money to buy his replacement while continue as planned to finalise Sam's contact with the money that's made available with McQueen's contract.

Been on talks with Roberts for months?

Guess that explains why he went looking for exit strategies....

 

[DiegoNT]

Been on talks with Roberts for months?

Guess that explains why he went looking for exit strategies....

I've been hearing the souths been in talks with roberts rumour for months, but like a lot of rumours i didn't pay much attention to it. But when roberts become a free agent and souths become one of the favourites to sign him suddenly those rumours made a little sense

 

[Rabbits20]

Last week they couldn't register Sam Burgess's contract. Now they can sign James Roberts.

Totally legit.

Souths are good at managing the cap.

Just look how many we've offloaded. If we get Roberts our squad excites me for 2016.

Sam's deal was about getting TPA's sorted. Sam is on 500k under the cap in 2016. That will go up of course in 17 & 18.

 

[Rabbits20]

Where'd you read that? The same place that reported Reynolds was heading to the gold coast?

Top post.

 

[DiegoNT]

This is just a brief run down of the year seen through red and green glasses. You can call me biased and most of it is based on rumour (this is the rumour thread anyway) but this is how I've seen it

-early in the year the first rumbles of sam not being happy in Union start surfacing. The rumour is that if sam doesn't make the world cup squad then he would seek a return to Redfern. Souths were rumoured to be saving room in the cap (lets call it the Sam return fund or SRT for short) in case this happens
- Isaac Luke joins warriors, some of his money is used for upgrades, and minor signing (oldfield)
-goodwin is knocked back for a new contract
- Stewart leaves for catalans. Stewart was essentially a direct swap for sam on the cap. Souths paid overs because they needed both a ball playing and an experienced forward to cover the loss of sam and teo'o. No players are brought as a replacement for stewart, that money becomes the bulk of the SRT.
- the first roberts rumours begin popping up around finals times
-sam makes the world cup squad
- Goodwin and cook are signed with some of the SRT money
- bad press surrounds sams world cup, the possibility of sams return re awakens
-walker drama unfolds
- sam announces his return to souths. The SRT will cover most of it, but it's rumoured mcqueen will need to go to get the deal over the line
-walker is released. None of the cap money freed up by walkers release goes into the SRT fund. That is why sams contract still hasn't been finalized as it reliant on mcqueen leaving
-Mcqueen is signed to the Titans. The burgess deal seems all but done hence his inclusion in souths squad list and the nrl world allstars team
-with the money freed up by walkers release souths are having a crack at roberts

Edit: i have neglected to mention ben lowes late season retirement. While he may not of been on huge money, his money could easily cover the cap space taken by either goodwin or cook

 

[roostersrule2]

Even if that was all true there's now way Walker would have been on anything close to what Roberts wants.

He signed his last contract in 2013 which was his rookie year, he wouldn't have been on more then $200-$250k. Roberts wants around $500k from what's being reported.

 

[Rabbits20]

Even if that was all true there's now way Walker would have been on anything close to what Roberts wants.

He signed his last contract in 2013 which was his rookie year, he wouldn't have been on more then $200-$250k. Roberts wants around $500k from what's being reported.

Well Broncos are offering $250k. That's low. That's what they want to give him in 2017 too!

Dragons have pulled out of the race it's believed, probably as they are getting Bird back.

Souths will have enough to pay Roberts 300k in 2016 and he could get 50k TPA's. Souths may release Grant too.

In 17 & 18 Souths would increase Roberts salary.

 

[DiegoNT]

Even if that was all true there's now way Walker would have been on anything close to what Roberts wants.

He signed his last contract in 2013 which was his rookie year, he wouldn't have been on more then $200-$250k. Roberts wants around $500k from what's being reported.

I'm assuming walker would of got an upgrade along the way, in 2014 he become an australian rep so that automatically upgraded his contract anyway.
The freeing up off walker allowed souths to have a crack at roberts, never said it was enough to sign Roberts. It's at least equal to the supposed $300, 000 broncos are reportedly offering roberts. The last rumour coming in is that the walker money wasn't enough to attract roberts and that souths are now seeking to move on tim grant to make the cap space for Roberts. That seems reasonable as going into 2016 our forward depth seems ok, but our outside back depth is the worst in the league. Going into 2016 we have 2 reserve grade standard backs (oldfield and Goodwin) in our starting 13

 

[chigurh]

Roberts is gonna be the biggest bust of 2016

 

[DiegoNT]

Roberts is gonna be the biggest bust of 2016

After all this hype, probably
If he ends up at broncos or dragons they might think by the end of the year that je wasn't worth the fuss
But at Souths, were we have the possibility of Goodwin all year at centre, he is worth every cent

 

[Snappy]

JAMES Roberts would have to sacrifice $300,000 to chase an NRL premiership under Wayne Bennett at the Broncos.

The Broncos are willing to offer Roberts about $250,000 a season over two years if he decides to join the club.
The Dragons are the only club to have made Roberts a formal offer, tabling a $400,000-a-season two-year deal.
Roberts is keen to make a decision before Christmas and his adviser, Jeremy Donovan, will meet Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire in Sydney today.
Bennett is keen to bring Roberts to Red Hill but is not willing to break the bank for the fastest man in the NRL.
The 22-year-old would likely be taking a pay cut from the $275,000-a-year contract he had at the Gold Coast, which was ruled void after a signature was forged.


The Broncos are hoping Roberts can see past a potential drop in salary.
Playing under seven-time premiership-winning coach Bennett could take Roberts’ game to the next level while the Broncos are an incredibly successful and stable club.
Roberts also enjoys living in Queensland after spending the early years of his career at South Sydney and Penrith.
James Roberts is one of the game’s most exciting stars.
The Broncos went within seconds of winning this year’s grand final and will field practically the same team next year, minus retired centre Justin Hodges who Roberts would replace.
“The Broncos have maintained they’re keen,” Donovan said. “They’ve said they’d love James but he’d have to make a decision.
“James knows what the Broncos look like in terms of their leadership. He’s evaluating all of those perspectives.
Advertisement

“It’ll come down to how he feels about it all.”
If Roberts decides to join the Broncos it would trigger a chain reaction at Red Hill.
Roberts could force Dale Copley (pictured) out of the Broncos. Picture: Annette Dew
Dale Copley is under pressure to stay at the club but the Titans are ready to pounce on the centre if he is forced out.
Copley, who has played 72 NRL games in six-and-a-half seasons, is contracted until the end of 2016 but the Gold Coast has earmarked him as a potential recruitment target.
Roberts received interest from a European rugby club but will spend the weekend deciding where his NRL future lies.
“James wants some time with his partner to work out what they want to do and where they want to go,” Donovan said.
“He’s taking some time to make the decision for himself. It’s really up to James right now.
“He wants to consider everything. We’re evaluating it all.”
Roberts was this week named in the Indigenous All Stars team for the first time

http://www.couriermail.com.au/subsc...73bf6da18e5ccb0d36693228936&memtype=anonymous