I see mixed views on here about Teddy and, of course while that's fair enough, I find it is probably a bit surprising to say that he badmouthed or looked down on Wests after he departed. What did he say and when did he say it? I would not endorse bad mouthing / commentary, but I just cannot recall seeing anything, including any adverse reactions, about it (I certainly could be wrong on that).
Gus, fans hate us because we are so successful in everything that we do. We develop players, not just go and buy and/or poach them. That is more like we used to do. Things have changed dramatically since Robbo took over in late 2012. We are known as the 'glamour club', but really we should be known as the development club. We are not naturally blessed with junior areas (well, actually, we should, but the Vermin effectively stole part of our juniors area in the 1950's, that's another story). Despite this, we bring in players from a young age (below Harold Matthews) and develop them and keep them in our system. We have so many players that have come up through our ranks. Because we represent the Eastern Suburbs, people say we are the glamour club and, because of the tall poppy syndrome in this country, it is easy and convenient to hate us. Manly was similar. Well, embrace the hate I say, especially from the Rabble 'people'.
Finally, TPAs. We actually have one of the smallest spends of 3rd party endorsements in the NRL. This was covered some time ago. Refer to
this article. There was another interesting article in the Telegraph today about how the salary cap is not working, I encourage everyone to read it when they get the chance.