With all the debate and opinion shared around Daly Cherry-Evans’ contract saga, perhaps we can take a moment to explore the wider ramifications of having Daly’s employment status being revealed to the world.
To do this authentically I need to declare that while understanding the public backlash against the backflip, put in the same situation with a young family and as a rugby league player whose career will last until 35 at very best, I’d probably make the same decision.
The guarantee of another three years’ employment and reportedly an additional five million dollars could make a huge difference to the type of life and opportunities I could offer my children.
Under those circumstances I’ll cop as much flak as you want to throw at me. However there are some wider issues attached to this situation that remain to be addressed.
Firstly, those who think the 10-day cooling off period will prevent our fans and stakeholders being disenfranchised by similar situations have missed the point completely. This will still see players signing for other clubs the season before, while still running out in their current team colours.
While the Players Association state that this is a protection of the players’ earning potential by taking opportunities when they are available, there is very little doubt that our fans, major sponsors and journalists dislike when this is happens. As an elite sport in the business of entertainment and member engagement this can no longer be ignored if we not want to disenfranchise these stakeholders.
The association’s argument is fundamentally flawed, as the money available to all its members is a set amount across the entire competition. This means that if a player has a form loss late in the season or gets injured, his contract value might be very different to what it was early in the season.
The result of this is that another player will get to elevate his value and secure a better contract by playing better at the end of the season. The ultimate outcome is that how the pie is shared changes, not how much money is available.
Let’s hope that the NRL’s new Head of Strategy, Shane Richardson, has this issue high on his agenda and delivers a system that not only fixes the current contractual short-comings but also makes our player trading an event that our supporters can get positively involved in, as we witness in the AFL and many American sports.
The American sport reference ties nicely into the next issue that we are going to have to address, as our players’ ‘reported’ incomes are spread across all media. This results in players being given celebrity status as the general community seeing them as rich and famous, and here the divide begins.
Spending time with Premier League players in the UK and NFL players in the US, very few have much interaction with the community on a daily basis. They go to exclusive clubs and restaurants, are members of closed country clubs, drink their coffee in five-star hotels, and get their shopping delivered.
The majority of their exposure to fans and members is at official events, where every situation is controlled and monetised.
If you think we are miles off from this situation being a reality think again. Between the unbelievably high level of scrutiny on players’ behaviour, the amount of people who come up to players when they are at any public venue, and the time already devoted to community projects, many players already stay away from mainstream places.
With the perception that they are all young men with truckloads of money, this trend of withdrawing is only going to grow.
The sport of rugby league has its roots deep in the community and unless there is a two-way awareness process entered into we are going to lose our most elite players into the world of rock stars and actors, as witnessed overseas.
Lastly, the reporting on the Cherry-Evens situation has also shown the need for better collaboration between the game and one of it’s most important partners: the media.
There is a divide growing, with coaches and players having a real mistrust and dislike for sections of the media.
Equally, as open and real access diminishes many of the genuinely good journos are becoming frustrated and are put in a position where they have to make assumptions on what is the prevailing situation being discussed.
This separation is worsening and an attempt should be made to bring these parties together to determine the best way of operating in the future.
While the NRL has its directives around availability and conduct with the media the real issue is not being addressed – the fundamental relationship between players, coaches and journos.
If there was a summit there would be zero chance of everyone agreeing on how best to interact, however having a better understanding of each others’ position would be far more productive, which would benefit not only the game but the media outlets as well.
We can either take the lessons that the Daly Cherry-Evans’ situation has presented us with, or ignore them at our peril.
Kathryn
Guest
As far as I am aware, the deadline for finalising contracts expired today. The Titans therefore, have had a week to outdo Manly and make him an irresistible offer, in which case he could have taken that over the Manly offer. Many have remarked on how 'cashed up' the Titans are, further to the loss of Miles et al., so this was entirely possible. Blame the NRL for the rule, and let's stop making DCE the 'poster boy' for reneging on his contract. He isn't the first and most certainly wouldn't be the last, if this rule remains. I'd like to know how many of those that have bad-mouthed DCE for his actions, wouldn't do exactly the same thing for career certainty, and the $ involved. Those of you who suggest you'd NEVER tread the same path are full of it....
Lovey
Guest
Matt I think you have hit the nail on the head, here. But it is hard to see a way forward. We want these guys to be local blokes we can approach in a pub. They are not "rich" in terms of lifetime earnings, after all. But any indiscretion committed out of hours can, and will, be ventilated publicly. That is the new world. And any financial deal their agents make are also open to the public. We don't want the David Beckham celebrity syndrome in RL. Or do we?
zim
Guest
Explain to me how you use money that is already allocated? DCE takes up.... I think it was 1.2mil at the titans. You can't use that in any other of your negotiations. I'll spell it out for you as it seems to be a key point you guys keep missing: You can't use that money. It doesn't matter how "ahead of the game" you think you are, you CANNOT use that money in other negotiations or you open yourself to be over the salary cap and fined, unable to meet commitments and sued.
pete bloor
Guest
Well you make trust an absolute outcome, which it isn't, but yes to bank on an outcome whilst uncertainty still remains is pretty poor risk management. I think it reflects poorly on the abject lack of ethics and self awareness of NRL fans and teams that they believe they have the right to treat the players like a commodity that benefits their team but players can't treat their careers like a business.
pete bloor
Guest
if you treat an agreement to agree with the same level of certainty as a contract then only pure luck will prevent your demise from naivety.
