Warriors captain and Australian league star Steve Price has used a new book to reveal his anger over being innocently caught up in a second NRL salary cap saga when he joined the New Zealand franchise three years ago.
In his book, Be Your Best, to be launched tomorrow, Price lays the blame for the $1m salary cap breach at the feet of former controversial Warriors CEO Mick Watson.
He also said Watson unnecessarily forced a number of leading players out of the club, and he feared becoming one after determining the "CEO was out of control".
Price's book also includes chapters his former club, the Bulldogs' Coffs Harbour alleged rape and salary cap incidents which created massive headlines in Australia, his so-called battle with gambling and a controversy over photos of him that appeared in a gay magazine.
But it will be the dramas he unexpectedly encountered after signing for the Warriors in 2005 that will most interest Kiwi readers.
Price says in the book that he believes Watson did not expect to gain the signatures of him and fellow prop Ruben Wiki and signing both had put the club under salary cap pressure.
After being captain at the Bulldogs when it was busted for major salary cap breaches, Price said he had been extra careful in his negotiations with the Warriors and was "devastated" when he learned the club had breached the cap by almost $1m during 2004.
"It was like a bad, recurring nightmare," he said.
Price reveals the NRL tried to have him de-registered because they believed he had worked with Watson to manipulate the cap and hide details of his contract.
He was able to convince NRL CEO David Gallop that wasn't so, but remains angry he had the finger pointed at him.
"I thought the Warriors had a CEO who was out of control and I was the one who very nearly copped the brunt of it."
Price, regarded as the game's premier prop, also took a swipe at Watson's management approach, saying he played players off against each other, pushed players he didn't get on with such as Ali Lau'ititi, PJ Marsh and Vinnie Anderson out of the club and intimidated staff.
Part of Watson's approach including spreading rumours through media, he said.
"Eventually Mick stopped talking to me as well. Rumours started circling through the media about how I was homesick and wanted to return to the Bulldogs.
People would call me to ask if the rumours were true and I had to tell them they were way off the mark.
"It was exactly the same cycle that had taken place time and time again. I had heard similar stories about Ali Lauiti'iti and even Stacey Jones. Once the rumours began about me I knew I was next on the chopping block."
Poor results at the Warriors cost Watson his job at the end of 2005 before the potential feud with Price came to a head.
Price also reveals details of two colourful past incidents when at the Bulldogs club.
A Sydney newspaper expose on an alleged poker machine gambling addiction in 2005 caused Price and his family "plenty of stress".
In reality, Price contends he only had a minor problem, quickly got on top of it with professional assistance and agreed to talk to the Daily Telegraph about the situation after being led to believe the paper was doing a "feel-good" story on him conquering his "addiction"
"The next day the newspaper hit the stands and it was terrible from my perspective. At no stage did the story read like it was a feel good story or that I had beaten the gambling bug before it got to me," Price writes, saying he learned a "valuable lesson" from the incident.
"I was angry at the way my 'gambling' was portrayed because it wasn't an accurate reflection of who I am or what I had done, so I used the book to set the record straight."
Another chapter deals with pictures taken of Price that ended up in popular gay Australian magazine, Blue. Their publication led to rumours in the league world that the married Price was secretly homosexual.
Price details how the bare-chested pictures, which were shot for another publication, ended up in the magazine along with an interview on his views on homosexuality.
He admits in the book to being "naïve" over how the images and interview might end up being presented and said on-field sledging from fellow players resulted.
Even three years on, he says the incident still comes up, revealing in his book that he was fellow Australian rep Josh Stuart called him a "twinkie" during a Warriors-Manly match earlier this season.
The Price book also reveals the wrench the big prop felt in leaving the Bulldogs for the Warriors but says his decision was made easier by Canterbury's descent from being a "family club" into one run on "deceit".
The book is on sale from tomorrow.
Written by New Zealand Herald Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:15
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