Rumoured Signings and General Dribble XIII

[IFR33K]

Best buy of the BS era was without doubt Glen Morrison, absolute disaster he wen to ESL, played there for 5/6 years when probably good enough t play NRL, but his wife wanted to try and get into UK soaps

Would have been invaluable to the. Eels

Delboy, you going to the function on the 10th at the firehouse???

 

[Chipmunk]

How many of those have fulltime contracts beyond this pre-season though? I'd say more than half a dozen will go back to NYC or get cut by the start of round 1.

Taking out the players who are still elgible for Under 20s and the US winger, which of the other players from, your "2014 Playing Roster" thead do you think just has a contract until the end of the pre-season?

 

[Eels Dude]

Just for the record you can have as many players as you want contracted on second tier deals. The Salary Cap for the top squad just covers the highest paid 25 players.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Well, Chipmunk, I'm glad you aksed...

I reckon the following are probably on trial contracts:

Bugden
Gorman
All the NYC eligible players currently training fulltime (except Tanginoa and Pritchard)

Plus Evander Cummins and James Tuitahi are possibly on trial contracts.

But the point is, everyone who is on a second tier contract (which is the number of players in the squad minus 25) can be arseholed at any time. We have to pay them, but there is no hit to the second tier salary cap because it only matters when they play first grade.

Of course, if you're going to pay them anyway then there's little reason to sack them, but if they become a bad influence then you may as well f**k them off. Or if some other club offers them a better opportunity then you can probably organise a transfer and not have to pay them at all.

 

[Chipmunk]

Well, Chipmunk, I'm glad you aksed...

I reckon the following are probably on trial contracts:

Bugden
Gorman
All the NYC eligible players currently training fulltime (except Tanginoa and Pritchard)

Plus Evander Cummins and James Tuitahi are possibly on trial contracts.

But the point is, everyone who is on a second tier contract (which is the number of players in the squad minus 25) can be arseholed at any time. We have to pay them, but there is no hit to the second tier salary cap because it only matters when they play first grade.

Of course, if you're going to pay them anyway then there's little reason to sack them, but if they become a bad influence then you may as well f**k them off. Or if some other club offers them a better opportunity then you can probably organise a transfer and not have to pay them at all.

I looked at your 2014 Playing Roster and thought the same about Bugden and Gorman, but Im sure someone could let us know if they are actually contracted longterm. I would have thought Cummins would have to be on something longer term for him to bother coming here. I'm guessing all the NYC players currently training with NRL squad have some sort of NYC agreement with the Club for at least 2014 already though and would just be on the same sort of 'second tier cap' payments if they play NRL.

So if you can sign as many players as you want and it doesnt effect your second tier salary cap, why doesnt a wealthy club like Parra just enter into an arrangement with Mounties and sign up two teams of NSW Cup players and have a squad of 70 odd to choose from??

 

[Eels Dude]

So if you can sign as many players as you want and it doesnt effect your second tier salary cap, why doesnt a wealthy club like Parra just enter into an arrangement with Mounties and sign up two teams of NSW Cup players and have a squad of 70 odd to choose from??

Technically you could, but any players that were signed couldn't earn any more than player number 25 in your top squad, otherwise they would have to be counted in your NRL salary cap. Also, if you used these players in first grade, then they would count under the second tier cap so it would be a bit of a pointless exercise. It would certainly improve a club's depth slightly, and you'd be a shoe-in for winning reserve grade, but not much else.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I think it comes down to supply and demand.

Generally about five second tier players at each club make an appearance in the NRL each year. This year the Roosters didn't use any, while Parramatta used six (with permission) and the Tigers used nine (also with permission). Most other clubs used five.

So depending on how much flexibility clubs have within their top 25, and specifically within the backups in the top 25, clubs will sign second tier players to round out the flexibility of their squad. There's only so many second tier players you can sign at each position before you're just wasting money. Likewise for the players, if they have any ability at all (even for second tier players) then they don't want to be stuck in a 30 man second tier squad, hoping to be one of roughly five blokes who get a chance in first grade that year.

