Money-hungry mercenaries? Or just typical Gen-Y workers?

The shoe is not on the other foot. I dont know where you get that idea. Over the last 6 years with a weak TV deal we have kept most of our players in game. We lost 2 mercenaries to AFL, money thives and Sonny also left because the grass was greener. The wages under trying times still grew from third party deals. At the time it was all we had. Rugby league was a cashless society. That has all changed now, we are close to signing off on a 1.3 billion tv deal. With Radio International and Sky NZ rights left, we should be close to 1.3 billion. That is why we have a banker running the show. Grant and the Commissioners have kicked the life outta these broadcasters. Squeezed every penny. Rugby league is no longer the code run by ex-players and dinosaurs, so watch our moves over the next 5 years. Already we have released(commission) 4 million in funding to PNG. The pacific will be next. We will own the pacific in 5 years. NZ will fall into line. We will take all the public schools in NZ. You can keep your damm private schools . Macall Carter Thorn and Sonny, all ageing dinosaurs that will be the last of this allblack era.

Rugby League is in its god-given place as number one code of the Tasman-facing states because it did exactly this kind of thing to Rugby Union. Quite possibly without a professional edge its hard to see how Rugby League was going to survive...thus survival of the fittest (yes one of the few times Social Darwinism actually has any credibility). It's just like the English civil war where the victors claimed that they are inheritors of the original...getting the people to throw their loyalty behind the new one and not the old one to ensure one of the two survives. As it turned out Rugby Union also survived and now the shoes on the other foot. Should we just abandon this strategy because the war's effectively been won or maybe we shouldn't as this won't turn the tide particularly in RU's favour.

Are you fair dinkum? Attend any Victorian AFL game and you will see thay attract the same masses. The Swans attract the Latte set and the GWS attract................well nobody

IMO these guys are simply doing what pretty much anyone would choose to do if we had the talent and the opportunity.

Family game? Not a lot of family language on the sidelines..

See Mat Rogers interview today regarding Schubert. You are correct, Schubert doesn't make the rules, but he has input into how they are policed and advises on them. If you want talent, especially in non trad RL regions, or players who have the ability to decide on what sport they choose to play, then, get with it or the business will fail. Rugby League has no god given right to succeed. Ultimately it is another entertainment option fighting for dollars.

I agree with most of the comments, but the big difference is in sport as opposed to business, we the club members (and supporters) take passion and generally a financial stake in the club. Most of these members and supporters are life-long followers and I think a lot of players forget about these most important stakeholdes. Club representatives come and go - one minute acting as a CEO of a rugby league club, then popping up in AFL, followed by a gig with some other organisation. But the fans are always there and they should be respected. Sportstars are in fact living off the back of these people whether it is through the gate, TV rights or sporting image. This is why we the supporters get upset, when compared to John or Bill next door changing employer from BHP to One Steel

Yes, well said. And as Sheek has mentioned, it comes down to the Character of the person and as far as i can see the character of the code and there fans. Look, rugby league is a family code. It has been followed by 100 years of generational fans, so rusty fans as Redb would say. These fans have morals and ethics and vlaues, and players moving from Coke to Pepsi, (union to League) and back again is not eithically right, it never will be. So as fans we rely on the players to do the right thing. This is the point i brought up the other day. It seems like alot of Union players are at the top of the list for this code hopping, not all, but alot of them. It goes against rugby leagues values. If the code loses that, what have they got left. ? Our game thrives on family values, we are like a big family, open for all to join, but this is nibbling away at our very heart, or very soul. I feel fiscally ill when this happens. I would rather once players for any reason leave our code, they never come back. It will save our code many terrible backflips and front page news, and other codes to continue to sink the boot into our code because we have our front and back doors open,. In other words our code is being played the fool by codes that have no issues with stealing our players. It is only league who is having our top players stripped away. Not union or AFL. Sonny Bill does not count, a handshake deal is shakey at best and should never in a million years have been alllowed to happen, Hopefully the commission closes that gate forever. The real problem rugby league has as i see this, is fans walking away from the game. I know i will, my morals are far removed from what i am seeing. The players get paid enough, lets make that clear. Add to the fact our game has just won a huge TV deal, we have not even had a year pass and the highly paid players are screaming for more. If they really want more just pick up and go, follow the other players to other codes. Trust me, our game will keep our values in tact, and our game wont miss these players. It might take a few years, but our juniors will be qwell taken care off. These people think rugby league has been operating on billions for years. We only got our first payment now. We have been a poor code, of course we struggle to keep players, but other codes are happy to pounch all the same. I think we should remember this one day. For that day is fast arriving. The shackles will be off, and it wont be poaching, it will simply be called payback, think of Mel Gibson movie, and no code will have a leg to stand on, or a moral argument.

you forgot des hasler

I agree with all that sheek. But imagine this... I'm a mechanic earning $80k a year, and I've promised my employer to stay on for 2 years on a handshake deal - I intend to honour that deal. But then a mining company approaches me and says "we need mechanics on our site, all food/accomm paid for - and $200k a year". ...do I honestly tell my wife and kids, "sorry, but I promised my boss I wouldn't leave for 2 years". I'd be single pretty soon!

You'd be surprised most do. That's is why the "front of house" get's paid more than the workers. People are not very good decision makers when it comes to buying something, professional services included.

For starters Schubert doesn't make the rules regarding the salary cap. His job is to enforce rules that have been put in place by others and agreed to by the cheats, sorry, Storm. If they'd made it flexible the storm still would have cheated to out bid clubs that had access to the same flexibility this is a hideous justification for the fraud committed by your club.

'But what about loyalty? There’s precious little of it from clubs. Loyal one-club players get de-listed by their clubs, or offered as trade bait. Forced to take pay cuts so a big name player can be squeezed into the salary cap. Can be shown the door on a whim.' Absolutely spot on.

good article. we are both pretty much in the same boat. sportsmen and workers of the world unite!!!!

What is loyalty? Loyalty is your word. Your commitment. If you are an employee & you tell your boss you're here for two years minimum & you'll give your best in that time, then you can walk away at the end of two years without regret. You kept your word. You showed loyalty. if you are an employer & you tell your worker he's here for two years minimum fully protected & you you tell him you're not keeping him on after that, you can do so without regret. You kept your word. You showed loyalty. A contract used to be an agreement between two people on a handshake. Later it meant signing a piece of paper. And later still it meant the signature being witnessed by a posse of lawyers. Then it became to mean nothing at all. Whatever. Spare me this gen Y, or gen X, or gen I crap, or gen something else crap. Or whether you used to have a job for life or a week. Lots of people have been going back on their word since the beginning of time. This is not some new phenomenon. By the same token you will find people in everyday life, as much today as a century ago or five ago or ten ago, who will keep their word. Your word is your character. Your character defines you. Some of us care that we can look ourselves squarely in the eye in the mirror. Others won't even bother trying to be honest with themselves or anyone else. For some of us, these things are important. For others, less so. It's always about the individual, not the times.....

Do your construction jobs, legal jobs, office jobs etc, depend on the goodwill and support of fans who turn up to watch?

Well Ian Schubert is out of touch with the modern sporting world. We Storm supporters saw that in 2010 and knew that this was coming. Of course a salary cap is essential, to stop clubs being stupid...but a salary cap without any form of flexibility is impractical in today's world.

So this is all new? Think Manly and the dogs pillaging Wests and Souths in the 70s, league forever pinching the best that union could offer and blokes like Bradman off to South Aussie.None where doing it for love.

some good points there mds1970

Its professional sport with a short span of earning. I'm an accountant and will go where the conditions and prospects are better (incl money).