The shoulder charge and Folau both hit and miss

Not so.SBW was under a contract,and snuck away in the "heat of the night",no contact with management whatsoever,most of his teammates were left in the dark.Ask them how they felt. .Gallop's removal was all out in the open, by virtue of a press conference. It wasn't nice,but it was in full view. If SBW had at the end of the current season said to the Dogs I want a release,I do not want to play for peanuts,or I want to play for the ABs etc,he would have been more respected. TBH I am just about over what he did,can forgive,can't forget. They are chalk and cheese in trying to draw comparisons. No one begrudges player movements between codes,it is the way they are done and in some cases the reasoning that is the turnoff.. eg Brad Thorn went over to NZ ru came back,then over again.AFAIC the guy is a gentleman ,a straight shooter.Mat Rogers was treated with respect ,despite the fact he was at his peak in the NRL. If hypothetically a Daniel Carter stated I am never going to play rl,then darts off mid season telling only a couple of his teammates,and does exactly that.You think he would be awarded a medal of honour by ru fans?. There is a salient lesson to be learned,do not treat fans as mugs.

the exact same could then be applied to SBW using your own words (re-phrased): "IOW it was expected as a reasonably successful(some say not so) sportman he would go to another code to play for." All i'm saying is people need to lay-off his code-hopping and get over a broken contract that occurred 5 years ago.

Deflection? He begins the piece by bagging AFL and its scandals.

neily_b, you have a tough crowd here mate. Good work for your first article. A few small things which you could have researched in more detail, but overall I thought it was good.

Gallop had received his pink slip from the NRL ,and part of the deal was not to go to a rival code,until such and such a date,which I understand he honoured. IOW it was expected as a reasonably successful(some say not so) sports administrator he would go to another code to administer. That is the reason no one jumped up and down.

The Salary cap system is not the sole domain of the NRL or AFL clubs TKC. Even the Aust S15 clubs have salary caps,and guess which first become bite of the cherry (regardless of the economic condtions prevailing in France and Britain) from these overseas ru clubs:ru players. The 8 to 10 club system was tried before ,It was an abject failure.It was known as Super league.You ignore the tribalism,you go nowhere. The clubs from the wealthiest to the poorest are now in the position, to be much more self sustaining and underpinned,than ever before.what you are suggesting a club like Cronulla who were living on scraps ,but now in a healthy financial position should be moved or eliminated.

I agree with you that a mans handshake is his word. But the same should be said about a man's signature! Also remember how many players have been pushed out of clubs despite having a contract in place. E.g. Gibbs and the Tigers or even Mortimer at Parra. Clubs cant expect their players/ future players to be loyal to their word when they will push someone out who has a contract at the first chance they can get a better player. From all reports we were trying to push out Tonga to get Folau.

Oh plus 1908 was the first official rugby league premiership in australia which was won by the south Sydney rabbitohs.

Salary cap should be increased. Game receives 1 billion dollars and wants to put nothing back into its product (the players). Should be increased to allow the minimum wage of all their top 40 players to be $100,000. It needs to be this way as unlike in other careers most players can only do it for 10-15 years and their bodies are ruined afterwards. But where will the money go? Into the pockets of the big wigs running the show. Parasites bleeding the game dry. Reality check....Fans care about the game being played by the players not profit margins. As for making the game safe.... We don't want the game safe, otherwise we would support touch football. Getting rid of the shoulder charge was ridiculous. The toughness and big contact in rugby league is what used to set it apart from the other football codes. We are now rugby union with a play the ball. It's a good thing they did their billion dollar deal now because I can see where this decision is going to take the game... Backwards at the rate of knots. Falou should have lived up to his word. It's never a nice thing to see deals/promises whatever you want to call them being broken by anyone. Don't agree with using Sonny deal breaker Williams as a point against this. He actually broke his contract not just his promise at least falou didn't sign anything. As for the grand final being "less than thrilling" what game were you watching? It was a great spectacle. Outstanding defence. Outstanding team. Loved watching the bulldogs getting pumped. Roosters, rabbitohs grand final 2013. Can't wait for the season

Players going to French or British clubs will become more and more common once the economic downturn has finished over there. Get used to it NRL or ditch the insane salary cap system. It works for AFL because the players have nowhere else to go, no other league. It would be better off to have say 8 or 10 cashed up clubs than the current dragging along the midgets situation.

Sure, but SBW did the dirty on a NRL club, broke contract. Now Folau (not quite as bad) has seemingly broken a handshake deal, when he should have his tail between his legs. Should the clubs show solidarity, for the good of all, or maybe that would be all too messy as I guess plenty of handshake deals are not reported?