So if you're a front rower (for example), and you haven't picked up a top 25 contract anywhere, then you don't want to sign a second tier deal with any club that already has a better front rower than you in their second tier. You will go somewhere where there's more opportunity to play first grade.

Unless you're not that interested in playing first grade and just want to drag your arse around the NSW Cup for $70k a year.

 

[Chipmunk]

I think it comes down to supply and demand.

Generally about five second tier players at each club make an appearance in the NRL each year. This year the Roosters didn't use any, while Parramatta used six (with permission) and the Tigers used nine (also with permission). Most other clubs used five.

So depending on how much flexibility clubs have within their top 25, and specifically within the backups in the top 25, clubs will sign second tier players to round out the flexibility of their squad. There's only so many second tier players you can sign at each position before you're just wasting money. Likewise for the players, if they have any ability at all (even for second tier players) then they don't want to be stuck in a 30 man second tier squad, hoping to be one of roughly five blokes who get a chance in first grade that year.

So if you're a front rower (for example), and you haven't picked up a top 25 contract anywhere, then you don't want to sign a second tier deal with any club that already has a better front rower than you in their second tier. You will go somewhere where there's more opportunity to play first grade.

Unless you're not that interested in playing first grade and just want to drag your arse around the NSW Cup for $70k a year.

Is that what these NSW Cup players are on roughly, $70k?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Is that what these NSW Cup players are on roughly, $70k?

I reckon the best NRL second tier players are all on about $70k ($350k second tier salary cap divided by five) but actual NSW Cup contracted players (e.g. part time players contracted to Wentworthville, such as Danny Howard) would be on much less.

oldmancraigy has a better idea of how much these guys get paid.

 

[Chipmunk]

So we would probably be paying these guys below all around the 70k mark?

Edwards
Evans
Foran
Gower
Jones
Mau
Pewhairangi
Radradra
Toutai
Ualesi

 

[Poupou Escobar]

So we would probably be paying these guys below all around the 70k mark?

Edwards
Evans
Foran
Gower
Jones
Mau
Pewhairangi
Radradra
Toutai
Ualesi

Yeah I think so. There's probably incentive and match payments in there as well, especially for the players who didn't play much (any) first grade this year. Which is most blokes on your list.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

TheFilthySpammers is reporting we are interested in Chris Houston for next year apparently in was also reported on 2ue by johnny Gibbs

 

[Joshuatheeel]

So we would probably be paying these guys below all around the 70k mark?

Edwards
Evans
Foran
Gower
Jones
Mau
Pewhairangi
Radradra
Toutai
Ualesi

I reckon semi and Edwards may be on a bit more ( around $100k or so) - are they part of the top 25?

Edwards was being chased by the storm I recall

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Agreed about Edwards. From next year I'd say he will be in the top 25.

Not sure about Radradra, but I believe Tanginoa and Pritchard will both be top 25 next year.

 

[byrner]

Most NSW cup players would only be on 15-20k wouldnt they?

 

[hineyrulz]

Houston is bog average.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Most NSW cup players would only be on 15-20k wouldnt they?

Could even be less than that. They're part-timers; hobbyists really.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Houston is bog average.

He's a 28 year old first grader with 130+ NRL games and no history of injury. Would start in our side for sure.

He's played at least 23 games every year since 2008, except for 2010 when he sat out the year fighting charges of supplying narcotics (of which he was cleared).

He's about as good as Ben Smith, except he's reliable.

 

[Joely01]

I reckon semi and Edwards may be on a bit more ( around $100k or so) - are they part of the top 25?

Edwards was being chased by the storm I recall

Yeh i think this is right, considering the minimum for a top 25 squad player is 80k isnt it?

 

[Utey]

He's a 28 year old first grader with 130+ NRL games and no history of injury. Would start in our side for sure.

He's played at least 23 games every year since 2008, except for 2010 when he sat out the year fighting charges of supplying narcotics (of which he was cleared).

He's about as good as Ben Smith, except he's reliable.

Yep, I'd take him.