Giteau offered $10 million deal in France

My hope for Carter is that he comes back a better player. My fear is that he comes back a burn't out player. It will be hard to judge as well, wether or not to select Carter for the All Blacks in 2009. Does he get a armchair ride back to the team? Would not then Henry be breaking the selection rules of NZ rugby? What if Donald and Waikato win the Super 14? Hmmmmm?

It’s looking more likely Matt Giteau wishes to leave the Force early with a year to go on his contract. He is reported to unhappy with his loss earnings due to firepower defaulting and unhappy with Coach John Mitchell who also got caught up in the firepower scam but he managed to cash in his options in late 2007 and got out early. That must create some tension at training between Mitchell and the 4-5 players who got stung. Matt Giteau is also likely embarrassed at being associated with the firepower scam which cheated mum and dads in Perth of around 40 million dollars’ and 80 million world-wide. He wasn’t to know that it was a scam and isn’t responsible but nonetheless it would be discomforting for the 26 year old in the streets of Perth. From the original Giteau Force deal 3 of the individuals involved have left in extenuating circumstances, the firepower CEO, preceding Force CEO and the player Agent. What a mess and ARU CEO Flowers is no longer about, so its John O'Neills task to set thing right. My feeling about this French offer is he is trying to outflank the ARU and attain permission to leave the force early. If the ARU says he can leave the Force but cannot play for another Australian Super 14 team in 2009 he can then say “well can I take up the French offer for a season”, which they will definitely find objectionable. It’s a possible Catch 22 for the ARU and the third party deal shenanigans…so perhaps they let him out of the force contract early and he goes back to the Brumbies who have kept the home fire burning waiting his return…Anyway that’s my wild crazy theory about Giteau…We will see in a few weeks… Giteau can cash up after the next RWC if he likes. The French will pay big then as well.

I say let Giteau go, and any others that dont want to be here. Its a team game and one player does not make a team. There are heaps of youngsters out there who have as much talent as the Giteau's of the world but not enough game time. As a member of the Western Force I say flick Giteau and any other non believers. Having said that I dont blame these guys for trying to make money, it is business after all, but as a business would you want an employee who was'nt 100% committed? Say goodbye and move on.

"I still laugh at Sonny Bill Williams and his “million-dollar” deal - maybe 400K per season in Euros. Wasn’t he on half a million a season with the Bulldogs?!?!" That's still a lot of coin. Don't forget these guys don't have to fork out for things that us normal folk have to, while they are playing - houses and cars are all provided for.

The whole story sounds like a heap of crock.

Leftie, you've hit this on the head when you mention the exchange rate, which once again, the Sports media and reading public have fallen for hook, line & sinker. AUD$10M is going to be closer to half that in Euros, so maybe E1.25M per season. And then he has to live in France and spend Euros, not Aussie dollars. All of a sudden, it's roughly the equivalent in Euros of what took him the Perth. It's only going to be AUD$10M if he sends it ALL back to Australia and lives on bread and water (which admittedly in France, would be baguettes and Perrier...) I still laugh at Sonny Bill Williams and his "million-dollar" deal - maybe 400K per season in Euros. Wasn't he on half a million a season with the Bulldogs?!?! "The Deal Sonny Bill couldn't refuse..." Ha, funny!! If only he did the math...

No Spiro I don't think he is worth $10M but I also agree with Emu, he is worth what someone is prepared to pay. By the way I also do not think he is a 10, he simply makes too many bad decisions with the ball.

As Ohtani's jacket says...it is the pull of the next World Cup that holds back the tide ....if the Blacks win...and Australia plays well...we do not have the resources to hold the line..........the buyer of our players will go from Australian league to European club rugby...............the ridiculous fact may be we may need a strong professional rugby league and super16/ 18 rugby competition to hold our local playing quality. This notion it will only be league players was always rather facile.

Sluggy, it's not the 30 plus guys that are the problem. It's the mid career guys.

Giving him the Carter style deal may be a good move. This rhetoric from O'Neill i dont think is helpful and could alienate him. It would be a huge loss for the Force to lose him for a season but a much bigger loss for Aussie rugby to lose him for four yeras

This is just the start. All top level Rugby players, either code, will be playing in Europe. Its only a matter of time. Does Australian Rugby have the depth to deal with it and produce a decent product at provinvcial level?