Muzz
Guest
Good read Matt. Can i ask you from a coaches perspective if trust will now be an issue between DCE and his team mates?
pete bloor
Guest
So wait a minute because the Titan's were overtly disloyal and treated it all as a business and sent players on their merry way when the Titans felt they could do better elsewhere... DCE owes them a debt of chivalrous loyalty? When NRL fans and clubs put up this pretense of "loyalty" I'm reminded of that Wedding Crashes line are you full of #$%^ or just 50%?
Emcie
Roar Guru
Do you think it would change anything though? I mean technically no club can sign any deals until round 13 but they still do. No club is going to pass up the first opportunity at an elite player thats off contract just because it doesn't count till the end of the year, isn't that what got us into this to begin with?
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Hi Sheek, I have to agree on this. I've said for ages that they should just have a "transfer window" sort of think like they have in European Football and can't sign any deals until that window opens and once the deals are signed players move straight away. I can't see any legitimate argument against this. Most of the Euro football leagues have much shorter off-seasons than the NRL are are regularly dealing with players moving countries which is much more of an issue when it comes to relocating than just the NRL. Hey, in the NRL there are so many Sydney clubs that transferring between many of them wouldn't require any sort of physical relocation at all. And moving from Sydney to the Gold Coast or something like that is a lot easier than moving from Brazil to Germany or England or something like that! I can't see a downside. For the NRL and die-hard fans, it's great because it keeps it in the sports news during the off-season. The EPL hits the off-season and instead of not hearing anything about football for a couple of months, you have the constant speculation and news regarding player transfers to keep people interested.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
If they need to have the chance to think about it a bit and be sure, then they can do all that before actually signing. You can have all the contracts drawn up reviewed understood and then take a week to think about it, talk to family, go for a trip to the area and check out real-estate and whatever you want to do BEFORE actually signing the contract.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Exactly! If he signed the deal basically saying "I am committed to the Gold Coast for 2016 unless I get a better offer before the deadline that makes me seriously consider changing my mind" and that was his line throughout, then I don't think anyone would have had a problem with him.
sheek
Roar Guru
BTW Matt, You have I believe six daughters. Of course, no-one could begrudge you trying to get the best deal you possibly could get for yourself & family!!! ;-)
sheek
Roar Guru
I don't have a problem with players, & their agents, seeking the best deals for themselves. DCE may have acted within the NRL guidelines but there's little doubt he played one club off another. hHis comment about wanting to be a "one club player" was actually quite deceptively deceitful. He was willing to walk, but only stayed for more money, not out of loyalty. Back in the 70s some great players changed clubs, especially those who helped take Souths to five successive grand finals in 1967-71. Ron Coote sat out half the 71 season in dispute before moving to Easts in 1972. John O'Neill & Ray Branighan defected to Manly in 1972. Manly was the antithesis of Souths at the time, both their most competent & despised opponent. O'Neill even became team mates in the Manly pack with Englishman Mal Reilly, at the time loathed by Kangaroos for his often filthy play. Players who had given their all to Souths were willing to walk when it became obvious the club management had become arrogant & complacent. Even Bob Fulton, often viewed as 'Mr Manly' & the ultimate appearance of a one club player, defected to Easts in 1977. Swapping clubs has been going on since 1908. I would just like to see some transparency. Frankly, I think all transfers should wait until the end of the season. And if that inconveniences clubs in securing & finalising playing lists, too bad. Transparency ought to be paramount.
Dodgy Deals
Guest
So what your saying is, don't trust any body, even thought they said unequivocally they were going to play for your club and that there was no chance reneging, and had even signed papers to that effect. When someone says there going to play for you next year, especially when they're a play maker, you can't wait until round 13 to start shaping the team around them. Even the NRL saw the registration deadline as a bad thing and has now put a stop to it. He may have been "technically" correct in what he did, but that still doesn't mean he's not a back stabber who you couldn't trust as far as you could throw him, and kind of reflects poorly on you if you think its OK to say one thing and then do the opposite.
zim
Guest
How can you plan for anything but having DCE wrapped up when he says he is coming for 2 months? You can't use the money you have promised to DCE elsewhere. It's already allocated. They re-signed Elgey to play along side DCE and as Sezer was leaving it was the obvious choice.
Jamieson Murphy
Roar Guru
It would be great to see journos have more access to players/coaches/club rather than less. In American sports the journos have full access to the players dressing room and can interview whoever they want. While this may be a bit too far it would be great to see something like this implimented into the NRL. A lot of fans don't have any idea of what goes on behind the scenes.
pete bloor
Guest
yep didn't this happen last year?
The Barry
Roar Guru
But how are you going to wind it back? All this one club heroes and handshake deals was all when it heavily suited the clubs and their cigar smoking little tsar presidents. Love them or hate them player managers are only trying to maximise their clients slice of the pie. If I had one of these guys working for me that's what I'd want them to do. Yearning for handshake deals and chook raffles is old fashioned and pointless.
spruce moose
Guest
I think it's fair to have a short cooling off period. At the end of the day you are talking about the possibility of relocating. You always have second thoughts when you are moving from one place to another. You just need the cooling off period to guarantee you are making the right call. Family, friends, health are all things that need to be considered. And sometimes you don't consider them fully until the piece of paper is signed and then you have 5-10 days to really think about it!
Mals
Guest
No they didn't have DCE secured. Nothing is registered until round 13 and Annelsey knew this rule better than anyone else. If they were so confident why did they re-sign rookie half back Elgey? They low balled Myles, that is a factor in why he left. Bad mismanagement by the Titans!