As Jason Taumalolo is now the highest paid player in the NRL the question has to be asked, will the big money bring big results?
History and records of past players in the NRL and other codes say no. Daly Cherry-Evans is yet to live up to his multi-million dollar deal and really do anything that he made him worth his money.
When Anthony Mundine was playing for the Dragons at the time that he left the sport for boxing, he was the highest paid player in the sport.
Even the ‘King’, Wally Lewis, was well paid at the Gold Coast Seagulls in what was one of the worst footy teams in Australia.
But this trend not limited to NRL. The Sydney Swans in the AFL have had a poor record for multi-million dollar deals without any payback.
Warwick Capper was the first million dollar man in the sport and never won or even came close to getting a title with the Swans.
Tony Lockett was able to get the team to the 1999 grand final but come up short on the big day and more recently the Swans have placed Buddy Franklin on a multi-million dollar deal only to come up short on grand final day twice.
It does not seem that placing players on long-term, big-money contracts is doing any good for the game or the players involved.
In a time of fixed salary caps – and with the ever-present potential of injury – is it a good idea to lock up 10 to 15 per cent of the cap on one player?
Another question needs to be asked, and it relates to club-player loyalty. Should it be possible for a club to ask for money returned if a player does not reach the standards they set? This would encourage players to try harder and make sure that the club got a return on their investment.
Sammy
Guest
My point exactly! I can't see how a professional Contract can be drafted with meaningful and useful KPIs.
BigJ
Roar Guru
barry it was never six. Starting supporing the Storm in 1998 when they first come into the comp as they were the new team and no one really gave them a hope and i love an underdog. This turn out to be quite fruitful Titans in 2007 as I lived in the Gold Coast in 2002 and there was no team at that stage so jumped on that bandwagon. Cowboys in 2010 lived in Townsville for four years and as I qlder who have to support the local team Rabbitohs I ll admit was a bandwagon jump in 2014 but hey im still here. I belive your not a real league supporter unless you have a soft spot for the bunnies. Warriors due to the Anzac legend theme, I have alwaus had a keen interest in the NZ particualry the indigoues culture over there, grew up with a heap of Kiwi boys and they were the nicest fellas, so why not. So there you have it Barry , happy now.
Rob
Guest
Glen Lazarus was a good buy for Broncos and Storm.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I knew it was six. Knew it. I can have a guess what the crowds reaction would be. Why did you ask me the question about the Bulldogs? None of your six teams have been kicked out of the comp...you've just picked up extras along the way. What was the order you started following your teams? Who was your first team?
Steve
Guest
Who on earth would want those sort of KPI's in there? You want old mate tucking it under his arm and trying to burrow over from 5 metres out 4-5 times a game to try and get an extra 5k for a try? Instead of passing it to an unmanned bloke on the wing?
Sammy
Guest
I like the idea of performance incentives and I guess they can be managed when their value is only a small percentage of the $7M Salary Cap (Top 25 players). I know that amateur and semi-pro players are regularly paid according to their individual performance and team performance - but can professional Contracts be drafted with KPIs ? For example, could a Contract include things like missed tackles, meters gained, tries scored, etc, or would the KPIs be more trivial in nature like number of appearances / number of minutes played ?
Craig
Guest
Clubs do pay incentives, for rep duties, number of games played, etc. The performance criteria on the negative side is that if you don't perform, your not contract will be rubbish. Personally I think there should be some incentives paid by the NRL. Dally M team of the year for example, a quick 10k to each positional player and maybe 50k for the Dally M winner. 10k for the Churchill medallist. I think they should also do what is essentially a "good bloke award", a community service award. 10k to one player from each club for their best community representative. 3 players would be nominated by each club, 1 winner of each club chosen by the NRL. Of those nominated, 50k to the bloke who does the most for the community, 25k for second and 10k for third. Each should also be given the same amount to donate to their charity of choice. A guy like Blake Austin who is on a reasonable contract but is an absolute gem for the community deserves more recognition for it. He doesn't do it for $'s, but he's going above and beyond and is a great representative of the game and the NRL should shell out some bickies to him for it.
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Players do sign contracts which include incentives Sammy, which is why there are 2 things that happen every year: 1 - Contracts are announced as up to $500,000/year (players can get small bonuses for playing Origin/International, topping the tryscoring charts, highest pointscorer or Dally M winner etc.) 2 - Theres always a smattering of clubs that go over the Salary cap by around $50-100k due to these bonuses Normally when you get sacked early from a contract you would get a payout, unless you are underperforming according to KPIs set out in your contract.
BigJ
Roar Guru
true but i real life you do a sh*t job you get the sack without any benefits, with players they get their money paid to them regardelss and have the opportunity to seek employment elsewhere, is not ideal.
