Soward signs until end of 2013 season!!!

[TheRev]

im hoping that 900,000 is dependent on representative duties.. and not guaranteed regardless of performance.

 

[Firey_Dragon]

im hoping that 900,000 is dependent on representative duties.. and not guaranteed regardless of performance.

Why does everyone put a huge onus on representative duties? I would have thought performing for your club is the most important thing, and being picked for Origin is not necessarily indicative of that.

 

[thommo4pm]

Good article on Soward, not so sure about the figures, but it seems to be in complete contrast to what you're suggesting...

The author of the article wouldn't know for certain and neither do I, about the contract value.
There are no quotes from anyone about $$$ over the 3 years, I still highly doubt he would have got over $250K p.a
As I said in a later post to the one you quoted me on, Soward has only had 1 really good / solid season in 1st grade.

 

[Follow Me Up To Carlton]

im hoping that 900,000 is dependent on representative duties.. and not guaranteed regardless of performance.

Players should be docked pay if they get picked from rep teams.

Look, it's quoted as $900 000 over three years. 300k a season.

If true that is the greatest bargain in NRL history. Players like Fitler and Johns were on 600k a season. In the past we paid Barrett around 500k, hell we've probably paid forwards and centre's what we're now paying Soward, the most important player in our team.

It's a credit to Soward that he never considered holding us to ransom, and it's a credit to Bennett that he's created a culture were players are willing to accept less to stay at the club.

 

[STG-Dragon]

Awesome news!

 

[STG-Dragon]

In all reality, Soward has had one solid season in 1st grade.
He really was not in a position to be commanding anywhere near the $300K mark.
I'd be very surprised if Bennett allowed the club to pay that much for him.
Hypothetical anyway, we'll never know.

Not really he played well in 2008 as well.

 

[thommo4pm]

Not really he played well in 2008 as well.

He missed a few matches at the back of the year, and yes overall in 2008 he was good....but he didn't have his spot cemented.
Last year though he stepped up to another level.

 

[STG-Dragon]

He missed a few matches at the back of the year, and yes overall in 2008 he was good....but he didn't have his spot cemented.
Last year though he stepped up to another level.

He missed those games cause of injury and missed the semi due to Nathan Brown's absolute STUPIDITY!

 

[thommo4pm]

He missed those games cause of injury and missed the semi due to Nathan Brown's absolute STUPIDITY!

Don't disagree mate, I can still picture him going down injured at Wollongong with the back injury, and why he wasn't picked by Browny God only knows.....yes we've all heard the stories, but Brown really should have played him.

All my point was about his form, is that it hadn't been good enough for long enough to warrant anywhere over the $300K mark for 3 seasons.

 

[watatank]

He missed those games cause of injury and missed the semi due to Nathan Brown's absolute STUPIDITY!

He was also dropped early on in the season.

 

[Firey_Dragon]

The author of the article wouldn't know for certain and neither do I, about the contract value.
There are no quotes from anyone about $$$ over the 3 years, I still highly doubt he would have got over $250K p.a
As I said in a later post to the one you quoted me on, Soward has only had 1 really good / solid season in 1st grade.

He's been solid in every season he's played for us, one could argue probably our best player in those seasons. Last season was a massive step up, but no one could argue that he hasn't been one of our best players the last 3 years.

In 2009 I have serious doubts whether we would have made the 8 without him. In 2008 we would have won half the games we did without him. In 2007 we almost made the 8 on the back of his new influence on the team.

He's in our top 2 or 3 players, and probably our most influential player now. His pay would be reflective of that.

 

[petetheileet]

He's been solid in every season he's played for us, one could argue probably our best player in those seasons. Last season was a massive step up, but no one could argue that he hasn't been one of our best players the last 3 years.

In 2009 I have serious doubts whether we would have made the 8 without him. In 2008 we would have won half the games we did without him. In 2007 we almost made the 8 on the back of his new influence on the team.

