By LeftArmSpinner -
October 30th 2009 @ 1:09am
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Lote loses it with Wests Tigers signing
Lote Tuqiri attempts to offload to Waratah's Lachlan Turner - Photo by Oscar Jimenez
2009 has been an Annus Horibilis for Lote Tuqiri. First he loses his $1m ARU contract, and then he can only replace it with a $400,000 deal from Wests Tigers. The value of “Brand Tuqiri” is in free fall.
And it all stems from Lote, the football player, as opposed to Lote the brand and billboard, losing sight of his primary objective.
Like every highly paid, professional sportsman, he has to keep playing not just good, but great football on the field.
First, he prepared poorly.
He was way too big for a winger. Compare his physique to any of the current back threes in either league or union and you will see that he “overcapitalised” his frame and lost his speed.
As a consequence, he played poorly for the Waratahs. For a winger, losing speed is like cutting Samson’s hair. With his speed went his confidence, in both the footrace and the collision.
Despite Deans having said repeatedly that speed is critical, Lote chose not to listen.
He scraped into the Wallabies mega-squad at the start of the 2009 international season, but week after week, he was overlooked by selectors. This must have further affected his headspace.
Already on his last chance with the Wallabies’ discipline police, he lacked the focus that game day brings and he again played up.
The farcical grandstanding and legal threats did nothing to help his brand. Rejection by several previously deep pocketed European clubs indicated that all was not well in Camp Tuqiri.
Behind the scenes, his marriage was clearly under pressure after the Canberra incident. He was on a very short leash as noises came out that he would prefer to remain in Sydney for the family.
Finally, we hear of Tuqiri’s reported decision to sign with the Wests Tigers for $400,000 per annum. This is not just another contract for him.
At 29 years old, it will be his last.
It is a pay cut on a scale never seen before, reportedly a 60 percent reduction in his pay.
It is also a massive embarrassment.
Despite supposedly being in his prime, as a player, he is a shadow of his former self and yet another example of a player not acheiving his potential, despite his natural abilities. He is now paid to sell memberships and seats.
I predict that he will not see this contract out. The Tigers will get a new coach in 2011. A new coach will need the cash to purge the Tigers squad in the same way a male lion kills the cubs of its male opponents.
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Jeff Baxter said | October 30th 2009 @ 6:03am | Report comment
An embarassment? Maybe he could dry his tears with the thousand of dollars he is still getting paid. I’m only guessing but I reckon he will somehow manage to drag himself through this crisis.
lauboy said | October 30th 2009 @ 6:19am | Report comment
If the Tigers get a new coach in 2011 then they will have lots of spare cash since Benji Marshall is likely to activiate the get-out clause in his contract
Pete said | October 30th 2009 @ 6:53am | Report comment
Talk about kicking a guy when he’s down. Lote was by far the player I most enjoyed to watch, however his image began to turnish after the Sam Norton-Knight and then the Peter Hewett incidents. Standing from the side lines he began to look as if he was getting bigger than the team. In saying that he was always there to sign autographs and spend time with kids.
I think he’ll cope playing NRL of $400K… that;s a lot more than most of the other NRL players running around in the comp get. I wish him well and look forward to seeing him run around for the Tigers.
If Dell could return as the Prodigal son after his drug indiscretions. I think Lote will fare much better.
LeftArmSpinner said | October 30th 2009 @ 8:28am | Report comment
kicking a guy when he’s down is not my style and not my intention. this is my attempt to assemble the pieces that we get from the news and try to interpret them. Several things are factual. He lost his pace, he lost his form, he wasnt in the frame for the Wallabies and he behaved badly on several, nay too many occasions.
It is not about whether he is a good guy, its about whether he is worth the money, what lessons can be learnt and a projection of the final outcome.
That he has never developed the skills and knowledge to play any position to a reasonable standard, (as opposed to filling in for an injured player) other than wing, the simplest of positions, is sadly a waste of all that time and opportunity he had at his feet.
so, not kicking, simply sadness at the waste of his talent.
Harry said | October 30th 2009 @ 8:43am | Report comment
If its really not personal, can I suggest you should have left out the stuff about his marriage then LAS, unless you are Mrs Turquiri, thats none of our business and mere specualtion.
