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One rule to bind them

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Roar Guru
23rd September, 2019
39

The ugly situation at the Wests Tigers involving Ryan Matterson further highlights the problem with signing players to multi-year deals only for things to turn sour.

It’s a blight on the game that seems to be occurring every year when a player becomes disgruntled with his current situation and, despite having several years left on his contract, changes clubs.

We’ve seen the likes of James Roberts, Kodi Nikorima and Waqa Blake switch clubs midseason, while Reagan Campbell-Gillard will be paid by the Panthers for a few more seasons despite playing for the Eels from 2020. Given his patchy form and the length of the deal, it’s a massive gamble by the club.

I don’t know how feasible it would be, but I believe a system where players are restricted to signing one-season deals would be much better. If for example, it was in place now, we’d have every club having 30-man rosters, with each player signed up for the 2020 season only.

It would certainly end the farce at the Bulldogs which resulted from back-ended deals and has left the club in dire straits for the past few seasons.

Any off-field indiscretions, suspensions and injuries would have a much bigger impact on a players’ career, and perhaps we’d see fewer repeat offenders like Sam Burgess if he was on a season-by-season deal.

Now obviously injuries are part of the sport, so it would be tough for a player to do his knee in Round 1 and therefore not have a chance to impress his current club or future club.

Elite players like Cameron Smith, or indeed most of the Storm team, would be wrapped up fairly quickly while others would have to play well and behave off the field as they are competing for spots.

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The idea of this system is that it keeps players honest, both on and off the field. If a player gets dragged from a pub at 3 am, gets into a fight, or does something else that hurts his reputation, there are dire consequences.

Teams can lock away any player from their current roster at any stage during the season, while a dedicated transfer window late in the season allows teams to poach rival players to boost their squad.

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