Ryan Matterson possibly on the way out?

[axl rose]

Fittlers been critical of him, pretty much ruined his Origin chances

Gould has said Fittler even monitors players after match interviews to get a gauge on them (if they talk about themselves or the team). He certainly hasn't done himself any favors.

 

[Pezz70]

Poorly advised kid

 

[gordsy]

Poorly advised kid

He isn't a kid at 25. Plenty of blokes are married and have kids by then. This arsehole knows exactly what he is doing and why. No sympathy.

 

[Tiger05]

He isn't a kid at 25. Plenty of blokes are married and have kids by then. This arsehole knows exactly what he is doing and why. No sympathy.

It's a dog act isn't it.

 

[super_coach]

There must be a motive in addition to money, because he would have got a substantial upgrade once our cap was cleared of its dead wood and that would have been definitely 2021 or as early as next season.

I think this has been a very well planned operation by his management probably going back to early part of last season, by sowing the seeds to paint a picture that puts the club in bad light to help his exit plan.

To some extent it has back fired as people see him to be less than honourable, but like with Cleary that blows over very quickly and there are plenty clubs who could not give a dam, they just want the best players...Sad really that the clubs don’t stick together on these things as it is the only way they are going to wrestle the power off the slimes who control the player market, and that is the player managers.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Surely Souths are big favorites for him now with Surgess looking likely to retire. Plus Wayne is well noted for letting players do what they want which seems to be what he wants

 

[Legion]

Turns out we need a bloke like him.

Swap for Moylan, Dugan? I wont say Woods.

Both Moylan & Dugan are overrated IMO. Both are inconsistent & injury prone. [Not to mention that Dugan likes to lay on the ground wincing while grabbing a body part after being tackled.]

I'd want to see the back of them also were I a Sharks fan.

 

[Legion]

Nice opinion piece by an ex-player speaking from experience about this kind of situation - https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/10/12/contract-sideshow-isnt-producing-any-winners/

Interesting. [From the 'speed-bump' no less, lol]
The vid with Farah commenting on the Matterson saga is also worth a listen.

 

[axl rose]

[Not to mention that Dugan likes to lay on the ground wincing while grabbing a body part after being tackled.]
.

He has had that habit since his debut year, these days though I think his body is held together with Bruce Reid sticky tape. Though I said that to a Sharks mate yesterday and he called him a tank. Fine, keep him.

Surely Souths are big favorites for him now with Surgess looking likely to retire. wants

If that was Tigers that money would be 100% in our cap for 3 years. Lets see what happens with Matulino

Serenity Now.

 

[Legion]

Fittlers been critical of him, pretty much ruined his Origin chances

Here he was, chosen for the Blues Origin squad this year, which would give a player a huge boost in confidence that he's a good chance for next years side, to then be on the outer next year due to his lack of loyalty to his club & acting like a spoiled child. [Onya Freddy]

Players usually respond one of two ways to being dropped; they either put in the effort to prove their detractors wrong, or, they'll have a big sulk that affects their performance for their club for the rest of the year.

Fairly sure I know how Matterson will react.

 

[Legion]

We need to get the better end of the stick here and looking at the Eels roster, i can't see any reason why a player of equal ability to Matterson would want to come to us. They reached the semi's this year and will only improve next year... Like someone said earlier, the Titans are our best result with Arrow already interested in wanting out.

How the Eels perform next year will be very interesting.
On paper they have a good squad but that could be said for many recent years when they've failed to perform to their ability.

It has to be an attitude thing. [Losing Hayne would have helped in that regard but they've still got Poses, lol]

 

[The unknown]

Parra have too many show ponies in their team to be considered a genuine threat imo. And let's be honest, it was a pretty weak comp this year as indicated by Brisbane limping into the 8, getting KO'D then Parra getting thumped by a genuine contender

Atleast there was Canberra the surprise packet of the year that made it atleast somewhat exciting towards the end

I can see teams like Cowboys, Dogs, Dragons etc improving next year aswell.

 

[gordynz]

Even though Capewell is essentially a free agent, I think getting both him and Moylan and losing Matterson isn't half bad. Moylan is a risk but hes a match winner at his best and Capewell is more than capable of doing a job for us next season.

 

[axl rose]

Parra have too many show ponies in their team to be considered a genuine threat imo.

The networks love to run his highlights reel of trys every weekend but Sivo has no idea in defense. Badly exposed by decent teams like Melbourne. Moses won't add to his wooden spoon collection but they will be back in the bottom 4.

