Souths, Storm up the ante for Orford
By Steve Mascord
July 19, 2005
Melbourne and South Sydney last night upped the ante in the battle for Matt Orford by offering him a "Gosford clause" - an immediate release should an NRL team relocate to the Central Coast.
The intriguing development came as the Sydney Origin star's agent, George Mimis, said Melbourne had raised their offer.
Storm chief executive Brian Waldron confirmed discussing the fight to keep Orford with Lachlan Murdoch, a powerbroker at News Ltd, the club's majority shareholder.
"It's no secret that Matt would love to play on the Central Coast in the NRL if that ever eventuated," said Mimis, who declined to discuss details of the proposal.
"Should there be a team there at some point, Matt would like to think he could be a part of that.
"Melbourne have come back to me with a counter-proposal as recently as today. There are a whole range of factors - [Gosford] included - that we are discussing with Melbourne particularly."
Amid suggestions his offer had been raised by $100,000 or more, Waldron insisted the revision was "not so much about the money as about the terms associated with it".
The Storm boss and Rabbitohs chief executive Shane Richardson said they would happily give the 27-year-old Gosford Townies junior an "out" to return home if the chance arose. Richardson said: "That certainly wouldn't be a problem from our point of view."
Waldron was similarly sympathetic. "We wouldn't be against letting people, for compassionate reasons, head back to their home base," he said. "He's obviously a Central Coast kid and that's something we'd consider.
"He's always had hopes about getting back to the Central Coast. That doesn't look possible next year now, obviously, so if we could work out something that's fair to him and gives him security long-term, we'd be prepared to do that."
Paul Cummings, executive director of Manly, who are the long-running favourites to snare Orford, said the Central Coast issue had not been raised in his talks with Mimis. "I think his mum and dad live up at Gosford and the northern beaches are a bit closer than Melbourne is and it's even a bit closer than South Sydney, too," he said.
Mimis will continue talks with the three clubs today. "I was kind of hopeful we might be able to bring this to a conclusion today or tomorrow but it might not be that soon," he said.
"We're still very deep in discussions with all the parties."
With NRL chief executive David Gallop last month saying there would probably be no further expansion before 2013, the clause would effectively give the league another carrot with which to entice a club to the Central Coast. Already $8million is on offer. Souths are under pressure to relocate - but so far they steadfastly refuse.
Waldron said Murdoch had played no role in the club's attempts to retain Orford.
"He was in our [dressing] rooms yesterday," he said. "I happened to be in Sydney this morning, at News for a meeting.
"He just wanted to know, in passing, how we're going with it all. Someone might have seen us talking. He'd like us to retain Matt
but he understands it's up to us to work it out the best way we can."
Richardson wants the NRL to investigate Manly's salary cap arrangements if they sign Orford.
Gallop said salary cap commissioner Ian Schubert had held "some general discussions" with the Sea Eagles but "they were not in relation to a specific player. Ian sought clarifications of certain arrangements, which is not unusual".
Gallop ruled out revisiting the question of financial rewards for people who dob in salary-cap rorts or introducing a free hotline for information - ideas he brought back from a trip to the US three years ago.
"We don't want to encourage frivolous complaints but we are always receiving information and always looking into what we are told," Gallop said. "We had a disgruntled financial controller on one occasion who was able to provide us with a lot of information. It was a couple of years ago."
The Storm are likely to receive some on-field help today with five-eighth Scott Hill (ankle) available for selection to play against the Roosters on Sunday. Hill has been missing for almost two months. The Roosters are still hopeful prop Jason Cayless (sprained ankle) will play.
Another international star, Brisbane's Brent Tate, is likely to return from an ankle injury on the wing against the Bulldogs on Friday night.
Panthers prop Ben Ross (shoulder) is also hoping to take part in round 20, while today Newcastle will offer young second-rower Daniel Abraham a two-year deal.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/souths-storm-up-the-ante-for-orford/2005/07/18/1121538918622.html
