Would Billy Slater look good as a Carlton Blue?
Roar Guru
By Steve Kaless, 29 Apr 2010 Steve Kaless is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- AFL, Billy Slater, Carlton Blues, Craig Bellamy, David Parkin, Melbourne Storm, NRL, Rugby League
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Through an odd twist of fate, I found myself chatting with former Carlton coach David Parkin on Saturday night and appropriately the conversation turned to the Storm and the fall-out from the saga. Parkin believed that Storm coach Craig Bellamy would have been unaware of the tactics being used to secure the talent.
He cited his own experience, where he was only once ever told what a player was being paid (and he then told the board he thought the player was being vastly overpaid).
The former flag winning coach did believe that if Carlton (or any AFL club) were to look to benefit from the upheaval of the Storm’s playing roster, then Billy Slater would be the man to target.
Having seen the Storm players up close, as they share the same training facilities, Parkin heaped praise on Slater for his athletic ability and the way he performed in the Storm’s mock AFL match against Carlton.
“He can run, jump, kick off both feet, he is certainly an elite athlete,” Parkin said.
The question would be whether a Melbourne based club would want to spend serious money enticing a code switch when they need less of the publicity than an AFL team in New South Wales or Queensland?
You also wonder how much loyalty any of the Storm players feel towards the NRL after being told by the game’s governing body that they’ll be playing this season for nothing.
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oikee said | April 29th 2010 @ 6:35am | Report comment
I think with Coote and Dougen coming through, the Broncos need Inglis and Slater just to compete. The storm must nearly be about to recruit some home grown Melbourne players. I think its time to spread the talent around more.
With Folou heading to union, and Lockyer retiring, Brisbane needs all the help they can get, trust me.
Mister Football said | April 29th 2010 @ 7:49am | Report comment
Parko is an astute judge, and commands a lot of respect, but he even he would have had some riders on his observations because he would know it’s not as simple as turning up and doing a few laps.
zach said | April 29th 2010 @ 8:55am | Report comment
If he was 5 years younger and happy to be paid minimum payments some AFL club might be silly enough to take a punt on him, but as it is there is no chance that any of the Storm players will ever play AFL.
Michael C said | April 29th 2010 @ 9:08am | Report comment
agreed.
AGO74 said | April 29th 2010 @ 9:25am | Report comment
So why did an AFL club sign Karmichael Hunt then? Perhaps not the Vic, SA or WA teams but I’m pretty sure any one of the soon to be 4 AFL teams in NSW and QLD would agree that Billy Slater would provide a much higher profile and ‘bang for buck’ than Karmichael. I’m no AFL expert, but to me Billy Slater would appear the most likely of any NRL players to have success in changing codes. Anyway, as a rugby league fan, I hope Billy stays in the NRL.
Al said | April 29th 2010 @ 9:39am | Report comment
Gold Coast aren’t required to pay Hunt within their salary cap, therefore they can afford to pay him a competitive salary. The AFL wont extend their generosity to Carlton or any other established club I wouldn’t imagine.
JamesP said | April 29th 2010 @ 12:24pm | Report comment
But neither would any AFL club if they wanted to sign up any NRL player as they would be classified as a rookie…according to the article on this link:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-storm-stars-on-afl-radar/story-e6frf9jf-1225857884409
“In a further plus, the 2008 rugby league world player of the year’s salary would initially count outside the salary cap of any club which signed him, under the AFL’s unregistered rookie rules.”
mushi said | April 29th 2010 @ 12:51pm | Report comment
I thought the loophole was becuase he was a “foreign” player being kiwi
M1tch said | April 29th 2010 @ 10:51am | Report comment
id expect this from a AFL journo Steve
Corey said | April 29th 2010 @ 11:22am | Report comment
I don’t think his speed would suit AFL, with having to bounce the ball every 15 steps, it would slow him down. And I think Slater is too much of a League Identity that even Gallop would try and talk to clubs to buy him, rather than AFL. May be the Sharks have enough in their cap- or may be Melbourne keep him and he just loses a bit of money. Think about it- $700,00 divided by 25 that is an average of $28,000/year. And they could make that up on third party agreements.
zizou said | April 29th 2010 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
Why would one natural assume that he would want to play AFL. I wish AFL people would get it out of their small little minds that not everyone wants to play their game. Come to think why would anyone want to switch to a code with no chance of international representation (that hybrid game against Ireland doesn’t count). If he was to switch codes, it is more likely to go to union be it here or overseas.
Dogz R Barkn said | April 29th 2010 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
Steve Kaless is a League writer – ain’t no AFL person saying that he should or shouldn’t play Australian Football (in fact, anyone who knows anything about the game would understand that it would be nigh on impossible for Slater to do so).
zizou said | April 29th 2010 @ 1:40pm | Report comment
It was more a general comment than one directed at the author of this article.
Redb said | April 29th 2010 @ 1:06pm | Report comment
Despite his Carlton allegiance Parkin is a great man and one of the few I respect amongst the mob at Princes Park.
He spoke once at a small sports function (junior basketball) I attended (he didn’t get a zack for it), his energy and focus on hard work and dediction was inspiring.
Some of his views on current day footy are a little old hat (AFL teams on Fox), but he is someone worthy of attention for sure.
No BS or hubris from David Parkin. If he thinks Slater is good enough that’s good enough for me, but I seriously doubt it will happen due to his age.
Steve Kaless said | April 29th 2010 @ 1:44pm | Report comment
Well a premiership winning coach thinks so.
Gents, the fact is that as long as rugby league continues to produce quality athletes its players will be targeted.
However, I found it interesting that a Melbourne based club might consider it given it is normally just the domain of those looking to score marketing points in the league heartlands.
Perhaps what was also interesting in my discussion with Parkin was that we agreed about how hard it was to get footy clubs (of league, AFL and Union) to sign players who had seen to have great football brains but not spectacular physiques while they well over themselves to sign ‘great athletes’ with rudimentary knowledge of the game.
In this regard Parkin was frank. “That is were our game is stuffed,” he said.
But I’ve also heard similar remarks from NRL recruitment officers.
mushi said | April 29th 2010 @ 2:25pm | Report comment
Does he genuinely think so? As in if he was running a team he’d pay the price to bring him over… or was it simply an offhanded comment meant to impress how good an athlete he thought he was?
The quote you gave was just with regards to his athleticism which is hardly some unique revelation.
But, if he did genuinely mean that he would cough up to pay for Slater then his comments about picking for skill/reading play over athleticism aren’t just interesting they are pretty contradictory.
Steve Kaless said | April 29th 2010 @ 2:34pm | Report comment
He was sufficiently impressed by Slater that he said the club should make a play, however he did also say that clubs went too much after athletes. So perhaps you are right that it is contradictory however I’d suggest he saw Slater as an exception rather than a rule. You do have plenty of spots on a roster to fill.
mushi said | April 30th 2010 @ 11:19am | Report comment
But only so much money to spend, cap or no cap.
I can see a team taking a flier on a minimum salary for athlete like Slater. In the vain hope of him being able to, in a year, gain the 10 to 20 years of training and experience that every single person he plays against will have.
But paying him enough to quit a sport he is already playing at a high level and well compensated for, that doesn’t seem sensible valuation of the opportunity.