 

[super_coach]

Very hard to move on players if..
A...they don’t want to go to the club willing to take them
Or
B no club wants them
Or
C they want to stay put

We are finding this with all our dead contracts and now the Sharks are finding the same thing, and I guess they are in a real pickle because they have cap problems.

Of course this could also mean Matto will not be released although I think highly unlikely.
I just think once the first card falls, maybe someone like Arrow, than all the cards will come crashing down and one or two will land at Camp Concord.

I think Moylan is skilful player but probably is not the player we need. We need a real hard pro at this stage of the teams development

 

[The unknown]

The networks love to run his highlights reel of trys every weekend but Sivo has no idea in defense. Badly exposed by decent teams like Melbourne. Moses won't add to his wooden spoon collection but they will be back in the bottom 4.

Sivo is just a poor man's Nathan Merritt tbh

 

[BrotherJim05]

The NRL really need to fix this amateur hour bullshit. NFL, NBA, Baseball, AFL...players get traded, drafted, moved around all the time. The players need to stop this "mental health problems" escape card (which by the way is despicable they would claim this when they clearly don't have mental health issues and are spitting in the face of everyone that does) and just accept that this is the way being a professional athlete is.

Lets say we don't find a suitable replacement for Matterson. Every single day at training (reserves or otherwise) he could whinge about the training session, contradict the coach, even outright not run certain drills and try and convince others the coaching staff don't know what they are doing. Having someone like that at the club is toxic and its better they aren't there, and we would have no choice but to release them.

In reality Matterson holds all the f**king cards. The NRL needs to introduce ASAP:
1. If a club can show CLEAR evidence that a player is causing deliberate issues at training so they can go to another club, the NRL can approve the club dropping that player AND said player can't sign with a new club until their contract with that club has expired
2. If a player gets out of their contract early, they can only receive the same salary they were being paid at the club they left. Players can still receive upgrades from their current club as part of a sweetner to extend their contracts etc

Just these two simple rules would completely get rid of all these issues

 

[Tiger05]

The more I think about this the more I think we just make him stay for the next 2 years and we don't upgrade his contract.

I can't see us getting any sort of favourable deal out of this situation so let's just live with it.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Lets say we don't find a suitable replacement for Matterson. Every single day at training (reserves or otherwise) he could whinge about the training session, contradict the coach, even outright not run certain drills and try and convince others the coaching staff don't know what they are doing. Having someone like that at the club is toxic and its better they aren't there, and we would have no choice but to release them.

This is exactly it. People say 'just play him in reserve grade for 2 years.' In principal it sounds great. Reality:

* Matterson comes to training, sooks and carries on, disrupts everyone. Club tells him to get into line. He says 'No, what are you going to do? Sack me?' Which is exactly what he wants

* Matterson doesnt turn upto training. Club tells him too. He says 'No, sack me'

* We tell him he is training with reserve grade. Its a breach of our contract with him, so he gets to rip it up

There is no way we can win from this

 

[Legion]

There must be a motive in addition to money, because he would have got a substantial upgrade once our cap was cleared of its dead wood and that would have been definitely 2021 or as early as next season.

I think this has been a very well planned operation by his management probably going back to early part of last season, by sowing the seeds to paint a picture that puts the club in bad light to help his exit plan.

To some extent it has back fired as people see him to be less than honourable, but like with Cleary that blows over very quickly and there are plenty clubs who could not give a dam, they just want the best players...Sad really that the clubs don’t stick together on these things as it is the only way they are going to wrestle the power off the slimes who control the player market, and that is the player managers.

Agree. Not only is there a lack of loyalty from a lot of players but it's regrettable that there's little loyalty between clubs.
Those who will do it with you will do it to you & all that.

There needs to be a punishment that fits the crime of approaching other teams players who are on contract.
If clubs were hit with a 5% reduction in their salary cap for each on contract player that they approached, then poaching players with an existing contract would quickly become a thing of the past.

It would also help if player managers where black-balled by the NRL for negotiating with other clubs for a player with an existing contract. [After all, they were the ones who negotiated the original contract they they're attempting to break]

As others have already said; a contract is not worth the paper that it's written on.
Players getting away with it only encourages others to do the same.
If there was a zero tolerance by the NRL [NRL management show some balls? Yeah right. That'll be the day] then it wouldn't even enter managers heads to renege on a contract.

Player loyalty needs to be encouraged & rewarded.
Thinking out loud here; has the concept of applying a reduction towards the salary cap for say 3 years service to one club & then for every year beyond that been considered?