Canberra CEO Don Furner calls for overhaul of current transfer system in wake of player circus
Whatever happened to a player sucking it up even when he couldn’t cop the coach? With early contract releases now a norm, the NRL’s most experienced CEO wants an overhaul of the current transfer system.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Why is Latrell Mitchell playing for South Sydney this year when he had a full season to run on his Roosters contract?
Ditto Adam Doueihi who was forced to the Tigers to make way for Latrell’s arrival at Redfern, even though Doueihi was signed until the end of 2021.
Joey Leilua had a year to go at Canberra, though you couldn’t blame Leilua for leaving when Curtis Scott arrived from Melbourne after getting an early release.
Watch the 2020 NRL Nines tournament LIVE & On-Demand on KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Ryan Matterson also says he had a good reason to leave the Tigers for Parramatta, just a year into his deal after leaving the Roosters.
While Matterson won’t say why he wanted out of the Tigers, he assures us money wasn’t his motivation.
If that is the case we can only assume it was something to do with a personality clash with coach Michael Maguire.
Whatever happened to a player sucking it up even when he couldn’t cop the coach and doing what was best for the club and his teammates, especially the fans? Seeing out the full term of his contract because he’d given his word?
Though it is not always the players’ fault, just as it’s not always the clubs in the wrong, or even the player agents who are almost always portrayed as the greedy parties.
The point is they’re all in it up to their necks, because they get left behind if they don’t play the game that is the current NRL transfer system.
This week we hear Cronulla is now shopping Josh Dugan to rival clubs, while young Bronson Xerri has knocked back a long-term extension at the Sharks so he can put himself on the market in November for when he comes off contract in 2021.
As if that won’t end in another circus in the not-too distant future.
We forgot to mention Josh Addo-Carr who is at least staying at Melbourne for this season, or is he?
There was a time when all it took was a handshake to get a deal done in rugby league.
Sometimes they didn’t even bother to write up a contract, or they did it on the back of a beer coaster.
But these days a contract is hardly worth the paper it is printed on, especially if one party wants to break it.
It has got to the point where all this undermining is doing no one any favours.
Surely it has to change, but what is the answer?
Well, the NRL’s most experienced chief executive believes there is a simple solution to stop this player transfer madness, and all it really requires is a step back in time.
After watching the upheaval of recent years, Canberra boss Don Furner reckons that the NRL should revert to how business used to be done - only allow deals to be finalised after the season has finished, but only when a player is coming off contract that particular year.
In his 17th season in charge at the Raiders, Furner has pretty much seen it all but says he can’t remember an off-season where the player market shenanigans have been a bigger farce.
“I think the advent of signing them a year out to put pressure on clubs to release players early and/or breaks contracts is getting worse,” Furner said.
“I preferred the system we used to have where the deals were done after the season finished. That was in the 2000s.
“Now there is no doubt deals were done before the end of the season and speculation still went on. But it was not official until the football had finished in October.”
While it still might not be perfect, Furner’s idea sure makes more sense than what we are allowing right now which is purely a free-for-all.
Furner is spot on when he says it has reached the point where it is now the exception rather than the norm that a player actually stays for the full term of a deal if he has already decided to make a change.
In fact, Jai Arrow is about the only one of the big names on the market this year who looks likely to see out his contract at the Gold Coast rather than push for an early release to join Souths for 2020.
“No fans like a player announcing he is leaving their club, particularly not a year out,” Furner said.
“I mean, you can’t fall in love with that player when you know he is going to be leaving in a year.”
This current system was set up because the Players’ Association argued players needed more time to settle their futures and get their family affairs in order.
But as Furner argued: “That is a rubbish argument because everybody moves jobs, all over Australia, and they move within a month or two, not a year after they agree to join a different company.”
Originally published as Canberra CEO Don Furner calls for overhaul of current transfer system in wake of player circus