Recruitment NRL Rumoured Player Movements, Re-signings and Rumour Mill 2018/2019

[warriors4eva]

yeah plenty of depth in the AB's putting pressure on SBW !

But as he already lives in Auckland, will he not just move from Eden Park to Mt Smart LOL !!

 

[Johnnyray]

Speculation is mounting that SBW will be returning to the Roosters this season after SuperRugby has finished:

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/sport/rug...turn-in-2018/ar-BBJxrLc?li=AAaeXZz&ocid=ientp

 

[snake77]

This raises the question: how big are the brown paper bags the Rorters have???

Most clubs are around the shopping bag size. The Rooster probably a sleeping bag size. Probably also delivered in your new car all courtesy of uncle Nick.

yeah plenty of depth in the AB's putting pressure on SBW !

But as he already lives in Auckland, will he not just move from Eden Park to Mt Smart LOL !!

He's said the Roosters were now his side and couldn't see himself playing for another side. There was either a section on the Footy Show or another show which showed his life in Sydney. With his family and friends split across Auckland and Sydney it came across like he has two lives he enjoys living in Sydney and also was torn about wanting to return to New Zealand. It was surprising he moved from the Chiefs to the Blues as he was talking about the Chiefs in a similar way he talks about the Roosters. He ended up moving to the Blues citing being close to his mother so him changing his mind is possible.

Now the problem is If he was to leave early it would most likely be to the Roosters. They always have cap space available, Warriors would probably be more likely to wait until he is off contract.

In saying all of that this seems pretty crazy; mainly around him being told now he is not in their plans. We have only had one round of Super Rugby for 2018 and he is not in their plans for a tournament after the 2019 Super Rugby season. It's nice of them to give him a lot of notice but this seems way early. As he is under contract it would be better to keep him for as long as possible in case guys get injured or lose form. If this came out this time next year it would seem a bit more realistic.

 

[¿N. ig-mah¿]

The NRL salary cap is such a farse when the same few teams can continue to buy top player after top player and only ever seem to release one or two budget players to make room.

The dodgey elite player exemption (or whatever they call it) is corrupt too. It allows the same clubs to spend beyond their cap and pushes the less attractive clubs further down the ladder.

The way they seem to allow some clubs to sign top name players on low salaries, yet others are dictated by the market worth of the player should be questioned. I hate to gives excuses for the Warriors, but it may be time for the NRL to create a salary exemption for the Warriors to be competitive. Distance from friends and family, and travel throughout the season make us just a club for retiring and desperate players. How many non-kiwis could we ever hope to sign in a season. 1 or maybe 2 up and comers, or has-beens is about all we can hope for.

 

[snake77]

I still think this move is highly unlikely to happen. Smith said his mail is good but we see in various forums where someone at a club has heard of something or confirmed something which often doesn't work out. Either the source has jumped the gun or not totally across it.

If it is going to happen the Roosters would be the most likely source to get him early.

The conspiracy theorist in me goes back to Rothfield a few weeks ago defending the Roosters cap. As everyone asks how they can afford guys and he said he'd done the sums and they had money available due to releasing players including Pearce. That was then followed by a debate showing Rothfield doesn't really have a great knowledge of how the cap or third parties work.

 

[Johnnyray]

I still think this move is highly unlikely to happen.

Yeah I honestly don't think it's going to happen. Not when Rugby World Cup is on next year.

He's not going to give up chance of winning another Rugby World Cup to go play for Roosters.

There are just some things money can't buy ...

 

[shuffle]

It’s weird because I thought SBW was one of the better all blacks last year. Cashing out highly likely.

 

[Stalefish540]

Seriously the Australian media are straight up trash, 90% of what they say is a lie. Sbw will not be missing out on the WC, what lies haha fuck sake

 

[snake77]

Yeah I honestly don't think it's going to happen. Not when Rugby World Cup is on next year.

He's not going to give up chance of winning another Rugby World Cup to go play for Roosters.

There are just some things money can't buy .

If you look at our drought between 1987 to 2011. He now has a chance to win three World Cups. I know people like to debate his contributions especially in 2011 but the bottom line is he is a two time World Cup winner. No sides went back to back until now, he now gets a chance for a third.

It seems strange they would tell him this early and be willing to release him. There is still plenty of time for others to get injured or for him to work on aspects of his game to persuade them to change their mind.

During the lead up to the 2011 Grand Final one reporter wrote if they win Johnson should leave league as there is nothing else to achieve. I thought that was silly as there is still winning another premiership as he was only a rookie. There was still playing for he Kiwis. But flip that around to SBW now and winning a third premiership against a third World Cup and it doesn't compare. He would seriously need to be on the outer which there hasn't been indication of as yet.

 

[snake77]

If there was anything to this do you think Smith as now ruined it?

If he was going to be released I highly doubt the public reason would be he wasn't in their plans. It would have most likely played out publicly as SBW requesting a release either wanting to be close to family in Sydney or received a long term offer from the Roosters he couldn't refuse or secure his long term future (contract length would expect to be longer than 2019).

Khoder Nasser isn't the greatest manager around but he would have organised for it to come across better than SBW getting dumped from the All Blacks and moving on. It would have taken negotiation between NZ Rugby and the Roosters for a release and there would be discussions on the reasoning or the best way to portray it publicly.

 

[Ozwarrior]

SYDNEY Roosters chairman Nick Politis has scotched speculation Sonny Bill Williams could make a shock return to the NRL club this year.

Rumours of a Williams comeback spread after he was linked to the club by former Roosters player Jimmy Smith on a Sydney radio station.

