Rugby League players

[ghostdog]

As a former League follower I was shocked by the Karmichael Hunt news. The divide between supporters of each code, traditionally, has been vast. Rugby League though is going through a serious decline in popularity as more and more parents steer their kids away from a sport whose culture in recent years has continued to prove itself gutter-worthy.

Think about that in context with the grassroots development the AFL plays a very strong hand in promoting, and the AFL is making a has been making a very strong investment that the NRL has found it difficult to keep up with.

Further, the press have developed the cliche 'player exodus' to describe the number of players leaving the code to play Union.

Could Karmichael be setting a precedent? ...and if he is, are there any Rugby League players you could see in the red and black?

I'll name Greg Inglis, Billy Slater and Jarryd Hayne for a start.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Folau
Inglis
Hayne

They would be my top 3. Hunt will be good, Inglis would be the best though and dead set he'd be the one guy I'd pay a million bucks a season to switch codes.

 

[Storyboy]

Yeah, I agree. Inglis would be THE one. I reckon Hunt will sit nicely on the HFF or HBF and tackle like a bulldog, pass well and run hard in bursts.

Can someone educate me though as to how the GC17 franchise could sign him up as he is not 17 or 18 years old, was not drafted and has been offered a fat contract out of the blocks? Does that mean that all clubs can go headhunting? Or is the Gold Coast different or are we all just looking the other way to make the ARL look like they can't keep their best talent?

 

[Rack Watts]

Smart move pre-AFL in West Sydney.. not

 

[LukeParkerno1]

There is a rule stating that a club may sign up a player under these circumstances if that player has not played any form of AFL/VFL for a 3 year period. Pretty obvious Hunt has not played AFL for some time.

Any club can do the same, but the players have to fill that requirement. That said you aint going to get someone to switch for tiddlywinks, he'd be getting a fair pay packet!

 

[ghostdog]

My understanding is that the Broncs offered him $1.2 million over three years, and GC offered him $1 million over three years.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Broncos deal was MUCH less. Was less than 1 million over 3 years.

 

[boncer34]

He was worth 500K on the open market in Union apparently so its fair to say he'd be on more then that with the GC.

 

[daffo]

Inglis would make a great AFL player.

 

[tubbis]

Broncos offered $1.2m over 3 years.
At the GC, with the AFL also boosting his salary due to an agreed pact for Hunt to promote AFL in Qld, he is earning a little under $1m a year.

 

[NAUGHT5]

Yeah, I agree. Inglis would be THE one. I reckon Hunt will sit nicely on the HFF or HBF and tackle like a bulldog, pass well and run hard in bursts.

Can someone educate me though as to how the GC17 franchise could sign him up as he is not 17 or 18 years old, was not drafted and has been offered a fat contract out of the blocks? Does that mean that all clubs can go headhunting? Or is the Gold Coast different or are we all just looking the other way to make the ARL look like they can't keep their best talent?

Its due to the rule regarding players being able to be signed from other sports (e.g - Irish experiments) it was explained better on the internet on herald sun i think can recall the exact article (theres been about 10 sorry).

 

[leaper]

Just a question some Essendon supporters might know, in one of the announcements on Karmicheal Hunt, it was mentioned about Ray Smith being the only other player crossing from League. I remember Ray Smith he was a pretty fair player and played over 100 games with Essendon and Melbourne in the early to mid 70's. What was the circumstances of him coming to Essendon? I remember back in the early 90's The Brisbane Bears named an award after him as he was the first Qld player to play 100 games.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Broncos offered $1.2m over 3 years.

No they did not. The reported figure is way over what Brisbane offered him- it was around the $950,000 over 3 years (but with incentives)

 

[tubbis]

No they did not. The reported figure is way over what Brisbane offered him- it was around the $950,000 over 3 years (but with incentives)

"THE Broncos will look to re-sign Darren Lockyer and chase a backline star after withdrawing their $1.25 million offer to Karmichael Hunt."
Source: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25197015-10389,00.html

Sydney Morning Herald reports it as $1 million. So the figure is $1 mill give or take $100K. (Not including incentives)

 

[bomber69]

I was going to make a similar thread. I would love to recruit a League player.
Being the rich club that we are, we have a distinct advantage as we can virtually sign any player in the NRL without them having to go through a draft of any kind.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

I spent about 10 years in the heart land of league (Brisbane) and I must say that the call of "gayfl" grew tiresome. It is a shit sport. The only positive thing I can say about the sport is that I once tagged Kevin Walters out in T-Ball (his sons played). I also went to school with the daughter of Kerry Bousted.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Sydney Morning Herald reports it as $1 million. So the figure is $1 mill give or take $100K. (Not including incentives)

SMH is close, it was under 1 million though. There were 3rd party deals.

 

[NAUGHT5]

I was going to make a similar thread. I would love to recruit a League player.
Being the rich club that we are, we have a distinct advantage as we can virtually sign any player in the NRL without them having to go through a draft of any kind.

Bidding war for Inglis?

 

[bomber69]

bidding war for inglis?

it's on!

 

[scotty88]

Ive always thought of all the players in the NRL, Darren Lockyer would probably be the best at AFL but he's too old now. Right now, if I was an AFL club, Jamie Soward would be the player Id be after