The Rumours Thread

[possm]

I though Su'a came out and said there was no truth to asking for a release. My source says he wants to stay, but offer wasnt close to what other clubs are offering.

We need a middle like AFB but losing Su'a will without a doubt cause us weakness on the edges. Im not a fan of Bird on the edge unless Flanno can get the better out of him. Can Sele play on the edge?

Su'A is our best back-row forward. AFB is a front-row forward, so I believe the Warriors would be more inclined to take F Molo.

We have the dollars and a spot for 2024 and beyond. If we get AFB, a few other marquee players would put their hands up.

 

[Dragon David]

Warriors’ four-man hit list in bold bid to replace $1.2m enforcer: Transfer Whispers

Warriors’ four-man hit list in bold bid to replace $1.2m enforcer: Transfer Whispers

www.foxsports.com.au

 

[BLM01]

I though Su'a came out and said there was no truth to asking for a release. My source says he wants to stay, but offer wasnt close to what other clubs are offering.

We need a middle like AFB but losing Su'a will without a doubt cause us weakness on the edges. Im not a fan of Bird on the edge unless Flanno can get the better out of him. Can Sele play on the edge?

Fed dinkum now AFB is up to 1.2 a year. Yeh we need more middles but that is out of proportion.
Much rather keep Sua on about 700K and a Lindsay Collins on about the same.
What did Bris offer Haas 1 mill. That is max
No Sele is a nuggety middle

 

[Coffs dragon]

In regards to AFB… Has there ever been a player sacked for disciplinary reasons from a club, then re-signed for over a mil $ ??
The whole thing has a weird smell and I really don’t think the Dragons are a serious option.

Fix the spine firstly, then work on a few meat heads up front at a more reasonable price.

 

[Crush]

In regards to AFB… Has there ever been a player sacked for disciplinary reasons from a club, then re-signed for over a mil $ ??
The whole thing has a weird smell and I really don’t think the Dragons are a serious option.

Fix the spine firstly, then work on a few meat heads up front at a more reasonable price.

The likes of Roosters must laugh when they see headlines that struggling clubs will pay 1.2 mil for a prop.
They probably don’t have a single player on their books over 900K.

 

[Phantom V]

Fed dinkum now AFB is up to 1.2 a year. Yeh we need more middles but that is out of proportion.
Much rather keep Sua on about 700K and a Lindsay Collins on about the same.
What did Bris offer Haas 1 mill. That is max
No Sele is a nuggety middle

Agreed mate. For 1.2 a year I’d want him to be playing 80 minutes AND cutting up the half time oranges

 

[St Tangles]

The likes of Roosters must laugh when they see headlines that struggling clubs will pay 1.2 mil for a prop.
They probably don’t have a single player on their books over 900K.

No one over 900k on the books.
Off the books?

 

[blacksafake]

The likes of Roosters must laugh when they see headlines that struggling clubs will pay 1.2 mil for a prop.
They probably don’t have a single player on their books over 900K.

They want to play for a successful club
Money is secondary

 

[Dragon David]

Fed dinkum now AFB is up to 1.2 a year. Yeh we need more middles but that is out of proportion.
Much rather keep Sua on about 700K and a Lindsay Collins on about the same.
What did Bris offer Haas 1 mill. That is max
No Sele is a nuggety middle

Agreed mate. For 1.2 a year I’d want him to be playing 80 minutes AND cutting up the half time oranges

At $1.2M, AFB would be way over the top and will inflate several other front rowers salaries. The snow balling effect will certainly raise other players salaries markedly.

The level of the current salary cap I think is $11.45M for the mandatory squad of 30 players at each club. If players like AFB, Tino, Haas etc - and there are many more in the system that you can categorise as being of those 3 players stature, and that isn't including marquee halves, centres and fullbacks, then a club willing to shell out big money to fill the spine with above average players and have a strong forwards contingent, there wouldn't be much left in the cap kitty if any at all.

