Knights switch to Gaz
BY ROBERT DILLON
14 May, 2010 04:00 AM
THE Newcastle Knights are resigned to missing out on Melbourne playmaker Brett Finch but intend to make a serious play for Mark Gasnier if the former Test centre cannot strike a deal with St George Illawarra.
Off contract and likely to be a victim of Melbourne’s salary-cap squeeze, Finch has attracted an offer from an English Super League club and there is speculation he will leave the NRL at season’s end, if not before.
That news is not an unexpected setback for the Knights, who expressed interest in the former Valentine-Eleebana junior recently but decided he was outside their budget.
‘‘We spoke to Finchy’s manager [Steve Gillis] but I think his asking price was too high,’’ Knights coach Rick Stone said yesterday.
‘‘He’s probably played for unders for the past couple of years, because of his own individual circumstances, but I think he was asking for a fairly decent pay rise and we didn’t think that was appropriate in the open market in the NRL at this particular time . . . obviously he’s looking to maximise his earnings, whether that’s in the NRL or in England or in rugby, who knows.
‘‘But when you’re in a salary cap age, you’ve got to put a reasonable sort of price on a player’s head and stick to that as close as possible if you think you’re going to get value for money.’’
Newcastle told Gillis they would be willing to resume negotiations if Finch could not find a taker and would consider dropping his asking price.
The Knights consider Gasnier the type of marquee player they are desperate to add to their roster.
Stone said Newcastle strategic development manager Keith Onslow had ‘‘made some inquiries’’.
Early indications are the 28-year-old, who has spent two years in France playing rugby union for Stade Francais, wants to rejoin the Dragons, for whom he played 141 NRL games between 2000 and 2008.
But the joint-venture club may not be able to squeeze him into the salary cap.
Newcastle have money to spend this year, after the well-documented departures of Danny Wicks and Chris Houston, and would consider freeing up funds for next year and beyond to pay Gasnier the type of elite-player salary he would command.
Asked whether Gasnier was an unrealistic target, Stone replied: ‘‘I don’t know about unrealistic.
‘‘He is the type of marquee player we’re talking about.
‘‘We’ve made some inquiries and we’ll be monitoring the situation closely.
‘‘If it gets to the stage that his manager is looking at the possibility of other options in rugby league, we’re going to be interested, for sure.
‘‘We haven’t made any contact yet but I think in the next couple of days there might be some contact made, depending on what he thinks he’s doing and whether his manager thinks he’s a realistic hope of coming back to rugby league.
‘‘If he is and particularly if he’s interested in jumping into the season right now, well we’d be one of the few clubs that would have a little bit [of money] right now, I’d suggest.’’
