Banned Raider Hudson Young to give evidence in NRL agent Sam Ayoub’s signing stoush
A player management stoush involving top NRL agent Sam Ayoub and two of his former employees will hear evidence from as many as 16 of the code’s top talents including Raider’s star Hudson Young.
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Raiders star Hudson Young is expected to give evidence in an NRL agent row that has exposed the ugly side of player management.
The Daily Telegraph has learned the suspended Canberra forward will be a high-profile witness in a Federal Court dispute involving a rugby league agent to the stars and his former protégé.
With a five-star client list that includes future immortal Johnathan Thurston and grand final combatants Jordan Rapana and Victor Radley, Sam Ayoub took to the stand on Tuesday to give evidence as part of a dispute he has launched against his former employees Antoun Zibara and Patrick Angeli.
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In a case that also saw an NRL official subpoenaed to the Federal Court in Sydney on Tuesday, Mr Ayoub has alleged that Mr Zibara and Mr Angeli poached up to 16 players from his management stable in 2017.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal a signed statement from Young was among the documents tendered in court.
It is also understood the Raiders forward — currently serving an eight week ban for eye-gouging — will be one of several players who will give evidence at the trial this week.
On the first day of hearings in the legal stoush between the boss and former employees, the court heard allegations that Mr Zibara and Mr Angeli enticed up to 16 players to break contracts with Mr Ayoub’s company Ultra Management.
The players were then signed to a company owned by Mr Zibara and Mr Angeli.
The court heard that Mr Zibara was an employee of Mr Ayoub’s from 2010 to 2017, while Mr Angeli worked at Mr Ayoub’s firm for 11 months from 2017.
Mr Ayoub would manage the business and deal with senior players while Mr Zibara and Mr Angeli were tasked with scouting signing and nurturing new, junior talent.
In mid-2017 the NRL ordered future player contracts needed to include a subclause, referred to as 6(e), that let players follow their agents if their agent changed company.
At the end of 2017 Mr Zibara and Mr Angeli departed UMS — but not before some players had their contracts modified to include the subclause, Mr Ayoub’s legal team said.
In early 2018 the pair started their own agency, Genesis Talent Management, and held 50 per cent of the shares each.
Mr Ayoub, his barrister Richard Perry QC said, “vehemently denies” telling his junior agents to make the changes to the contracts and wasn’t even made aware of the alterations.
“(Adding the subclause) provides potential to lose those contracted players,” Mr Perry said.
“Had those contracts remained in form they were, those players would not be able to sign with GTM in early 2018.”
Mr Perry said his client has a “consistent history” with players staying with him for the majority of their careers due to his experience and reputation in the industry.
Mr Ayoub, in his evidence in the federal court on Tuesday, was asked about an email sent to junior talent Young on September 17.
“No one would be able to send (that email) without my authority,” Mr Ayoub said.
Young is expected to give evidence this week after providing a statement to the court.
The court heard that emerging rugby league players Phoenix Crossland, Lance Bagon and Mosese Pope would be at the centre of the court action that could involve 16 players.
Mr Ayoub, Mr Zabara and Mr Angeli would all scout young players and approach them, or their parents if they were under 18, to sign them to UMS under “player management contracts”.
“We’d meet them at the house or the office, at cafes and have discussions,” he told the court.
They would also handle the contracts between the players and their clubs.
But in the majority of cases, if not all cases, Mr Ayoub said he was required to authorise the signing of any contracts in UMS.
He recalled receiving the email from the NRL’s agent manager, Paul Massey, that detailed the new subclause.
The UMS chief met with Mr Zibara and Mr Angeli a few days later to discuss the “significant” development.
“I asked if they read (the email) and Antoun said yes, Patrick just often sat there with Antoun,” Mr Ayoub said.
“I made them aware of the fact that, basically, they don’t need to sign any new contracts. The existing contracts run their course and that was the extent of it.”
Mr Ayoub knew there was “nil benefit to the business” in adding the subclause that would let players leave UMS, and the pair agreed with them, he said.
“It basically gave people a free pass, potentially, to terminate with a new contract,” he said.
It wasn’t until after the pair left UMS he became aware some players had signed new contracts, he said.
Up to three players are expected to give evidence when the case resumes today.
Originally published as Banned Raider Hudson Young to give evidence in NRL agent Sam Ayoub’s signing stoush