Rumours are circulating again today that David Pocock will be leaving the Force for the Brumbies next season. For fans of any team, mid-season contract negotiations are less than ideal.
They are taking a toll, not only on the fans, but also the players. The ARU, together with the RUPA, need to tackle this problem as soon as possible.
The first story came literally hours before Pocock captained the Wallabies in their first international test of the year against Scotland in Newcastle. Thinking about negotiating a new contract wasn’t where we wanted Pocock’s focus to be before that game, and in hindsight, look how that match turned out.
And nobody could forget the debacle surrounding Will Genia’s contract negotiation in April and the upset that this caused fans on both sides of the fence. The storm on Twitter, and in fact all forms of media that weekend was deafening and ultimately swayed Genia into re-signing with the Reds. It also left a bitter taste in the mouth of fans of both the Reds and Force.
Genia’s performance in the game following this farce was brilliant! Genia, who had been struggling with his performance, was suddenly playing like he had in the previous season. He looked like a weight had been lifted.
That is something the Reds could have used earlier in the season.
Of course I could go on and talk about several other big signings in the past few years, James O’Connor, Kurtley Beale and more recently Scott Higginbotham to name a few but what I really want to look at is what I believe is a simple solution to this problem: The introduction of a ‘contract negotiation window’.
I have been talking about this on Twitter for some time now and think that the introduction of a ‘contract negotiation window’, whereby all negotiations/trades only take place during the allocated time, would be ideal.
Looking at the current rugby calendar, the most viable and less distracting time would be towards the end of the year in October, November and December. The Super Rugby season finishes in August, the Rugby Championship begins and goes until mid October.
This is usually followed by a Wallabies Spring Tour in the UK but as this is yet to be confirmed, we can say that the rugby season finishes after the final Bledisloe match on the 20th October.
This gives players and their managers enough time to negotiate their contracts with the clubs. This would also allow the clubs to negotiate accordingly and help keep themselves within the salary cap restrictions set in place by the ARU.
Of course, this time-frame makes it difficult for franchises to negotiate with Northern Hemisphere players as this is smack bang in the middle of their season in Europe, but to be honest, I don’t really care!
At this stage, it’s really only the Melbourne Rebels who have an exemption on the amount of foreign players in their side. If absolutely necessary, we can add an exemption on the ‘contract negotiation window’ that allows the Rebels to negotiate with foreign players until their concession expires in 2016.
ARU boss John O’Neill touched on this briefly after Genia and Higginbotham’s deals were made and O’Neill said regulation was being looked into.
“I haven’t had a good chat to (ARU HPU boss) Dave Nucifora but I’d like to think we could find a better and more defined way of handling the window, such that you avoid these sometimes not-very-edifying situations,” O’Neill said.
“It tends to happen in other codes as well but I can only say at this point we are looking at different models, and can hopefully come up with something – with RUPA’s agreement – that narrows down the destructive element of it.”
I’m sorry Mr O’Neill but just talking about it doesn’t cut it! It’s time for action and we need a contract negotiation window put in place now.
Administrators of Rugby in Australia seem to be forgetting the most important part of the game, the fan!
We are the ones who buy memberships, merchandise and tickets to Super Rugby and the Internationals.
We are the ones who bleed rugby and follow our favourite player’s progress.
We are the ones that keep the game alive in Australia.
Without us, you are playing in an empty stadium to the sound of crickets.