Sack the ref. That was bullsh!t

Giteau's paycheque at the Force has so far not been matched by his on-field influence. Granted the Force would lose more games without him. Like anyone he is upset at missing out on a significant amount of promised money but that was his (now sacked) manager's fault for securing a deal with a company with no profits and no product. Would love him to stay but it seems there is now enough smoke to suggest that he genuinely wants out.

"The unnerving thing for the ARU and NZRU is that it’s only the 2011 World Cup that’s stopping the dyke from bursting. Things could get really ugly after the Cup. Had NZ won the last World Cup, I don’t think so many of our players would be re-signing. There’s a motivation to win it at home and settle unfinished business. Without that goal in mind, there’s nothing to keep them in the country." OJ, there will always be a bunch of plus 30 guys after a RWC who will be looking for their superannuation. I'm not so sure its such a bad thing, very few players can play at test level for 4 or 8 years, let alone more. And, some would say that it would have been good if Gregan and a few others had gone north instead of hanging around and crashing out in 2007. What I'd reeally like to see is some more oz props do a Rodney Blake, if he learns to scrum he could be a very important cog in the machine come 2011.

The precedent has been set by Carter and Elsom. We might argue about how good a five eight Giteau is, but the reality is it's a glamour position in rugby and Giteau's tour of Europe has been all sexed up. I'd be surprised if he doesn't get a sabbatical. I was talking to an Aussie guy at the pub about this and he reckoned the players are smartening up to this sort of pay day, but we haven't seen the consequences yet. The spin on Carter is that he'll come back a better player, but we'll have to wait and see. The unnerving thing for the ARU and NZRU is that it's only the 2011 World Cup that's stopping the dyke from bursting. Things could get really ugly after the Cup. Had NZ won the last World Cup, I don't think so many of our players would be re-signing. There's a motivation to win it at home and settle unfinished business. Without that goal in mind, there's nothing to keep them in the country.

and just think Spiro Matt's never been involved with Sydney Uni!!!

If true it suggests there must be some really wealthy Rugby supporters who think they can buy rather than develop their own locally orietated success. Who am I to suggest Giteau shouldn't go for it as I'm only too aware how fragile one's Rugby playing career can be. In my case an inoquous accident during University holidays that ended my rugby ambitions as a 22yo. Perhaps we need similar benefactors in OZ in an attempt to keep such talent at home.

Giteau is worth what someone is willing to pay! Everything comes at a price. In this case, it might be his Wallabies jersey and the chance to win the 2011 RWC. And if the Wallabies are on the verge of something special, it may be that all the Euros in France wont be enough. Manager spin is always at play somewhere in these and so too are exchange rates and tax rates. Picking the most "advantageous rate" over a volatile period is an old trick. The catch is that injury could derail any decision he makes. The woes of being a sportsman in a contact sport!

Spiro, Might Giteau be a better player in an All Black side Might Carter be less of a force in the Wallabies. re his value on the international market ,whats the deal, AUD 2.5m pa for four seasons ? ......................................................................................... AUD 3.33 m pa over three seasons? If Giteau is worth , one point something million dollars a season in Australia,where he only plays say six games a season infront of a 'home' crowd,(that have no other first class rugby to watch in the interim) how much more must he be worth playing for a club with a traditional support base that can watch him play almost every week of the season. Depending on the length of the deal, perhaps AUD 10m is a nick.

There may be an element of manager-hype in all of this. But probably not too much. The passion in France for their national rugby competition is extremely intense. In the 1930s the professionalism and ruthlessness of play (with the occasional player being killed) was so strong that the IRB banned French sides, at the club and national level, from competition with other countries. Giteau also is having well-publicised problems with not receiving the Firepower money, or most of it, that encouraged him to leave the Brumbies and go to the Western Force in Perth. So he would be suspectible (as any one weould be anyway) to the sort of huge offer being touted. He has a contract with the ARU until 2011. If an offer is made and he wants to take it up he will probably be able to do the six month deal that Dan Carter has done with his French club, miss the Super 14 and be back in time for the July-September Test season. I would make one other observation here. Is Giteau really worth the huge amount of money that he has been offered already in his career? He has not been able to take the Western Force to the finals even of the Super 14. And he has not really been a dominant player in Test rugby the way Daniel Carter has been.