He was wrapped up with a letter of intent 2 months ago. All the games since, including the laughable Daily Terror beat up stories have been a deliberate (by the manager) drawn out game to take the heat off the direct parties (player, manager, Eagles) after the "signing" was leaked and exposed (a blabber mouth Eagles staffer). Numerous games have been played along with Melb to keep the story running (as it has) through recent weeks, to make it look like it wasn't sign sealed and delivered (as it already was) 8 wks ago, and for similar reasons not announced before now after all the media focus (beat up stories to take the public focus off Eagles and turn toward expectation for Souths), anti tampering claims and "fit the cap" claims, most of which came from Souths who were never in the running (which they knew).
If the real story had unfolded, and he had signed through the first few days of July don't you think the public and media would have turned up the heat about what a joke this had all been, in the middle of a season, especially after the leak and focus. Now (given the ongoing beat up) the statements will be so easy and so believable - "it was so hard", "Storm have been so good to me", "they made a very competitive offer", "I only decided yesterday", blah blah blah, and most will now believe it all, of course they will, they've seen all this drag through the papers they now believe it was close, and he nearly stayed, etc etc etc . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Manager has earnt his cut with this one, he has played this out better than a soap opera.
