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The moment Danny Buderus put on his Brumbies training gear and sat down in front of rival sponsors, his deal to be a “collision coach” with the Super Rugby franchise deserved to be dead in the water.
What was he thinking?
The Newcastle Knights hooker has made many smart and calculated decisions throughout his illustrious career, but this wasn’t one of them.
It made memories of Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau sitting in front of shiny new Suns and Giants sponsors come flooding back. That’s before we even cast our mind back to Mat Rogers, Wendell Sailor and Lote Tuqiri.
It didn’t have to be like this though.
Buderus is right to start thinking about life after rugby league. He’ll retire after the 2013 season and sees coaching as a way to continue his involvement in sport after his body is no longer able to deal with the rigours of week in and week out competition.
His extremely minor cross-code move would’ve seen him attend Brumbies training one-day a week during the off-season and then on a consultancy basis during the ACT’s Super Rugby campaign.
On the surface it doesn’t seem so bad. Dig deeper and it’s still not a problem. The one and only drama was that the NRL was blindsided and they were far from impressed.
People react differently to different provocations, but make someone look stupid and the outcome is never positive.
Interim ARLC chief executive Shane Mattiske said in a statement that ‘‘neither Danny Buderus nor the Knights have sought permission from the NRL to enter into a third party agreement as his playing contract requires and as the club is required under the salary cap rules.”
Forget the salary cap and forget third party agreements because this is the most important part of the problem.
“It is hard to envisage any circumstance where an agreement could be approved that allowed a current NRL player to promote another code competing in the same market as an NRL team,” Mattiske went on to say.
The key word is promote.
Buderus and the Brumbies could’ve kept it all under wraps and not held a press conference.
He could’ve just rocked up to training one-day a week during the off-season and very few people would’ve probably known about it. Off-season rugby training isn’t usually heavily attended by reporters.
Even if, by chance, someone did find out and he was spotted then not wearing Brumbies colours also would’ve been a gesture of goodwill.
Instead, the Brumbies wheeled him out like a star recruit and the end result from that point on was inevitable. Both parties only have themselves to blame.
If Buderus and the Brumbies had kept the NRL completely in the loop then there shouldn’t have been a problem.
When Buderus hangs up the boots he is on his own. The NRL or the Knights are under no obligation to offer him a job once the full-time whistle goes in his final game.
If head office had been aware of his plan and then blocked it they would’ve seemed incredibly petty.
It was one day a week during the off-season. He’s not doing school visits telling kids about the wonders of rugby or ringing members to convince them to renew for 2013.
This opportunity could’ve been the start of a promising post-career business for the Australian and New South Wales representative, but instead it has all gone up in smoke.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.