Will be interesting to see how Lote goes in league. I think his best days are past him and he had lost that vital yard of pace … to me the death knell of his career as a world class rugby winger was sounded when he was run down from behind by the Canterbury 5/8th filling on on the wing in this year’s S14 match at Homebush.
Wendell had a great year in the NRL and there is the benchmark for Lote to perform to.
danwighton said | October 31st 2009 @ 1:11am | Report comment
On that note, while his form was relevant, I don’t think it was the reason for his falling out of favour and his non selection. And his union contract was the highest of any wallaby – at the tigers he will recieve more than all but a few in either rugby code.
I think he will be worth it in league, not only on the field but off it in terms of memberships and crowds.
Bill said | October 30th 2009 @ 7:11am | Report comment
Lote seems to love protracted contract negotiations, trying to squeeze every extra dollar he can get from interested clubs. Wanting to head over to Europe for a short stint in rugby before the start of the 2010 season is not in the NRL’s interests. It will be interesting to see if he can get his way.
Bay35Pablo said | October 30th 2009 @ 7:53am | Report comment
I always though Dell’s size, offloads and leg drive suited him more to 13 than wing in union. With Lote bulking up, he is starting to resemble Dell before he got caught on the Colombian marching powder.
Dell has done all right in returning to league, so I suspect Lote will do all right. He’ll see more of the ball in league, and not have to worry about recycling ball, so it may suit the way his game has “developed” in the last year or two.
LeftArmSpinner said | October 30th 2009 @ 8:34am | Report comment
well said. less is more. had he been more mature, and put in during his time with the ARU, he would be earning 150% per year more!!!
LeftArmSpinner said | October 30th 2009 @ 8:38am | Report comment
pwablo, (not a spelling mistake), you have to admire dell, he went off the rails and after a period of denial, took his meds, and was rescued. he has made every post a winner, and good luck to him. I personally wouldnt want to play with him, a serial pest that he is, but maybe he is good for the team.
Lote is not yet to recognise that he is off the rails, let alone go through denial and pop out the other side. he may as he has to trim his lifestyle. I suspect there is more bad news to come for Lote and so too for Willie!!!! begging for his future at sydney is embarrassing.
Paul J said | October 30th 2009 @ 7:54am | Report comment
Lote scored a try in every game in the SOO series and was considered hot property but that was back in 2002. Father time has played a big part in his decline.
His reduction in his pay is due to him being overpaid by the ARU and that the NRL clubs can not pay anyone more that $500K due to the salary cap unless they are considered the best player in the world.
LeftArmSpinner said | October 30th 2009 @ 8:40am | Report comment
paul, he is only 29, hardly over the hill. he should be in his prime. all he can show for it is a big set of pistols!
M1tch said | October 30th 2009 @ 9:36am | Report comment
and he is fresh after touching the ball twice all super rugby season
AndyRoo said | October 30th 2009 @ 8:55am | Report comment
400k is a lot for an NRL winger. He got a big chunk of money from the ARU when they terminated his contract so this extra deal with Wests Tigers is like a bonus contract.
He has done pretty well for himself, the fact at one stage the ARU was giving a winger 1 million dollars a season say more about the ARU than anyone else.
M1tch said | October 30th 2009 @ 9:36am | Report comment
the 3rd party agreements, the extra members and merchandise he will sell, its a very good investment for the Tigers
Hansie said | October 30th 2009 @ 9:31am | Report comment
I think this is an embarassment for Tuqiri. After 4 months of noise about large contracts all around the world, all he has delivered is a reasonable size league contract. And the numerous indiscretions of the last couple of years have adversely affected his reputation.
Bay35Pablo said | October 30th 2009 @ 8:41pm | Report comment
There was talk of him going to Leicester Tigers or London Irish. When I saw the headline he had gone to the Tigers, I assumed Leicester before Wests. And I’m a Balmain fan!!
I suspect he wants to be home with the family. The wife and kids won’t want to move, and he might not be trusted to be overseas on his own without them.
Trying telling the family they’re worth less than an extra $200-600K a year. You’ll take your $400K, get your pocket pissed in for coming back to league, and be happy. And still be looking at a couple of years in Japan when he retires from the NRL I’d tip ….
