Schifcofske's Red herring Skipper may go after saying no
Peter Fitzgerald
Monday, 10 July 2006
Clinton Schifcofske's future with the Canberra Raiders appears short-lived.
Canberra's chances of preventing its skipper defecting to rugby union next season seem slim after his manager Steve Gillis yesterday gave the strongest indication yet that his client would switch codes.
Gillis admitted there was a "very, very real chance" Schifcofske would walk out on the Raiders with two years of his contract remaining to join Super 14 franchise the Queensland Reds in 2007, while the player himself described the thought of playing rugby next year as "exciting".
Gillis' revelation came as Raiders chairman John McIntyre expressed his "disappointment" at Schifcofske's expected impending announcement, two weeks after pledging his commitment to the club in his exclusive weekly column in The Canberra Times.
McIntyre hoped Schifcofske would turn his back on the 15-a-side game and remain in Canberra, but accepted the chances of that becoming a reality were unlikely.
"I hope he doesn't go because he's been great for the club but as they say in the classics, no-one's irreplaceable," McIntyre said.
"What is a shock is that this has all come after [Schifcofske] made a commitment to the Canberra public. It is disappointing and I'm sure he'll be disappointed in himself.
"But there was enough information coming from the rah-rah's [rugby union officials] all along that they had never closed the door."
Schifcofske's initial desire to switch codes hit a brick wall two weeks ago when the Australian Rugby Union insisted it would not grant financial assistance to the Reds to help them secure the Queensland Origin fullback's services.
But the Reds' new coach Eddie Jones has been scouring third-party sponsorship to top-up the offer, which is believed to be nearing the $340,000 per season Schifcofske earns playing for the Raiders.
Gillis met with Jones in Sydney on Friday and was impressed with what the coach had been doing to again try to tempt Schifcofske.
"Queensland remain confident they will manage to rally enough third-party sponsorship to tempt Clint to give it a go," Gillis said.
"As we've seen in the past when Andrew Johns was being tracked by the Waratahs, third-party sponsors will chip in.
"Clint will make a decision definitely by the end of this week."
Despite being tied to the Raiders until 2008, Schifcofske had an escape clause added to his Canberra contract when coach Matt Elliott announced he would be leaving at season's end.
The Canberra fullback insists his possible shift to rugby has nothing to do with his relationship with incoming coach Neil Henry, but moreso that he only has this season to exercise the clause.
Schifcofske told The Canberra Times he would discuss the issue with his wife Niomi - who also hails from Queensland - but hinted he would more than likely go.
"[The Reds] are keen to get me there and think I could do a good job for them," he said.
"It excites me to go home. They're [Reds] fair dinkum, so I've got to sit down and weigh up a few things and see where it goes from there."
Meanwhile, Raiders winger Craig Frawley will this morning have an MRI scan on his injured hamstring.
Frawley suffered the injury in the eighth minute of Canberra's 24-12 loss to Penrith on Saturday night and took no further part in the game.
A decision on the availability of Lincoln Withers (concussion) and David Howell (bruised kidneys) for Sunday's home match against the Wests Tigers is also expected today.