BigJ
Roar Guru
I dont sing the broncos theme mate, where did this supposive thing for me liking the broncos come from ???? Have not supported them for twenty years. One thing though if i could ever get to Sydney and go to a taping of the Footy Show that is exactly what i would wear, that would be hilarious, thanks for the motivation. would love to see the crwod reaction
Sammy
Guest
"Should it be possible for a club to ask for money returned if a player does not reach the standards they set? This would encourage players to try harder and make sure that the club got a return on their investment." No - of course not. Would players be willing to sign Contracts containing key performance criteria ? Probably not. Could players be offered performance incentives ? Yes, but it would very difficult for a Club to budget for these payments when managing the Salary Cap.
Craig
Guest
Clubs are nervous these days of holding onto players "one year too long" too. Very prevalent in the AFL last year with many clubs letting go club greats (North Melbourne and Hawthorn particularly), but the same has applied in the NRL. If Thurston resigns for the cowboys there's not going to be a heap of pressure on the "value of the signing", but if he goes to the Tigers (an example, not suggesting he would) it comes under a whole new level of scrutiny.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Well plenty of teams have won premierships with 'big signings' so I think the article is a bit redundant. If the Bulldogs were axed from the comp I would still follow the game but not as passionately. I honestly can't answer if I'd pick up another team or not. At the moment I doubt it. While there's a few other teams I have a soft spot for I certainly don't look at the ladder now and think "that's the team I'd follow". If the Bulldogs still existed in NSW Cup or similar I'd still follow them, buy merchandise, go to Belmore to watch them. One thing I'd never do is sit on my lounge wearing a Souths hat, a Cowboys jersey, a Storm scarf while waving a Warriors and a Titans flag singing the Broncos theme song.
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Its a good point, its also worth to note that JT13 will come under no where near as much pressure as DCEs or any of the others. Basically due to how easy its been and lack of speculation around his contract.
Craig
Guest
We only look at this when players switch clubs, remember that a decision to retain players (on big money) is the same as signing a player from a different club.
BigJ
Roar Guru
on the whole most dont work out. Maybe Thurston and Johns were probably the last two big contracts that actually resulted in a grand final win. DCE and JT 2.0 were given after the grand final win, so it mostly seems that the big money goes to waste. It will be interesting to see if the Cowboys can win another title in the next ten years all points say there is a very good chance but i remain not conveinvced that this mutli-million dollar investment or the cows is going to pay off. Now reference your other comments regarding the Time for desperate Dogs to demonstrate their famous resolve article. Souths are playing like crap at the moment and have been every since 2015, but that does not mean that i burn my Rabbitohs gear and put on my storm gear and never take it off. I still put on the gear every rabbits game ( except when they are playing a anyway game against one of my other teams so this week ill have a cowboys jersey and a rabbits hat on with both flags, same with Titians v Warriors this week.) in the hope that they pull thier fingers out and win a match. Your comment on true fans makes me laugh and yet my heart bleeds at the same time. Bears, Glebe, Steelers, Magpies, Balmain fans that only are true to the orginal club poor their heart and soul into the hope that (particulary in the bears case) that the club will one day return to the comp and refuse to have anything to do with the game until they are restored. How can you let a dead club(s) destroy you love on the game??? I dont and i never will. So here is a question for you Barry if my wish in life (well one of them) was to come true and the Bulldogs were shutdown tommorrow would you never watch the game again and waste the rest of your life whinging about it or would you pick another team and continue the love of the sport? I would very much like to know this?? Remember Barry teams come and go but the sport is forever.
The Barry
Roar Guru
So what's your point then? That big money deals don't work out? That some do but some don't? Or that most do but some don't?
BigJ
Roar Guru
exactly
BigJ
Roar Guru
Not long term contracts Barry the TItle saids Does big money mean big results? , the length of the contract is invalid in this sense its the big money that is the issue here. Mundine was on 600,000 a year when here left the Dragions as it was well reported at the time and during his press conference when he left the NRL. It was 1996 not 1999 for Lockett, bloody typo but you are correct. Got confused at the Roos won both grand final in 96 and 99. Frankilin is probably the biggest disappointment ot the Swans in recent history. Ok he made two grand finals but making grand finals and coming up short is not a success (your Bulldogs would know all about that) Clubs pay big money for premiership success and nothing else, of course revenue can be borught to the club with memberships, merchanise and other forms of sales but it means nothing it that trophy is not in the cabinet.
The Barry
Roar Guru
"Taumalolo is now the highest paid player in the NRL" - JT13's deal is 10M over 10 years, DCE is 10M over eight. Tony Lockett got the Swans to the 1996 grand final not 1999. There's also some questionable facts in there...Mundine the highest paid player in the NRL? What's your source? You use Franklin's contract to support your argument that these deals don't work but the Swans have made two grand finals in Franklins three years at the club. The year they didn't make it, Franklin was out for much of the season with illness. At worst you could say the jury is out on Franklins long term contract based on these results. Wally's deal with the Seagulls wasn't a long term deal so not sure of its relevance to your point. You could also argue that Capper's signature was more about raising profile for AFL and the Swans in Sydney than necessarily about results, in which case it was a success. It wasn't a long term deal either so again not really relevant to your theme? Anyway, it's a good point, even if poorly made that long term contracts carry a lot of risk.