Player Ruben Wiki

[warriors4life_old]

Ruben Wiki

​

From smh.com.au

THE NRL will investigate whether the New Zealand Warriors were guilty of breaking anti-tampering laws when poaching Canberra legend Ruben Wiki from the Raiders.

The new allegations will come as a further blow to the Warriors, who are reeling in the face of the salary cap breaches which the besieged Auckland club will attempt to explain in Sydney tomorrow.

The Sun-Herald understands Wiki and his management had an agreement with the Warriors before the anti-tampering deadline of June 30, 2004. Warriors insiders say the club started negotiating with Wiki, whose offer from NZ was so lucrative the Raiders didn't even bother trying to match it, in March of that year. The official announcement was made on July 9.

Asked if anti-tampering formed part of the NRL's inquiry into the Warriors, chief executive David Gallop said yesterday: "It's quite possible that it could become part of it. But as we've found in the past, it relies heavily on the players' existing club at the time [the Raiders] putting forward a complaint."

Warriors officials are set to meet Gallop tomorrow. They already face the loss of competition points and a huge fine for breaking the cap by at least $500,000. That amount could double if the club is found to have acted before the anti-tampering deadline.

Canberra general manager Don Furner said his club suspected Wiki was leaving well before his departure was announced and that the Raiders could not have matched the offer without breaking the cap or sacking players.

"We had a fair idea Ruben was going," Furner said. "We knew what we were up against. We realised we couldn't match what the Warriors were offering."

Asked whether the Raiders would make an official complaint to the NRL, Furner responded: "If the evidence is there you'd think that's all that's needed for some sort of action to be taken by the NRL, but we as a club don't have any evidence so we can't really speculate on what might happen yet."

Furner said everyone at the club was gutted when Wiki left.

"It was disappointing because he was one of our best ever," Furner said. "Nobody wanted to see him go. He should have finished his career here. And to be honest, he'd still be here if all things were on a level playing field.

"We didn't know what the deal was but we had a fair idea. Whether they [the Warriors] did it above or below board, we didn't know. We just knew we were out of the ball park. We had to let him go."

Gallop is expected to deliver the verdict on the Warriors by the end of the week. He has previously said the book would be thrown at clubs found guilty of cheating the cap and/or the anti-tampering laws.

Furner said Wiki did not have permission to negotiate with the Warriors. "Absolutely not. If they've done that, well, it's anti-tampering and all I can say is, 'wow'. Officially it was announced after the 30th of June, but I suppose that's the way these things always get announced."

Furner said the Raiders were hammered by club sponsors and supporters for failing to retain a legend of the club.

"We copped a lot of scrutiny and criticism," he said. "We started sounding like a broken record. All we could say was, 'Listen, we can't break the salary cap'. To a lot of people it seems like a mythical thing but at the end of the day it's like the tax office - the NRL comes down and does an audit. I said to Ruben, 'Good luck, you deserve it, you go with our blessing'. He never let us down while he was here. It's not his fault."

Furner said the Raiders made no formal attempt to match the Warriors' offer.

"We would have been way over the cap if we'd tried to," he said. "Or we would have needed to sack two or three players to make room for him. If it was only a matter of $30,000 or $40,000 to keep him, maybe there could have been a way. But it was beyond that."

NRL TO INVESTIGATE

A full-time development role for Wiki in retirement, which should be accountable under the salary cap

Free flights for Wiki's agent, Jim Banaghan

Free mobile phone contracts for selected players

A paid trip to Disneyland for a player and his family

 

[JonB_old]

Without Stiki (Steve and Wiki) how do you think our tactics will change? They will be replaced by players that have alot different capabilities.

 

[warriors4life_old]

Wiki has not been charged yet so don't rule him out till it's official.

I don't think our tactics will be too different, we won't gain as much metres without them. I'm just worried that if Wiki is gone too then there will be no one to rev up the boys when a try is scored by us or the opposition.

 

[JonB_old]

In the warriors preview article, it said the Roosters have been employing a gang tackle style of defence.
Without Price and Wiki I really believe we should change our tactis.
I think we will be most effective spinning the ball wide, you can't gang tackle if you are spread out.
I really think without our top props we could get domminated to easy, if we are to win this week we will need big games from our halfback, Sione and our Standoff....

 

[commonsense_old]

even if wiki wins i think he will still be out for 1-2 weeks. it was a pretty high grade.

with only rapira and evarn as the props there is a lot of pressure on them. i would assume michael luck would come in as a third prop. we will lose a lot of go-forward without wiki and price.

every forward has to put extra effort in for making those yards. to help the forwards out guys like fien, rovelli, webb and hohaia have to make plenty of dummyhalf runs to gain some precious metres. teams like the cowboys and tigers with relatively smaller forward packs use that sort of tactic

 

[Esoj_old]

yeah the go-forward will be hampered a lot. the forwards will have to lift and also more dummy half running than normal to make up for the lost metres.

 

[mosh_old]

BRISBANE chief executive Bruno Cullen yesterday voiced his disappointment at the judiciary's decision to exonerate New Zealand Warriors captain Ruben Wiki of a kneeing charge, claiming he does not have enough money to express his real opinion.