G,day Col yes Mr Schubert i know many who feel the same way as yourself , if it is Folau 's manager he has done his charge a huge disservice he may have got him more money but he has lost his boy a lot of cred with the rugby league public . And yes mate what ethics neither has an honest bone in their body the biggest backstab i can remember ...

Couldn't agree more Robbo. I can not for the life of me understand how some people can be so blinkered and insular when it comes to two sports that have such a similar skill set. I enjoyed watching SBW transition to union, I enjoyed seeing him prove me and many others wrong by actually becoming a top flight player and making it to highest stage. I now look forward to seeing him return to league and see if some of the new skills he has gained makes him a dominant league player. Or will he struggle with the pace of the game. This is the sort of stuff that keeps sport interesting for me. Much better than my sport is better/bigger than your sport crap !

Steve B, The Folau debacle is an example of three things. That Schubert and his crew have been asleep at the wheel for over ten years. How they missed the Storm’s creative payment juggling unbelievable and now we have the situation where rapid reaction to the regaining of a good player was completely ignored. What is so difficult about Schubert’s job that he couldn’t make a rapid decision? Schubert should resign he has been less than competent. The AFL supporters must be laughing at the ineptitude of the NRL. The other point is the number of shonky managers going around the NRL. Folau had a hand shake agreement with the Eels and in spite of this his manager was negotiating with another code. Deregister Folau’s manager. He has no ethics. The last point is Folau, himself; he is either very dumb or very greedy. Take your pick.

Oikee are you serious ?? It is just a game of football - I am a league and union supporter and enjoyed watching SBW in both codes - I found it very interesting watching him transition from league to union and perform for the All Blacks . Seriously some supporters are so small minded - it is a big world out there - enjoy it !!!!

you talk about loyalty to the code and players not being able to change with your coke-pepsi analogy. so why was it ok and not a whisper was ushered when the very HEAD of the nrl david gallop jumped ship to one of our biggest rival sports to become the head of soccer? It's especially rich coming from a guy who made SBW's transfer to french rugby so torturous and difficult with subpoenas, fines and the like. i fully understand that sbw broke a contract, but didn't gallop have the option to prematurely end his tenure as NRL head? (an option sbw wasn't given the luxury or ability of using). the way i see it is if the rooster are happy to have sbw and feel that he will aid their ambitions, then so be it. likewise, if pepsi are happy to hire a worker from coke because he is an exceptional employee and then coke get him back because they still highly value him, then who are we to start criticising what they've agreed upon?

Agree TD. But dont kid yourself , other codes don't have issue in that regard. The trouble now with News Ltd out of the NRL partnership,they have no ties,no committment to provide the good stories.the fact the ARLC keep their cards close to their chests,must frustrate journos,so they look at any one who breaks wind in a lift,gives someone the bird,has one too many ,is caught wearing budgies all in the name of being newsworthy. If a code's name is mud,they don't secure a $1bn plus Tv deal.

Jamesb, they are mercenaries because the NRL allows them to be. If we had the "shut the gate" policy, then we would not even be talking about this rubbish. Isreal has played us for fools 3 times. Leaving for cash, coming back for cash, leaving again for a few dollars more. We never missed him, or Sonny. Our game thrives on our juniors coming through, our players already in the game. When Origin comes around, no other sport on the planet even exsists. We should extend with a tihird team and play even more games. Another story for another day. With the money these players want, we could have 10 juniors or more coming through. The juniors are our future, yet we are selling our souls to greed and the highest bidders. Anyhow, next year watch out for "The Monster from the Blue Lagoon", a Tigers recruit. He was in the NSW cup grandy this year. A Fiji Monster.

I seen that story, and i did not read the rubbish. Maybe more should be like me, alot more selective in what they read. But that is the point, look, the media want the players to talk to them, yet for years all they reported was rubbish about our code. hardly one good story. I happen to agree with the players. Why should they become the media bait. Like they baited the Dogs. I dont care what anyone says, the first i have heard from a Dogs player was a feel good story i read about Kasiano having another new born boy. All he said was that the media would not even let them have 1 day in peace. ? I will start to cut off media channel's more and more i dont agree with. Hounding players on a mad monday is not news. I have not read a weedler story for nearly a year now. I hold a grudge and no dought he will be back in force when his mate sbw returns. That is alright, i can sit back and comment on his garbage on this blog next year. I will never praise a parasite.

Yeh written by a journo who is a confessed AFL tragic. Its called deflection