Trent still getting paid by St George

[cpwigan]

http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/mo ... 13952.html

Interesting article re the difficulty of retaining players under the salary cap

[DaveO]

The interesting things in there were the fact $80,000 is the difference between his St. George and Wigan deal.

That means he got approximately £33,000 of a pay rise he got from coming here. So if anyone has access to the St George clubs accounts perhaps we could work out his Wigan wage! Could dispel or confirm a few myths.

The other was the idea that they make room in their squad by shipping out big earners like Barrett for young players.

Now I don't know if that is the club making an excuse for losing these players or if their young players are genuinely good enough to play first grade NRL and fill the boots of such top class players.

I know form our point of view we have struggled to produce genuine class. We have produced a few who have left who are playing for other teams in SL but they aren't that good and we have two foreign half backs and O'Carroll looks like the first decent prop we have produced in a decade.

We produce more than most clubs but I can't say I'd be filled with optimism at the prospect of shipping out Fielden (as they mentioned about Ryles) in favour of a youngster even O'Carroll.

Dave

[SGID]

All this means is that the Dragons asked him to leave and that part of his wage (the difference between what he was getting at the Dragons and what Wigan are paying him) is still being paid by the Dragons, which impacts onto our salary cap.

[JIMH]

DaveO posted:
The interesting things in there were the fact $80,000 is the difference between his St. George and Wigan deal.

That means he got approximately £33,000 of a pay rise he got from coming here.


Dave

the way i read it means he took a paydrop to come here. i.e. he was on £150k in aussie and £117k over here so st george have to top his wage up as they asked him to leave (p.s. ive plucked those figure out of thin air) its a common occurance in football, leeds utd had to do it when they got relegated from the prem league as they had so many players on massive wages but couldnt afford to keep them in the championship so because they asked them to leave halfway thru a massive contract they had to honour the payments when the new clubs offered lower wages.

i'm suprised he is on a lower wage now, we must have topped up with incentives such as accommodation, cars etc..

[DaveO]

JIMH posted:

i'm suprised he is on a lower wage now, we must have topped up with incentives such as accommodation, cars etc..

Yes you are right I was reading it the wrong way around and he will be on a lower wage here by about £33K a year.

As to incentives, cars and houses any "benefit in kind" such as a house or car counts on the salary cap. So for example if Wigan are paying a rent on a house for him then those payments count as part of his wage as far as the RFL and salary cap go.

Dave

[cpwigan]

St George have been victims of the cap in a similar manner to ourselves except probably worse. They benefitted from the merger and had an excellent team BUT had to let many youngsters go. It would have been impossible to keep Kite and Ryles and Bailey. Unfortunately, St George never won what they could or should have with the team they had. however, retaining the Morris brothers was excellent business.

I think the club should have defended Williams for being outspoken. What he said was correct and despite what the press said I felt Mitchell Pierce was far better for Sydney than Anastha.

One of the sad things about the NRL in 2007 is that their referees have now started implenting the same crazy interpretations that our looneys are using. Hence it is mayhem

[cpwigan]

I wonder if the wage is in real terms or simply $ for £? Any Aussie over here benefits enormously from our favourable exchange rate when they return to Aus.

[Bugsyoz]

S Illawarra simply have to make up a certain shortfall in his *salary* is all. Trent was one of the highest paid players in the NRL...in salary and otherwise. He was never asked to leave S Illawarra, that's a massive LOL. They did not want him to go, and the club has made statements to that effect, particularly after seeing him in many games this year. He simply exercised the clause for a number of reasons..not going in to those here. Illa didn't wish to lose Bull, Gorrell, Best, Henderson or Greenshields..etc etc. We simply couldn't keep all of them compared to prices other clubs were offering. Think about it. Let go a 20 something goalkicking hooker for a 30 something hooker with a shocking judiciary record? And that's nothing about Woolford..he is a fine player.

Players are paid by their former clubs ALL THE TIME. It's been happening for years and years.

And if Rylesy does leave us for the UK I really hope he teams up with Baz at Wigan. Fielden and Rylsey...bring that on.

B