Ben said | October 30th 2009 @ 11:03am | Report comment
How about some relativity here – he is playing rugby/rugby league ? $1m or 400k ? It is all good. He is not doing anything noble, just playing sport so I am hardly feeling bad for him. He was playing crap rugby and like someone said, is massive with good leg drive at close quarters, like Dell, so will suit going back to NRL. Like Dell also, he was a great ambassador for rugby at a basic level but like all league players (except Dell), incoherent and immature so pretty useless to ARU and sponsors.
The Tigers will get the “Dell” factor from Tiquri from marketing and will fix him up in “3rd party deals”. If the NRL had any brains, however with David “sorry for that indescretion” Gallop (resembles Kevin Rudd in that way, full of apologies, total inaction) it will never happen, they would educate their players to be decent ambassadors at the top level and maybe the bucks would roll in, like in Union.
Jeff Baxter said | October 30th 2009 @ 8:34pm | Report comment
Decent ambassadors except for the cheating, drug taking and occasional murder? Meanwhile six NRL lads are in rwanda working their butts off to rebuild some housing for victims of the genocide. Well we focus on what we want i suppose, but i doubt very much it has much relation to what money is in each code.
John Ryan said | October 30th 2009 @ 11:47am | Report comment
Yes Ben that why more watch Rugby League on TV and general crowds than watch the ARU games in a month of Sundays,good god you cant even beat the U 20s on pay TV a lot of the time,I love the bit about incoherent to when in doubt Rugby Union supporters revert to type,and play the class card
Ben said | October 30th 2009 @ 1:57pm | Report comment
Slow down mate.
I was not playing any card.
League is great and I am glad it is back however the NRL could do a little more work with its players and it would have more cash to play with as sponsors would see the players are useful to their respective organisations.
I loved Dell in Union however he goes better in league and given the lack of foresight of the NRL and the churlish nature of the game, be it the Footy Show and all the silly antics, Dell is one of the few respectable types to promote the sport.
I cringe about the lack of maturity and respect of NRL players as much as I cringe about the lack of hardness of Wallabies in confronting ABs and Springboks. We are better than this on all counts.
MattRusty said | October 30th 2009 @ 12:25pm | Report comment
I’ve been following Lote on Twitter for a few weeks now and he’s seems like a real happy person. I can’t wait to see playing rugby league again. Dell has been brilliant; it’s almost like he feels blessed to be out there playing again. He’s having so much fun, he waves to the crowd, he almost always is willing to high five the kids on the way out on the ground and after half-time – I love it, and I hope that Lote has the same experience – and gets paid $400,000pa.
There are things that are more important in life than money LeftArmSpinner. I hope for your sake you realise this one day.
LeftArmSpinner said | October 30th 2009 @ 6:58pm | Report comment
i learnt that many years ago. It is Lote that needs to learn that. i refer you to his antics while negotiating his latest contract with ARU, his negotiatiosn with ARU on hsi dismissal and his prolonged and failed negotiatiosn with mutliple euro clubs. remember one of them said that they had pulled out because he was too demanding!!!
mushi said | October 30th 2009 @ 1:51pm | Report comment
This is a free kick to the prone man and all based on, at best ill conceived conjecture, at worst pure fiction.
Fact he’s 30.
Fact neither 30 nor 29 is the “prime” of a wingers career. (Saying he “should have” learnt a new position is all well and good but he was never a ball player or general play kicker.)
I would of thought it was pretty much basic common sense that people don’t maintain the same speed, agility and acceleration as they move from early 20s towards 30 clearly this isn’t that common given you believe 30 to be the prime of his career.
Look at the origin selections over the past 10 years – so 120 wing positions up for grabs (please note I used just year of birth it is possible that ages are a year younger)
How often has a player 30 years or older been selected at wing – 7 or 5.8%
How often was that the players final series – 7
80% of the selections have been of wingers 27 and under. The average age is 24.4 years old.
So much for 30 being his prime…
Fact: he has more to show for it than some guns, what he has to show for it other than some guns is a rather bland wardrobe with 5 kangaroo jerseys, 6 Maroon jumpers and handy 60+ golden wallabies cardies.