It was suggested the New Zealand dual international had been told he was not part of the All Blacks’ plans for the 2019 rugby union World Cup and had already signed a deal to come back before the NRL finals after completing his Super Rugby duties in Auckland.

However Politis denied any knowledge of such a deal on Monday.

“It’s news to me. As far as I’m aware he’s contracted to play rugby union in New Zealand,” Politis told FoxSports.

“We love Sonny and we’ll always love Sonny. But I’m not sure where this has come from.” The 33-year-old Williams is currently contracted to the Auckland-based Blues in the Super Rugby and played in their opening 41-34 loss to the Highlanders on Saturday.

A Rugby World Cup winner in 2011 and 2015, Williams was a key player in the Roosters’ premiership in 2013 and played one more year with them in the NRL before moving back to rugby union in his native country.

Despite the club’s blue-chip recruitment of James Tedesco and Cooper Cronk for this season, it is believed the Roosters still have money to spend following the exit of Mitchell Pearce.

Further condemning the rumour was the man himself, Sonny Bill, who took to his own personal Twitter account to squash the news.

“I love being apart of the (Auckland Blues) & (All Blacks). God willing I’m apart of another successful World Cup campaign next year in 2019!”

If that evidence isn’t enough, he also shot a message through to Buzz Rothfield confirming the entire story was “rubbish”.

 

[Wellington Warrior]

 

[Wellington Warrior]

 

[Wellington Warrior]

Doesn’t Jimmy Smith look like a prize Bell end now....

 

[snake77]

How many times have we seen players deny a move and it gets announced soon after. Well usually that is after something has been raised quite often and get louder and louder.

It has been funny to see how quickly everyone turned on him reading the Stuff comments section. He's a polarising character and to be honest he has been quite quiet recently. His last stint here was fill of articles about issues with trying to get sponsors that conflict with NZ Rugby or where he is going next. He signed on after his stint with the Roosters, signed up again and all has been pretty quiet. He's got on with his football and it hasn't seemed like he has been high maintenance at all and just a contracted player like all of the others.

 

[matiunz]

SYDNEY Roosters chairman Nick Politis has scotched speculation Sonny Bill Williams could make a shock return to the NRL club this year.

Rumours of a Williams comeback spread after he was linked to the club by former Roosters player Jimmy Smith on a Sydney radio station.

It was suggested the New Zealand dual international had been told he was not part of the All Blacks’ plans for the 2019 rugby union World Cup and had already signed a deal to come back before the NRL finals after completing his Super Rugby duties in Auckland.

However Politis denied any knowledge of such a deal on Monday.

“It’s news to me. As far as I’m aware he’s contracted to play rugby union in New Zealand,” Politis told FoxSports.

“We love Sonny and we’ll always love Sonny. But I’m not sure where this has come from.” The 33-year-old Williams is currently contracted to the Auckland-based Blues in the Super Rugby and played in their opening 41-34 loss to the Highlanders on Saturday.

A Rugby World Cup winner in 2011 and 2015, Williams was a key player in the Roosters’ premiership in 2013 and played one more year with them in the NRL before moving back to rugby union in his native country.

Despite the club’s blue-chip recruitment of James Tedesco and Cooper Cronk for this season, it is believed the Roosters still have money to spend following the exit of Mitchell Pearce.

Further condemning the rumour was the man himself, Sonny Bill, who took to his own personal Twitter account to squash the news.

“I love being apart of the (Auckland Blues) & (All Blacks). God willing I’m apart of another successful World Cup campaign next year in 2019!”

If that evidence isn’t enough, he also shot a message through to Buzz Rothfield confirming the entire story was “rubbish”.

It’s petty but it really shits me the Aussie obsession with having to know where the team is in the name- it’s been just the Blues without the Auckland bit for about 20 years now but they still insist on throwing it in with all the nz super rugby teams

 

[Chats271]

It’s petty but it really shits me the Aussie obsession with having to know where the team is in the name- it’s been just the Blues without the Auckland bit for about 20 years now but they still insist on throwing it in with all the nz super rugby teams

I see where your coming from, however over here in oz, the "blues" are the nws origin team hence the need to distinguish between the two..... although both teams seems to dish up the same results haha.

 

[gREVUS]

Sydney Roosters 2013 title-winner Frank-Paul Nuuausala will return to his old club this season to bolster Trent Robinson's forward stocks on a bargain basement one-year deal.

Nuuasala was last week released from the final 18 months of a three-year contract with English powerhouse Wigan Warriors, and is now hunting an NRL comeback with the Tricolours via feeder club Wyong.

The 31-year-old played 153 matches for the Roosters during a seven-year stint at Bondi, before spending another two years at the Canberra Raiders which ended midway through 2016.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/02/27/2018-NRL-Player-Tracker-Squad-changes-for-all-16-clubs/

 

[gREVUS]

i think this goes here as its directly related to recruitment.

I was reading this article and the bit that jumped out to me was the bit at the very end where it said "Players on a development contract for two years are entitled to an annual 10 per cent salary cap discount for the duration of their careers provided they remain with that club."

This would be massive when you look at the big names like Smith, Slater, Shaun Johnson etc all one club men on 1 mill plus, thats a $100K discount on the cap that you can put into someone else.

Also i didnt realise that they only had to name 29 players by start of season, leaving that spare for later. Are the warriors doing this (they would be mad not to IMO)

https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/02/26...revent-robbie-farah-style-wests-tigers-exile/

 

[Weno]

He has worked hard and remodeled his game to become a real no12 in Union.

Sure they wouldn't waste them efforts.

He and Crotty have a good thing going on in the midfield.