If you want to grow the game, especially in non-rugby states, you need to stop the mid-season signings! It drives fans away! If the Pocock deal happens, I can only imagine how many of the new fans at the Force will leave never to return.
the bone
Guest
Wont work because players with miss out on overseas deals and then ARU and state unions can offer a lower contract because they wont have options. Not in the best interests for the player and they would also want security by looking in a deal as early as possible as they may get injured
sittingbison
Guest
Hold it, the real issue is the rumours of Australian players (and coaches) being "tapped up" by their Australian competitors, not marquee signings or Aussies like Cameron Shepherd going overseas. I believe all Australian player negotiations should be done between seasons, with perhaps a "contact window" mid season that coincides with NH but also allows the movement of players for injury cover bla bla, just like in the Premier League. So if for instance the Force (or Reds) has lost its three 10s, they can contract someone mid season to cover the gap, say ZHolmes from Brumbies who is their 3rd 10 and not getting a game (this is only an example so no flaming on specifics please). The Force has now had two seasons in a row of their star players being embroiled in rumour and innuendo, often malicious unfounded gossip and rumour from agenda driving journos or player managers, that destabilises the team and disgruntles supporters. Then there is the Richard Graham scenario, a guy who was in contact negotiations to move camp prior to the season starting. He had only been there a year, and was directly involved in player recruitment and retention. Irene mentions Genia being distracted, well I can assure you it was obvious to all the seas of blue that Coach Graham was distracted, a more listless dispassionate effort you would never want to witness. It has to stop.
B-Rock
Roar Guru
Good points Brett How bout this for an idea - have a trade deadline during ths SR season which fits in with the NH - maybe just before the June tests (assuming they become a regular fixture) where teams sort out the contracts with a defined end date which stops the chatter dead. This works well in the NBA in the US - despite plenty of speculation leading up to the deadline (i think about 3/4 of the way through the season), the players and coaches can focus on the run to the finals once past that date. Also, the power in these discussions should really reside with the SH as most would agree that the majority of the playing talent in world rugby is in SR. The NH has the money, but owners of teams can structure their negotiations around the availability of the playing talent I would have thought.
Blue Blood
Guest
Because of the timing of the Northern Hemisphere recruiting this won't work. It is a world game. This works in AFL as it is an Australian game with no internationals. You raised the point and I think dismiss it too quickly. Rugby players are contractors and to not respect their need to secure contracts here or OS is short sighted. They have such a short career that I don't begrudge them for chasing the money. As a contractor myself I do it myself. That does not remove my loyalty to my company and peers when in a job, but I am a contractor none the less. Players are only shown loyalty while they are playing well so it goes both ways. Consider Cameron Shepperd. He has had a frightful 3 years with injury and was unlikely to ever get another super contract despite his Wallaby number in his CV. He just negotiated a contract in the UK for 3 years. If he had waited until the contract window he would have been jobless with a fiancé and baby. Preseason for him starts in less than a month. How do you propose the contracts window would work for him? I understand and share your frustration as a Super rugby fan but I don't see how a contracts window would work.
Brett McKay
Expert
Irene, this window idea works fine in the NRL, where the only other international season of note runs at the same time as Australia's, and likewise, it would also work in AFL. But for global games with seasons running all over the calendar - like rugby does - this idea of a contract window quickly falls over. The sentiment behind the idea is fine, and I certainly understand why people might think it's needed. But consider this around your Oct-Nov-Dec window idea: - The French clubs finalise their rosters around Feb-Mar - The UK clubs will be around the same timeframe - The Japanese clubs look to do most of their deals by Apr, for a Sep start, and - even the Australia SR sides look to finalise their rosters by June-ish. Right at this point, the Tahs are all but done for their 2013 roster, and the Brumbies have just one spot left in theirs. And guess who they're hoping fills that one? Your point, "Of course, this time-frame makes it difficult for franchises to negotiate with Northern Hemisphere players as this is smack bang in the middle of their season in Europe, but to be honest, I don’t really care!" is all fine and good, but if SANZAR truly want to encourage sides to recruit truly marquee names from the northen hemisphere, then this just cannot be the attitiude. The whole reason that the ARU and its HPU have only 'talked' about the window idea at this stage is because the players association (RUPA) would almost certainly knock it on the head. If the ARU tries to force players to delay dealing with Aust sides until the end of the year, they WILL just take an offer from France or the UK or Japan that arrived six months earlier. The mid-season contracting isn't a good look, sure, but I'm afraid it's simply a by-product of professional sport..