Monday Buzz: Lies make mugs out of NRL fans
WELCOME to the beginning of another week of madness and deceit in the NRL. Last week was all about coach swapping. Now it’s the players’ turn.
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- EXCLUSIVE: Frustrated Klemmer eyes mega Knights deal
- MORE BUZZ: Perfect landing spot for Shaun Johnson
WELCOME to the beginning of another week of madness and deceit in the NRL.
Last week was all about coach swapping. Bennett. Seibold. Cleary, Hasler and Maguire. Everything moved so quickly and dramatically it was like week one of the old Super League war. Now it’s the players’ turn.
Apparently Kangaroos front-rower Dave Klemmer wants out from the Canterbury Bulldogs to join the Newcastle Knights next year.
Dessie Hasler wants Kieran Foran back at Brookie. Forget the salary cap issues, we’ll get him back somehow. Maybe even a player swap.
The New Zealand Warriors have even told pin-up boy Shaun Johnson he can look around.
Now it’s Klemmer. The Test prop has two years to run in a four-year contract at the Bulldogs. Apparently he has a genuine out clause in that old third-party agreements fell over.
Klemmer met with Bulldogs CEO Andrew Hill last week to put his case for a release.
Klemmer is being guided by Isaac Moses, the player agent who is notoriously bullish in ensuring his players get their full worth and entitlements.
This is the manager who took Mitchell Moses, James Tedesco and Aaron Woods to new clubs to get them the money he thought they deserved and new career opportunities.
If he can get Klemmer an extra $1.6 million over four years at the Knights he’ll go for it.
The Knights approached the Bulldogs about Klemmer three months ago but were told he was not for sale. Their fans copped Aaron Woods and Moses Mbye being released but would blow up deluxe over Klemmer. He’s the heart and soul of the footy club.
Even from New Zealand we now learn Johnson has been told to look around and test the market. Yet he is the one Warriors player, outside of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, with a following like an All Blacks superstar.
And this is just the start. Now the coaches have settled, the player movement will explode. What are rugby league supporters supposed to think?
Think of the hundreds of kids who proudly wear Johnson’s jersey.
Right now the clubs are trying to flog memberships and season tickets for 2019 yet you hardly know who you will be barracking for.
The NRL is at least planning to stop the disloyalty and coaching craziness. Never again will a club like the Penrith Panthers be legally capable of offering an under-contract coach like Ivan Cleary a job midterm.
The rules and regulations around coaching contracts have been put on the agenda for the next chief executive’s conference in mid-November and again at the club chairs’ meeting in December.
The NRL recently introduced a cap on football department spending to stop clubs from going broke.
As part of this, coaching contracts will have to be registered with the NRL exactly the same as the players. They will also be subjected to the same anti-poaching laws.
Under this scenario, Cleary would have been strictly off limits. And so he should be. The fans have had enough of this betrayal.
The grovelling text message Cleary sent to his players over the weekend is fine.
“G’day boys. I hope this finds you well and enjoying your time off. I was writing to you in the hope of beating the press to let you know that I will no longer be your coach at Wests Tigers.
“This is an extremely uncomfortable situation for me as I have genuine fondness for the club, and I have loved coaching you all. I understand that this situation has caused some pain for people that I care about, along with putting the club in an awkward situation … I do not feel good about this.
“I would have preferred to do this in person but time and circumstances have made that impossible.
“I hope we meet again soon and I wish you all the very best in the future. You have my number and I am always open for a chat if you wish. Iv.”
But it’s the fans who he misled that really deserve an apology.
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