When the 18th club comes in, well, I don't have any idea what salaries will be like then. The bottom 8 clubs will be scrambling to sign up good players when prices will be ridiculously high and the cap isn't adjusted accordingly.

There was a time when we had a player like Justin Poore playing for us as a front row forward, admittedly over a decade ago now and under Wayne Bennett as our coach. Poore's contract was up and he wanted more but Bennett said that he wouldn't pay a front row forward over $300K a year so Poore left us and joined Parramatta. Now we see what Bennett had decreed has somewhat taken a nose dive because several of the forwards playing nowadays have reached "star" material where in fact the big money should in my opinion be for the top players in the spine.

If AFB can get his greedy hands on a pay cheque in excess of a million dollars, then good luck to him and his managers. It might have detrimental effects for NRL pays in the future.

 

[qld redvee]

They want to play for a successful club
Money is secondary

And the social golf days are great for team morale

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

I think you look at your middles not just in isolation but as a average cost over a few years

ie
Lawrie $500k pa?
AFB $1.1m pa?
JDB $700k pa?

average $750k each which is pretty close to the mark for the best teams with their 3 starting middles

Sele $450k pa?
MoloF $500k pa?
MoloM $200k pa?
Eisenhuth $200kpa?
CouchmanT $200k pa?
Tuitavake $200k pa?
Fafita $200k pa?

 

[Parko1310]

Here is the ultimate proof top-shelf teenage talent in the NRL doesn’t come cheap.
Despite having only one NRL starting game in the bank, boom Cowboys back rower Kulikefu Finefeuiaki is on target to land a massive pay rise that could even push him above Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s salary.
That is the conversation doing the rounds in the NRL player market as clubs headed by Shane Flanagan’s Dragons and Wayne Bennett’s Dolphins lead the charge for 19-year-old sensation.
The speculation is the rampaging Finefeuiaki could fetch offers around $600,000-a-season if he ends up going to the highest bidder as his management negotiates his new deal.
And even if the more conservative estimates are closer to the mark, they reckon on his raw talent alone it would be enough to command in the vicinity of between $450,000 and $500,000 if Finefeuiaki chases the top dollar.
To put that in perspective, the Prime Minister’s salary is listed at $587,000.

Kulikefu Finefeuiaki is a young man in demand as rivals circle the Cowboys youngster. Picture: Cowboys Media /Alix Sweeney
Another source suggested Finefeuiaki won’t get that type of money for next season, but the offers would be staggered over the term of the contract to have him on the elite money come 2026.
But with a grand total of just 333 minutes of NRL football so far, there is no disputing Finefeuiaki has already emerged as one of the most in demand forwards coming off contract at the end of 2024.
Finefeuiaki’s only starting game was against Gold Coast in round 22 this season.
But his tearaway performances off the bench have been enough to have rivals clambering for his services, although it’s fair to also say the speculated price tag has some legitimately nervous about paying that much money for a rookie with such limited experience.
While others are also watching to see if the Cowboys could be potentially forced to offload another of their exceptional back row talent to keep Finefeuiaki and the other off-contract star, Heilum Luki.
Luki, 22, is also attracting plenty of interest despite some injury setbacks, which has limited him to 13 games this year and 14 last season.

Wayne Bennett’s Dolphins have made no secret of their interest in Kulikefu Finefeuiaki. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
Finefeuiaki and Luki are caught up in a logjam of edge back row depth at the Cowboys, that also includes regular starters Jeremiah Nanai and Luciano Leilua, along with two highly touted youngsters in Wil Sullivan and Jamal Shibasaki.
Leilua in particular is seen as a potential target for the Canberra Raiders who are chasing an edge forward.
Not that the Cowboys at this stage are even contemplating potentially offloading any of them if they get their way.
“No. We are not looking to offload any of them,” said recruitment chief Michael Luck.
“In a perfect world we keep all of them together. They are on the right trajectory.
“The last few years I would say they have learnt some pretty valuable lessons. And they have done that as a group. I would think we will see the benefit of that over the next year or two if they all opt to stay together.”