Wiki was cleared on Wednesday night of a grade-five charge of dropping knees on Brisbane forward Corey Parker last Sunday, leaving Warriors officials elated and the Broncos fuming.

Parker remains in pain and is struggling to be fit for the Broncos' game against South Sydney at Telstra Stadium tomorrow night, with the club already down six players on Origin duty.

Wiki is free to play for the Warriors against the Sydney Roosters at Aussie Stadium on Sunday.

Asked his opinion of the judiciary's decision, Cullen, fearing a fine from the NRL, replied: "I don't have enough money to tell you my real thoughts.

"We're disappointed, particularly for Corey, who is in agony this week and still in doubt for the game on Saturday.

"We're probably a bit disappointed with the comments of the player (Wiki) himself in which he said it would be a kick in the guts if he was suspended.

"That would have been nowhere near as severe as what Corey copped."

On Wednesday night, Wiki emerged elated at the result before telling the assembled media a lengthy ban would have been a "kick in the backside" as his career winds down.


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Wiki's legal team argued the dropping knees charge did not apply because Wiki, 33, slid into the tackle and made contact with Parker while his body was partially in the air.
Match review committee chair Greg McCallum yesterday said a player did not have to be on the ground before a dropping knees charge could be applied.

"The necessary interpretation is that a player is 'substantially on the ground' rather than substantially upright'," McCallum said.

Cullen said he did not understand why Wiki could not be charged with another offence.

"At training yesterday he (Parker) couldn't bend over and pick up a ball," Cullen said.

"The rule says you have to be reckless. I thought he came from a long way away before the tackle was completed.

"I don't know what he was trying to do with the knee where it was. Someone could end up with a ruptured kidney. You could lose one."

 

[Skinny_Ravs82]

LOL at Cullen saying 'he doesn't have enough money' load of rubbish that. I think the panel is vry inconistant anyway, so it shouldn't really that much of a surprise. Blame the judciary

 

[MarkW_old]

Seeing the replay on the news last night I was astounded that he was even cited at all, based on the video evidence.

It's unfortunate Parker was injured in the tackle .. but hell, league is a tough game. When bodies collide at high impact like they do in nearly every set of six, someone is going to come off worse for wear.

 

[KeepingTheFaith_old]

Whinge whinge whinge. It's the same with every club. When something happens to one of their players there's not enough justice in the world to fix it, but when it's one of their players committing the act then there's every excuse in the book to fall back on.

I remember in the 2001 challenge cup when Tallis blatantly dropped his knees AFTER an opposition player had already slid in to score a try.

And maybe he was misquoted but Cullen himself said "Wiki came from a long way away BEFORE the tackle was completed" Well if the tackles not completed then surely he's allowed to come in, it's just unfortunate what happened to Parker.

 

[Skinny_Ravs82]

Whinge whinge whinge. It's the same with every club. When something happens to one of their players there's not enough justice in the world to fix it, but when it's one of their players committing the act then there's every excuse in the book to fall back on.

I remember in the 2001 challenge cup when Tallis blatantly dropped his knees AFTER an opposition player had already slid in to score a try.

And maybe he was misquoted but Cullen himself said "Wiki came from a long way away BEFORE the tackle was completed" Well if the tackles not completed then surely he's allowed to come in, it's just unfortunate what happened to Parker.

When you're in the type of position taht Mr. Cullen is you can say whatever you like

 

[one-eyed-warrior_old]

Turn it up brisbane, "he cant bend over!!!" thats league, go play union if u cant handle ya poofters.

 

[warriors4life_old]

You'd think they'd actually be happy after breaking their hoodoo at Ericsson...

 

[JonB_old]

I think we would be unhappy if Webcke came in and gave Koopu a knee to the kidneys, we also might be irate.

 

[warriors4life_old]

I think we would be unhappy if Webcke came in and gave Koopu a knee to the kidneys, we also might be irate.

Depends on the details of the situation.

 

[JonB_old]

everything else remains the same i would probaly call it a cheap shot truth is relevant, to perspective.

 

[2big2strong_old]

I think we would be unhappy if Webcke came in and gave Koopu a knee to the kidneys, we also might be irate.

nah we'd just rumble them! lol. how funny was it when Louis Anderson tried to start Corey Parker and Parker was like "i just want the ball man, sorry man, c'mon dude" haha.

 

[warriors4life_old]

everything else remains the same i would probaly call it a cheap shot truth is relevant, to perspective.

But that's just supporters being supporters. If another team scores a good try against the Warriors we don't say, "That was a good try" we get angry and frustrated. If Webcke injured Koopu we wouldn't say "Oh, that was an accident", we would be very angry and blaming it on Webcke.

 

[JonB_old]

And that is the point I was trying to make exactly. We didn't percive it as a cheap shot but they did.

 

[Sinbad_old]

Mate when you get run over by a Big Mack Truck , you are always going to get hurt. That's a fact !

The decision has been made they need to build a bridge and get over it !

Good for Rubes and bad luck for Corey. I feel for him and so no doubt does Ruben. However thats life !