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Rugby league fans have become accustomed to players signing contracts for another club up to a season in advance of their current contract expiring.
They have also been exposed to players moving mid season to other clubs at any point in the season up until June 30, which for the fan of the club whose player has moved, has been negatively looked upon.
The big reason for such flexibility in allowing this type of player movement is that it is seen as an important player welfare issue both on and off the field, while giving the club flexibility to resolve roster issues.
However, this current off-season has seen the rise in the number of players being traded to other NRL clubs, the majority of which have one or even more seasons to go on their existing deal. This is replacing the traditional approach of signing a player who will remain at their club for the final year of their existing contract.
So much so, that when you analyse player movement of players moving between NRL clubs the growing trend is that the majority of 2015 player movements has occurred since the club’s season has concluded.
Of the 84 players moving between NRL clubs, 48 have moved since the end of their club’s playing commitments, which flies in the face of the player’s need to have time available for them to sort their affairs.
Players and clubs are breaking contracts at will as players posture to secure their futures while clubs manoeuvre to re-adjust their playing rosters and address urgent roster deficiencies. This season very rarely has a player moved from a club without that club having a ready made replacement (I think the Wests Tigers are the only club who have bucked that trend having released a plethora of players without making any meaningful replacements).
The trend of post season versus finalising player deals during the season is further magnified when you consider the high proportion of deals done for players to move to or from the Super League, rugby union or to second tier comps such as the Queensland and NSWRL Cup have also been chiefly done at the end of the season.
With such trends in place and the situation unlikely to change anytime soon, is it time for the NRL to consider the A-League policy of restricting player movement to the off season? Is it time for the introduction of a formal mid season window, which could take place around the State of Origin period which usually takes up eight weeks of the season?
This way it would limit (not eliminate) the scope of player movement speculation more so to specific periods. Actual moves could take place, thus giving fans more comfort around the surety of the players of the team they spend considerable amounts of money supporting.
Finally, would you be happy with this trend, rather than having to endure a player in your team playing their last season knowing that they are moving on?
I’m starting to warm to the immediate release trend as it avoids the heartache fans go through when following their favourite player at their current club.
I can think of nothing worse than seeing a player at your club playing with the knowledge that he has already secured his future before a ball has been kicked. Though Sam Burgess did recently win a premiership despite announcing his intent early in the season to move to rugby union.
In any case it’s only the beginning of December, and with half an off season to go, the player merry-go-round still has a long way to go before a ball is kicked in 2015. The need for more formal transfer periods may just be the way to go given these current trends.
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