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Thompson a Raider till 2010

skeepe

Immortal
Messages
48,303
Raiders Sign Troy Thompson Till 2010!

Tuesday, August 8, 2006 - 3:28 PM
In a historic day for the Canberra Raiders, hardworking prop Troy Thompson has agreed to upgrade and extend his contract until the end of the 2010 season.

Thompson becomes the first Raider to sign up until 2010, and will hopefully be the start of many more upgraded Raiders in the upcoming few months.

A Canberra junior, Thompson said it is a great honour to become the first Raider to sign into the next decade, and looks forward to playing his career out with the club.

“I was already signed here for the next two years but the Raiders have given me an upgrade and two more years which is pretty good,” Thompson said. “Don (Furner) come to me and told me they were going to give me an upgrade so I was pretty excited about that, and to sign for an extra two years was unbelievable and some security for me.”

Thompson said it’s great to remain loyal to a club that he loves playing for, despite some interest from outside of the Raiders.

“These days you don’t here about blokes signing for four years, but the club has been good to me and hopefully I can repay them with some good form for the next four years,” he said. “There was a bit of interest from a few Sydney clubs and overseas, but my family and friends are here and I’m happy to stay.”

The 26-year-old Thompson said he is looking forward to becoming one of the team’s leadership players, and help with the development of some of the clubs younger stars.

“There are heaps of young kids coming through and hopefully I can be part of bringing them into the side,” he said. “We have some exciting young halves coming through and to play with them in a new club atmosphere and with a new coach will be exciting as well.”

Raider’s general manager Don Furner said the Raiders are all about rewarding good form and loyalty within their ranks, and Thompson fits perfectly into both categories.

“As we said before we’re going to reward those players who are going really well for us, rather than bring guys in that aren’t going any better than the ones we’ve got,” Furner said. “Thommo has been outstanding. He’s a local guy who never wanted to leave.”

Furner said he had consulted incoming coach Neil Henry about the decision to upgrade Thompson, and hopefully there will be similar signings within the next few months.

“I’ve spoken with Neil and he’s really happy with Troy’s form and we’re happy to have him into 2010,” he said. “We’ve also spoken to a few of the young guys about upgrading as well, and will sit down with the likes of Michael Dobson and Marc Herbert and those type of guys, with our focus being keeping that core group of young guys together until 2009 and 2010 and that will give us the best shot of winning a grand final.”

http://www.nrl.com.au/News/Latest/NewsArticle/tabid/76/NewsId/2396/Default.aspx
 

Sharkie™

Juniors
Messages
1,606
congrats to the raiders, that is a soild signing. good to see ur club going in the right direction, unlike some clubs i know of.....not mentioning any names
 

Tokyo_Raider

Juniors
Messages
1,229
skeepe said:
Raiders Sign Troy Thompson Till 2010!

...with our focus being keeping that core group of young guys together until 2009 and 2010 and that will give us the best shot of winning a grand final.”
aspx

Oh, bollocks - another 5 year plan. :crazy:
 

Edwahu

Bench
Messages
3,697
Should be another 200 gamer by the time he is finished.

Its gunna be interesting to see how they fit all these young guys like Dobson and Herbert in. They might of been a bit worried when we signed Dunemann, so thats why they got a mention. Makes me wonder a bit more about Sau only getting one year.

They should upgrade Zillman with a 10 year contract next.
 

Raider Azz

Bench
Messages
4,547
Edwahu said:
They should upgrade Zillman with a 10 year contract next.
agreed there. he will be in high demand come end of next year and we may have trouble retaining him.
 

woodgers

Bench
Messages
3,569
I agree that it is great because he has turned into a top player for us and a real clubman. I rate him highly. That is kind of why the mind boggles as to why you would extend someone 2 years when there is another 2 years to run on his contract? Especially a prop that could be decapitated in between now and then and you pay for nothing. Could the club be thinking captaincy maybe? It is good that we keep Thommo but i'm baffled at why they've done it now....
 

Chachi

Bench
Messages
3,068
Personally I think that's great news. Thommo is a champ and I'm certainly happy for him to be here long term.

Does he have a manager, or does he do all his own negotiations like Tongue? If he does have a manager whoever it is just made the easiest bloody 6% (or whatever it is) in their life! Funny way to do business.
 

Stuart

Juniors
Messages
799
While i really like Thommo and think he is a good player im not particualrly happy that they have upgraded and extended him now. In 2008 we have Weyman and Tilse coming off contract, both props with the potential to be far better than thompson. Why didnt they wait until at least the end of 2007 when we have a far better idea of how Weyman and Tilse are developing?

The money they have spent on Thommo could well be the differnece between keeping both Tilse and Weyman (and thurling etc) at the end of 2008 and losing one of them.

I hope things work out retention wise over teh next few years but this is a baffling decison IMO.
 

edabomb

First Grade
Messages
7,190
Stuart said:
While i really like Thommo and think he is a good player im not particualrly happy that they have upgraded and extended him now. In 2008 we have Weyman and Tilse coming off contract, both props with the potential to be far better than thompson. Why didnt they wait until at least the end of 2007 when we have a far better idea of how Weyman and Tilse are developing?

The money they have spent on Thommo could well be the differnece between keeping both Tilse and Weyman (and thurling etc) at the end of 2008 and losing one of them.

I hope things work out retention wise over teh next few years but this is a baffling decison IMO.

I'm inclined to agree. I'm not really a fan of >3 year deals unless the player is a very special talent.
 

edabomb

First Grade
Messages
7,190
hrundi99 said:
Can't win apparently...

It seems like a vast minority that aren't entirely happy with the signing, so I'm not quite sure what you're on about.

It's not as if anyone is going after management, just a bit curious they'd choose to extend the contract now.
 

Bay56

First Grade
Messages
5,464
Must admit I have a few reservations but only with respect to injuries, not talent.

A few seasons ago I was pretty impressed with Thommos pre-season form and thought he was going to give us good service. Unfortunately some injuries and lack of form did not assist in realising my initial assessment.

But I've been impressed with his form this season.

He's 27 in November, therefore his contract will take him out to 30 and a bit in 2010. By then, barring injury he will be passing on a lot of experience and leadership to our younger forwards, not to mention that missing ingredient of Loyalty.

Management have done well here.
 

Macko8

Juniors
Messages
1,369
Thats the best news.
I still think we are yet to see him play his best footy and wouldnt be surprised at all to see him play some rep footy in the next couple of years.

I dont care what anyone seez :-
Thommo and Tongue, twin captains for 2007.
 

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