Hock to Parramatta?

[Kittwazzer]

Know one thing, this isn't exactly encouraging me to renew my season ticket.

Correct - awful timing. The club MUST have some positive news to balance it with!

[Kittwazzer]

@Garryhock83 already getting some terrible abuse from all those gallant keyboard warriors hiding behind anonymity!

[Garry Riley]

Should maybe of kept hold of Fielden then.

[Kittwazzer]

TEW, I think the answer lies more in your second paragraph than the first. I'd add that if someone like James Graham can cop a 12 match ban for biting, I shudder to think what Gaz will get up to once he's let off the leash!

[DaveO]

Are we paying the price for the lack of trophies ?

Don't think so. We won in 2010 and 2011 and though I may think we should have done better than we did this year I hardly think a year without a CC or GF win is going to result in a mass exodus of players.

We know the money on offer from OZ is a damn site better and this has been confirmed when ainscough can better money from a country side

Just need Sam to go and we will have virtually stripped some of the best talent the club and country has developed

The problem for me is it only seems to be happening to us on anything like this scale. If it is simply money talking then the fact Leeds and Wire won trophies this season can't be enough of a reason for them to keep their best players.

When players are out of contract we can't seem to persuade them to extend the deal such as Finch and if Hock is off then we can't even keep a player one year into a five year deal when this player actually owes his very future in the game to the club.

If the club actively wanted Hock out as has been rumoured then it bloody well better have a quality replacement lined up and quick.

If they didn't and didn't see this coming then the club is weak. It can't simply trot out the platitude "if the player wants away no point in keeping him". You simply can not expect to run a successful team if you don't know who is going to be playing for you from one week to the next.

[DaveO]

@Garryhock83 already getting some terrible abuse from all those gallant keyboard warriors hiding behind anonymity!

Well if he has gone what does he expect under the circumstances? A knighthood?

[DaveO]

TEW, I think the answer lies more in your second paragraph than the first. I'd add that if someone like James Graham can cop a 12 match ban for biting, I shudder to think what Gaz will get up to once he's let off the leash!

Same here. If he comes out with anything about getting away from his past that won't cut any ice with me. He is walking into a lions den such is the spotlight the NRL brings to players lives on and off the field.

[Mike]

Is the SL sinking into mediocrity and losing all its best players on the way?

I think the Aussies have woken up to the talented individuals in the SL over the last two years, and now its cheaper than their local talent. We are very much like the dutch league in relation to the premier league - what player would not leave the SL to go to the NRL, its better quality, higher profile and better paid.

[Garry Riley]

[quote="Mike"]Is the SL sinking into mediocrity and losing all its best players on the way?

I think that SL has already sunk into mediocrity. Those at the top seem detached from what is going on around them. We see it, the players see it. So can we blame some of them for wanting out. The NRL can then cherry pick our top players.

[Mike]

In SMH now:
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 28hr7.html