Fact: He’s also earnt more right now than his parents did over the course of their life so I don’t think his life is falling apart over the potential 600k earnings drop though it will result in some revision of future plans.
Fact. You don’t know if he’s on a tight leash or not. It is purely speculation because he is making a choice that a many other people with time demanding jobs make as they get to 30 – lets take a position that gives me more family time. This is hardly ground breaking or some reason to be embarrassed.
Those facts to me don’t add up to someone who should be embarrassed by their career . But they do add up to a very poorly researched piece.
LeftArmSpinner said | October 30th 2009 @ 7:18pm | Report comment
mushi:
ARU signed him until 32. why would they do that unless they thought he would be producing at 32.
” he was never a ball player or general play kicker” exactly, but every player has to develop more skills and both ball player or general play kicker are essential to a back three in rugby!!!
check hsi physique: he is much bigger and on numerous occasions, when put into the clear, would not back his speed.
jerseys, jumpers and cardi’s: yet but sportsmen are only as good as their last game and he did not earn any cardi’s in 2009. He was the 5th winger behind Turner, Mitchell, Hynes and Ioane and all of the others can play at least one other position well.
“He’s also earnt more right now than his parents did over the course of their life ” is relevant because???? I dont get it. It is about tuqiri not his mummy and pappy.
Tight leash: Do you know why he was dismissed? I wont say it here, but …………..He tried to get an overseas contract but failed…………
He threw away, by his own ridiculous behaviour, a $1m contract on easy street, let me say it again, a $1m, for a $400k contract in the NRL grind and couldnt get a contract in either Euro or Japan.
No sign that, despite all the twitter, no apology, not acceptance of his part in his own demise. this is the most worrying sign, and I say that because, as a human being, he is still on the downward path. I get no satisfaction from that, no matter who it is.
did he apology for traumatising SNK or PH or his contribution to derailing the Tahs 2007 season due to his prelonged negotiations? NOPE
Mushi said | November 11th 2009 @ 9:12am | Report comment
So LAS you are suggesting that there has never in the history of sports been a player on contract that is not longer in the prime of there career? There is vast chasm between a player that can produce and a player in his prime.
Prime is peak production not just production.
Also with contract negotiations player’s deals are often structured to pay a players beyond a decent level of production please look at such leagues as the NFL, the NBA, the AFL, the NRL, the NHL, the MLB and the EPL amongst others to find such precedents. The reasoning behind this is varied and can include, amongst others, management stupidity, fast deterioration in a player, the willingness to provide a longer contract to offset a higher per annum contract etc
But at the end of the day a player is in his prime is still a wildly different statement to saying he is a player that can still produce. I can’t believe you are even trying to suggest they are the same thing as a back peddle from being clearly wrong.
“he is only 29[sic], hardly over the hill. he should be in his prime[sic]. all he can show for it is a big set of pistols!” Fact is he has a lot more to show for his career than some biceps.
A sportsman’s career is not only as good “as good as his last game” whilst a great meaningless cliché if this were true then why are things such as career stats would never be kept or mentioned. By your reasoning Michael Jordan couldn’t play basketball and neither Kieran Perkins nor Grant Hackett were really Olympic gold medallists in the 1500.
With regards to the relevance of his family if you looked at the rest of the statement you would understand the relevance as I provided context in the portion you elected not to quote. There is also the marginal utility argument for money when just throwing out figures but I fear that may be to complex a concept for this.
With your last point – you show yet again this is an axe to grind for you. And that’s fine but could you grind it with just a little bit of accuracy or supported points, rather than wild misstatements, untruths and ill founded points.
Mushi said | November 11th 2009 @ 9:15am | Report comment
Oh and is England part of europe?
Mick from Giralang said | October 30th 2009 @ 2:07pm | Report comment
LAS: I think as far as league is concerned, wingers are increasingly being required to take on a lot of work that use to be the sole province of the backrower, especially hit ups into the teeth of the defence early in the tackle count. They also need to be physically big men to contest the bomb. Because of this we’re seeing a new generation of wingers developing, where size is starting to rival speed as an important quality. Sailor is a perfect example though your throw any number of others into the mix including Matavei, Tuiaki, Grothe, Morris twins etc. Perhaps Lote will be a more comforable fit on the wing in today’s game of league than he has been in union.
sean maguire said | October 30th 2009 @ 6:34pm | Report comment
Didn’t he just get a $1.2 million payout from the ARU? I’m sure he won’t be too upset about his pay packet after that, although I would have thought he’d get paid more playing union overseas.
