Salary Cap - 2009 & 2010

[BuffaloRules]

Can anyone tell me whether we are spending the full $4.1 million in salary cap money on our Top 25 players in 2009 and 2010??

I would suggest if we are still running around trying to sign Lote and those Pommies for 2010 that we haven't spent all the money for next year yet...

I suspect that we are not spending all the money in 2009... its a bit hard to compete when you are giving everyone else a head start....

 

[madunit]

2009 yes.

Ellis took up most of whatever was freed up.

But we've dumped a lot of players who were on big dollars this season, and our signings to date have been quite minimal.

I'm guessing we've probaby got around 500 thou to play with at the moment, minimum

 

[Tiger Hawk]

I don't think anybody that posts on an internet forum is going to know this conclusively. Fact is, the club doesn't publish the finer details, nor generally announce the dollar value on contracts. However, the murmurs out of the club at the beginning of the year was that Skandalis may have forced us over the cap, had his payments as a liaison officer counted to the cap (they didn't). So I'd suspect we're at or very close to the cap this year.

Something that's always mentioned frequently is some contracts were back-loaded (with Payne being the most commonly referenced). How wide-spread this practice was, or is, is unknown, so it's too early to say how much room we'd have available for 2010. Just off the top of my head, Halatau, Collis, Morris & Tagive are definitely playing elsewhere next year. Payne, Galea, Skandalis, Hanbury (I think), Dunley, Gallant (can't recall if he accepted the offer?) & Trimarchi are off-contract and as yet haven't signed elsewhere or been re-signed. So there's potentially 11 spots available. However, we've signed or promoted Mataka, both Shirnacks, Lui, Dwyer, Daniella, Brown, Tupou & Taumata. That leaves two spots from what I can gather (again, all off the top of my head), but how much money that equates to is questionable.

Ther other consideration is that Fulton was only a one year loan, so he is potentially coming back, leaving one spot. If you're waiting for a marquee, or even a decent signing, you're going to be waiting for a while.

 

[AussieSmithy]

Smart sides sign promising youngsters to long contracts on decent-at-the-time (read: low) money and then get the return for the punt when they are experienced and still on the same contract (albeit usually sweetened by incentives). That was how Melbourne was able to field Slater, Smith, Inglis, Folau, their props, etc... for a couple of years and not run fowl of Ian Schubert.

Dumb sides (like ours) "backload" contracts so we end up paying ever increasing amounts for players that have "gone cold". Hence, we shake our heads at how we only really have Benji, Farah and Ellis with the rest being big question marks over "where the money has gone" (from a senior player perspective).

 

[Magpies Forever]

Smart sides sign promising youngsters to long contracts on decent-at-the-time (read: low) money and then get the return for the punt when they are experienced and still on the same contract (albeit usually sweetened by incentives). That was how Melbourne was able to field Slater, Smith, Inglis, Folau, their props, etc... for a couple of years and not run fowl of Ian Schubert.

Dumb sides (like ours) "backload" contracts so we end up paying ever increasing amounts for players that have "gone cold". Hence, we shake our heads at how we only really have Benji, Farah and Ellis with the rest being big question marks over "where the money has gone" (from a senior player perspective).

Fully agree but what you are stating is obvious to most except WT recruitment and retention - we always recruit late when the good ones have long gone and are left with the also-rans to pick from resulting in paying too much good money for very average players. WT are expert in that- look where the great benefits of being cheap and shopping late have got us over the years.................... Is it any wonder we are the laughing stock among player agents and the players themselves? Who in their right mind would want to come to WT?

 

[nomarg]

When sheens was going thru that KPI drama withthe ex CEO- he bought up the fact that the club neede to spend the full cap amount if they wanted finals footy....

 

[BuffaloRules]

If they need an extra couple of hundred grand to buy a decent prop, I'm sure that there is a square inch on their playing strip that they haven't sold to advertisers yet....

 

[RoMo]

MAybe we could whore out another home game ?
Put it out to tender or something
Maybe try and make the finals with 4 or 5 proper home games ??