He's in our top 2 or 3 players, and probably our most influential player now. His pay would be reflective of that.

true that!

 

[Slippery Morris]

He missed those games cause of injury and missed the semi due to Nathan Brown's absolute STUPIDITY!

Yeah, some SENIOR players, one who had his ticket to France booked the day after the Finals game against Manly instructed Brown not to play him. Brown's STUPIDITY for listening to his players and not making his own decision.

 

[thommo4pm]

He's been solid in every season he's played for us, one could argue probably our best player in those seasons. Last season was a massive step up, but no one could argue that he hasn't been one of our best players the last 3 years.

In 2009 I have serious doubts whether we would have made the 8 without him. In 2008 we would have won half the games we did without him. In 2007 we almost made the 8 on the back of his new influence on the team.

He's in our top 2 or 3 players, and probably our most influential player now. His pay would be reflective of that.

We were nowhere near the 8 in 2007, and I can't say Soward was overly impressive, he played well, but I for one wasn't super impressed with him at that stage.
2008, he was in and out of the side at the beginning of the year as pointed out elsewhere.
2009, he obviously grew in confidence from what Bennett was doing and saying to him....he showed his true potential last year.

Look don't get me wrong, I love the bloke and he has grown into a super player, all I'm saying is I don't believe (my personal opinion) that he was in a position to be commanding anywhere near the $300K mark and I don't think Bennett would have paid that much.
I very well could be wrong, I have no idea what actual figure he would have got.
Other threads I openly stated I wouldn't swap Soward for Thurston or anyone else, and I'm extremely happy he has stayed with us until the end of the 2013 season.

 

[Firey_Dragon]

We were nowhere near the 8 in 2007, and I can't say Soward was overly impressive, he played well, but I for one wasn't super impressed with him at that stage.

We came 10th. We were in the mix with 3 to 4 rounds to go. When Soward joined us, we were well and truly cemented in 2nd last spot, with no end in sight.

2008, he was in and out of the side at the beginning of the year as pointed out elsewhere.

He was dropped in round 5 or 6 for 1 game.

2009, he obviously grew in confidence from what Bennett was doing and saying to him....he showed his true potential last year.

Last year we saw massive growth, but it does not mean he was not a valuable asset in our side prior to that.

Look don't get me wrong, I love the bloke and he has grown into a super player, all I'm saying is I don't believe (my personal opinion) that he was in a position to be commanding anywhere near the $300K mark and I don't think Bennett would have paid that much.
I very well could be wrong, I have no idea what actual figure he would have got.
Other threads I openly stated I wouldn't swap Soward for Thurston or anyone else, and I'm extremely happy he has stayed with us until the end of the 2013 season.

Soward isn't a low $200k per season player anymore, his manager would have put him on the market if that was the offer he received from the club. Soward has been an integral part of our side for 3 years now on what was probably considered a pittance of a paycheck for halves. You're delusional if you think he signed in the low 200's, no good half with 80+ first grade games earns that. Bennett may not pay overs for players, but he always ensures he has a strong playmaking backbone.

 

[thommo4pm]

We came 10th. We were in the mix with 3 to 4 rounds to go. When Soward joined us, we were well and truly cemented in 2nd last spot, with no end in sight.



He was dropped in round 5 or 6 for 1 game.



Last year we saw massive growth, but it does not mean he was not a valuable asset in our side prior to that.


Soward isn't a low $200k per season player anymore, his manager would have put him on the market if that was the offer he received from the club. Soward has been an integral part of our side for 3 years now on what was probably considered a pittance of a paycheck for halves. You're delusional if you think he signed in the low 200's, no good half with 80+ first grade games earns that. Bennett may not pay overs for players, but he always ensures he has a strong playmaking backbone.

I'm not delusional at all, I have said probably around $250K per season.
If you can prove to me that he has been paid higher than this, then I'm happy to say I'm wrong.