I agree with Bay 35 about playing 13, I don’t know a lot about union but I would have thought that would suit him better as kicking is pretty important for a union winger and Lote isn’t as fast as he used to be. He’s a great league winger though, the Tigers will be scary with him on one wing and Tuaki on the other.
LeftArmSpinner said | October 30th 2009 @ 7:24pm | Report comment
He got several things from the ARU, the bullet, his contract torn up but he definitely didnt get a pay out. he played up several times, got escalating warnings and then did it again, and thats it, thats all he got from the ARU and don’t forget if not derailing, at least distracting the wallabies in the process.
he had the chance to fill us all in on what he had done, but, despite his being a twitter addict, not a dicky bird, excuse the pun, about what he got up to. Remember that the ARU, from the outset, said that they would respect his privacy, but that they had no problem in his coming clean. Nada!!!!
Bay35Pablo said | October 30th 2009 @ 8:37pm | Report comment
I’d be surprised if he got $1.2m. Was this a Danny Wiedler rumour …?
More like a couple of hundred thousand, being what the ARU would have spent to fight the court case anyway.
LeftArmSpinner said | October 31st 2009 @ 7:14am | Report comment
pwablo, he got nothing. Why would he? He had been warned previously, it was a serious matter and Lote was in a corner, with no way out……….
Chris said | October 31st 2009 @ 10:55am | Report comment
$400,000 for an NRL season + probably another few hundred thousand in English RU seems like pretty good money to me.
Lefty – it was pretty clear that Lote got a pretty hefty payout. I’d wager it was at least a few hundred thousand (allthough certainly not as high as some of the figures in the media.
sean maguire said | October 31st 2009 @ 7:04pm | Report comment
Well the payout was rumoured to be $2 million (The Australian) or just under $1million (Sydney Morning Herald). Whatever it was Lote would have to have lost a lot in the GFC to worry about ‘only’ getting 400k a year. And Left Arm it was a confidential agreement, why would Lote say anything about it? Conversely if he got no payout why hasn’t he said anything if he stands to lose nothing by saying what happened.
Crosscoder said | November 2nd 2009 @ 7:43pm | Report comment
MfG
Agree the involvement of wingers these days in the game is a far more roving and involved one.Sailor plays like a second forard at times.Even el Masri bobbed up over the field.
Winger will suit Lote down to a T,but feel he will eventually switch to fullback for the Tigers(when and if he signs).
Got to laugh at Ben’s generalised comment about the “all league players being incoherent and immature”.Wouldn’t be a ru buff?
Maybe he should have listened to the words,when El Masri gave his farewell speech to the 41,000 crowd.
As Jack Gibson once noted,keep it simple.You don’t need a committee meeting or a Churchillian type speech to say something that can be said in a few words.
NB.Clubs such as Parramatta and the Bulldogs have been inundated with potential sponsors.Such has been the impact of the new breed of administrators,repsonsibilty of their players and the way they play the game.
Rakeef said | November 2nd 2009 @ 10:55pm | Report comment
why do you people care so much…He is a father, a husband and then a sportsman. Whatever time he takes in getting the best out of his contract is probably the smart way to go. He has just signed with Leicester, so I guess he’s smiling all the way to the bank with the ARU settlement at 2Mil and his contract with Liecester, well I’d say he’s a smart negotiator. Team Tuqiri has had a good time enjoying themselves and getting refeshed for this season while the Wallabies are trying to find a spark.
John Ryan said | November 2nd 2009 @ 11:23pm | Report comment
She will be right LAS you blokes can have wee Willy with our blessing
Ian Noble said | November 4th 2009 @ 11:03pm | Report comment
Some might be interested in this interview in todays Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article6901882.ece
It appears he is contracted to Leicester until end of May 2010 and he wants to play for Fiji in RWC2011, no mention of returning to the NRL. There is also an interview on the BBC website.
Mick from Giralang said | November 5th 2009 @ 5:47am | Report comment
I think that will be a relief to a lot of West Tigers fans.