Dragons coach Shane Flanagan is on the lookout for top-tier talent. Picture: Julian Andrews
Luck said he was not shocked by the interest in Finefeuiaki.
Kulikefu Finefeuiaki made an immediate impact in 2023 with some barnstorming performances. Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images
“He was great the games when he came off the bench. He did a really good job for us,” Luck said.
“No doubt he has got some potential.
“I’m not surprised there is plenty of interest in him.
“But we speak with him and his agent regularly about how things are going. And as I said we are very hopeful we have got the ability to keep both those guys (Finefeuiaki and Luki).”

 

[Parko1310]

I think you look at your middles not just in isolation but as a average cost over a few years

ie
Lawrie $500k pa?
AFB $1.1m pa?
JDB $700k pa?

average $750k each which is pretty close to the mark for the best teams with their 3 starting middles

Sele $450k pa?
MoloF $500k pa?
MoloM $200k pa?
Eisenhuth $200kpa?
CouchmanT $200k pa?
Tuitavake $200k pa?
Fafita $200k pa?

If Lawrie is on 500k that is very poor negotiation from the Dragons

 

[John moz]

Wow who is signing players contracts at Dragons.
Again we need a GM at the Dragons like a Phil Gould to negotiate with managers.

 

[Dragon David]

Wow who is signing players contracts at Dragons.
Again we need a GM at the Dragons like a Phil Gould to negotiate with managers.

Whomever it is he is continuing with the softly, softly approach as we have seen for far too long.

I know we have all been told to be patient, that next year isn't the big one but it is for 2025 but hey, we should have taken a very hard approach and not a soft one to get the players for 2025 by now, surely otherwise, it will be 2024 and then we will be looking at guys in 2026 because the good ones for 2025 would have been signed and sealed by the stronger suitors for the other clubs.

Is it that the guys that our recruitment and coach want have been put to the Board and who have knocked their signings back because maybe they cannot say their names?

Christmas is only 19 days away from the day of this posting. Can we expect something this coming Friday?

 

[Slippery Morris]

I like how the Warriors have a hit list of who they will be willing to trade AFB for. That is exactly what Saints should do with Hunt. For Brisbane, they can have Hunt for Mam, Cowboys Deardon for Hunt and GC AJ Brimson for Hunt. That will make them either go away or show Saints mean business and they need to lose a gun to get one.

 

[John moz]

100% we have been soft tigers bulldogs signing players for 2024 and 2025 .
Who is helping flanno with negotiations on signings no body has been hired to be the new GM

 

[JubileeJeffro]

The likes of Roosters must laugh when they see headlines that struggling clubs will pay 1.2 mil for a prop.
They probably don’t have a single player on their books over 900K.

Which book? The audited one or Uncle Nicks slush fund for success?

 

[Phantom V]

Which book? The audited one or Uncle Nicks slush fund for success?

The little book in his golf bag!!

 

[OneEyedDragon]

Whomever it is he is continuing with the softly, softly approach as we have seen for far too long.

I know we have all been told to be patient, that next year isn't the big one but it is for 2025 but hey, we should have taken a very hard approach and not a soft one to get the players for 2025 by now, surely otherwise, it will be 2024 and then we will be looking at guys in 2026 because the good ones for 2025 would have been signed and sealed by the stronger suitors for the other clubs.

Is it that the guys that our recruitment and coach want have been put to the Board and who have knocked their signings back because maybe they cannot say their names?

Christmas is only 19 days away from the day of this posting. Can we expect something this coming Friday?

You are stressing again DD. Just take a few deep breaths. It can't be good for you. As the old TV ad said "It won't happen overnight, but it will happen!". Now is not the time to panic. I've said before - May 2024 is the time to panic! I really need Flano to be worthy of all the trust I am putting in him.