DT
By Paul Kent | June 04, 2008 12:00am
MONEY Bill Williams wants more. The list of grievances Money Bill and his new management will take to the Bulldogs tonight has finally been revealed and it's staggering in its naivety. Somebody save the kid before it is too late.
Driving Williams' complaints is that his contract does not contain annual leave benefits, superannuation or fringe benefits tax. The other complaints are that the contract does not alter for outside influences such as form, inflation or his status in the game.
The grievances were the talk of the game yesterday when they were conveniently leaked with little or no thought for validity. Those league officials who weren't stunned were amused at the perceived slight. That one of the game's young champions could be holding a pay-me-or-else gun to the head of the game over such a naive, misinformed understanding of what he willingly signed would normally border on ridiculous.
But that a young kid could be so easily led astray, bruising his reputation, now occupies most concerns. Williams' contract is no different from any other NRL player. His annual leave, superannuation and fringe benefits entitlements are built in to his annual salary, the same as every other player. There in black and white it is covered in Schedule 1, Clause 3 (b), paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) of the contract. All entitlements were covered when the NRL and players' union agreed on the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Williams and his new manager, Khoder Nasser, claim they are disillusioned by the contract and the Bulldogs' treatment of him. They claimed that after tax Money Bill is left with not much more than $200,000 a year.
Try selling that to the police constables who walk our streets. For $52,070 a year they are shot at and spat at. Yet when trouble comes calling ... they've still got tax to pay. Williams is earning $400,000 a season until the end of 2012, when he will be 27. He is disillusioned.
Whether he is as disillusioned as the ambulance driver scooping vomit from an unconscious drunk's mouth before administering CPR - all for about $67,000 a year - is a question unable to be answered here. That's before tax, too.
Whether he is as disillusioned as the schoolteacher buckling under a classload of kids and little thanks for $58,000 a year is another one for the ages.
Money Bill is upset that his contract is not flexible enough to take into account outside influences such as form or his status in the game. And sure, there have been some first-class performances. But form, of course, also refers to when Money Bill is actually on the field, not a lot of which has been happening since he first lit our fire. Since making his debut in 2004 Money Bill has played 70 games - but has missed more than half that, 45, through injury or suspension. Still got paid, though. Every cent.
Status in the game, like when Money Bill is driving the Bulldogs marketing campaign, is another complaint. But what's a man's worth the morning after he has been photographed having sex in a pub dunny? Did anybody put their hand up for a pay cut after those stocks went down? What about when he gets caught driving under the influence, an offence that has cost others, in other industries, their job?
The pity is that it all had to happen. We would prefer to know him as Sonny Bill, one of the best damn players to come around in a long time and a young man who makes a difference in this world.
Just the other day Sonny Bill went to the hospital and spent the day with a whole roomful of kids. Some time ago he met a young man fresh from a car accident, told that it was unlikely he would ever walk again. The poor bugger, he had just about put the cue in the rack. Sonny Bill, knowing all about the power of magic, kept it up in the young man's ear.
Geez, they're into him, aren't they? Not that I have a problem with it. If SBW wants to align himself with a pole smoker like Nasser, he's painting a big target on his head and he's fair game IMO. Just wondering what the DT's agenda is here. Who's side were they on in the Coffs Harbour scandal? Are they taking the Bulldogs side because the Dogs are providing the info and Nasser isn't or are they happy to get info from either side and talk it up to sell more papers?
By Paul Kent | June 04, 2008 12:00am
MONEY Bill Williams wants more. The list of grievances Money Bill and his new management will take to the Bulldogs tonight has finally been revealed and it's staggering in its naivety. Somebody save the kid before it is too late.
Driving Williams' complaints is that his contract does not contain annual leave benefits, superannuation or fringe benefits tax. The other complaints are that the contract does not alter for outside influences such as form, inflation or his status in the game.
The grievances were the talk of the game yesterday when they were conveniently leaked with little or no thought for validity. Those league officials who weren't stunned were amused at the perceived slight. That one of the game's young champions could be holding a pay-me-or-else gun to the head of the game over such a naive, misinformed understanding of what he willingly signed would normally border on ridiculous.
But that a young kid could be so easily led astray, bruising his reputation, now occupies most concerns. Williams' contract is no different from any other NRL player. His annual leave, superannuation and fringe benefits entitlements are built in to his annual salary, the same as every other player. There in black and white it is covered in Schedule 1, Clause 3 (b), paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) of the contract. All entitlements were covered when the NRL and players' union agreed on the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Williams and his new manager, Khoder Nasser, claim they are disillusioned by the contract and the Bulldogs' treatment of him. They claimed that after tax Money Bill is left with not much more than $200,000 a year.
Try selling that to the police constables who walk our streets. For $52,070 a year they are shot at and spat at. Yet when trouble comes calling ... they've still got tax to pay. Williams is earning $400,000 a season until the end of 2012, when he will be 27. He is disillusioned.
Whether he is as disillusioned as the ambulance driver scooping vomit from an unconscious drunk's mouth before administering CPR - all for about $67,000 a year - is a question unable to be answered here. That's before tax, too.
Whether he is as disillusioned as the schoolteacher buckling under a classload of kids and little thanks for $58,000 a year is another one for the ages.
Money Bill is upset that his contract is not flexible enough to take into account outside influences such as form or his status in the game. And sure, there have been some first-class performances. But form, of course, also refers to when Money Bill is actually on the field, not a lot of which has been happening since he first lit our fire. Since making his debut in 2004 Money Bill has played 70 games - but has missed more than half that, 45, through injury or suspension. Still got paid, though. Every cent.
Status in the game, like when Money Bill is driving the Bulldogs marketing campaign, is another complaint. But what's a man's worth the morning after he has been photographed having sex in a pub dunny? Did anybody put their hand up for a pay cut after those stocks went down? What about when he gets caught driving under the influence, an offence that has cost others, in other industries, their job?
The pity is that it all had to happen. We would prefer to know him as Sonny Bill, one of the best damn players to come around in a long time and a young man who makes a difference in this world.
Just the other day Sonny Bill went to the hospital and spent the day with a whole roomful of kids. Some time ago he met a young man fresh from a car accident, told that it was unlikely he would ever walk again. The poor bugger, he had just about put the cue in the rack. Sonny Bill, knowing all about the power of magic, kept it up in the young man's ear.
Geez, they're into him, aren't they? Not that I have a problem with it. If SBW wants to align himself with a pole smoker like Nasser, he's painting a big target on his head and he's fair game IMO. Just wondering what the DT's agenda is here. Who's side were they on in the Coffs Harbour scandal? Are they taking the Bulldogs side because the Dogs are providing the info and Nasser isn't or are they happy to get info from either side and talk it up to sell more papers?
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