I know what quite a few first grade players are earning due to the job I have, I've been fortunate enough to see their contracts....and obviously I can't repeat who or how much due to privacy reasons, but I can tell you that there are much higher profile players in the game earning just over $300K per season. And these players I refer to are in crucial positions in their respective teams.

2007 was a terrible year, and realistically we were never going to make the 8. Yes we were running near the bottom, but it wasn't solely Soward who made us climb a few spots.
The return of Gasnier late in the season helped with a few wins, Rangi Chase had a solid 2nd half of the season, Josh & Nighty along with the other young blokes we had started believing they could match it in 1st grade and Ben Creagh almost single handedly kept us in just about every match that season.

 

[st.phil]

Bennett is not in the business of paying overs - 300k for the three years BEYOND 2010 is a good deal.

 

[Follow Me Up To Carlton]

We were nowhere near the 8 in 2007, and I can't say Soward was overly impressive, he played well, but I for one wasn't super impressed with him at that stage.
2008, he was in and out of the side at the beginning of the year as pointed out elsewhere.
2009, he obviously grew in confidence from what Bennett was doing and saying to him....he showed his true potential last year.

Look don't get me wrong, I love the bloke and he has grown into a super player, all I'm saying is I don't believe (my personal opinion) that he was in a position to be commanding anywhere near the $300K mark and I don't think Bennett would have paid that much.
I very well could be wrong, I have no idea what actual figure he would have got.
Other threads I openly stated I wouldn't swap Soward for Thurston or anyone else, and I'm extremely happy he has stayed with us until the end of the 2013 season.

Thommo, with respect mate I think your posts show you don't have much of an idea about player pay levels.

As I said before, in the past we've paid a centre in Gasneir 450k, and are reported to have paid certain forwards around 300k. With all due respect to forwards and centres, no matter how good they are they're not as important to a team as it's central play maker.

Barrett was on around 500k a season and never ran our team successfully on any consistent basis as Soward has. Mundine was supposedly on nearly 600k.

I don't know why you have a hang up about Soward reportedly being paid 300k a season. He has accepted much less then he could have demanded and this allows us to maintian a stronger overall squad. It is an absolute bargain if true.

 

[thommo4pm]

Thommo, with respect mate I think your posts show you don't have much of an idea about player pay levels.

As I said before, in the past we've paid a centre in Gasneir 450k, and are reported to have paid certain forwards around 300k. With all due respect to forwards and centres, no matter how good they are they're not as important to a team as it's central play maker.

Barrett was on around 500k a season and never ran our team successfully on any consistent basis as Soward has. Mundine was supposedly on nearly 600k.

I don't know why you have a hang up about Soward reportedly being paid 300k a season. He has accepted much less then he could have demanded and this allows us to maintian a stronger overall squad. It is an absolute bargain if true.

All good mate and no disrespect taken.
I don't think you can base an argument on what was done at our club pre-Bennett though.
Barrett / Gasnier were well before Bennett's time.
Mundine was getting paid those $$$ at the height of the Super League war.

I hope Sowie got as much as he could, as I've said I love the little bloke.
I can see it now though in the coming months that the media report incorrect figures, then when we re-sign all our players and the club will start getting bagged about being over the cap etc...

If Sowie got $300K, that's great.
As I've said though, in my opinion he would have only been offered around the $250K mark. I may well be wrong.

Just to correct you though, as I pointed out a few posts back, I have seen some NRL contracts for some very high profile players in the NRL, and I think you guys would be surprised at the $$$ they get paid.
Don't believe the media hype about how much some of these blokes get.
A truly extremely high profile players from another club is only on $350K, this player has played both Origin & for Australia, and has been in 1st grade for 4-5 years.
The player I'm talking about doesn't play in the forwards, and would be considered vital to his teams chances.

Anyway, not really an argument worth having, I'm just pointing out that I don't believe the figures being thrown around by certain people would be close to the money.
Happy for you guys to disagree with me on it.

 

[STG-Dragon]

He was also dropped early on in the season.

That's right very unjustly in my opinion. F@ck Brown was a sh*t coach!