The battle for David Fifita has put the focus on the NRL’s unwieldy contract system, which could be about to undergo the most revolutionary change in years.
Plans are back on the table to bring some order to the madness, with the NRL and clubs looking once again at a central register for player contracts.
It would mean all offers for players would need to be lodged via a system that would allow the NRL to keep a close eye on the process and ensure everything was above board. Player agents could no longer use phantom offers to drive up their client’s price. Nor could they keep offers secret from their clients.
The concept has been raised in the past but it is understood the NRL has been impressed with the latest proposal, as have the clubs who have been taken through it.
Rugby league has been a free-for-all for years. Clubs are loose with the truth when it comes to offers, agents inflate figures, players are kept out of the loop.
That may be about to change. It comes as Fifita weighs up the biggest one-year deal in NRL history, although the veracity of the purported $1.25 million bid is yet to be confirmed by the Titans.
Gold Coast have a retention and recruitment committee that includes owner Darryl Kelly, head of culture Mal Meninga, executive chairman Dennis Watt and recruitment chief Ezra Howe. Kelly politely declined to comment when contacted by Weekend Read.
Initially, it is understood the committee agreed to table a $1 million deal to Fifita but suggestions are they have increased that bid on at least two occasions.
The Titans have been tight-lipped and the Broncos refuse to flinch, having stretched themselves as it is to make their $700,000 offer. At the very least, Fifita will be turning his back on $300,000 to stay at the Broncos next season.
At the most, more than $500,000. The Broncos will increase the offer from 2022 onwards but they won’t get close to the million-dollar mark.
Should he eventually sign a long-term deal with Brisbane, the likelihood is that Fifita will have cost himself more than $1.5 million over the next five years.
It helps explain why he is finding the decision so difficult, especially when you consider his background. Fifita hasn’t had it easy. Nor has his family.
Fifita has said on more than one occasion that his only goal is to pay off his mother Gwen’s mortgage. Weekend Read spoke to Gwen this week, who provided an insight into the battle her son is facing as he weighs up what to do with his future.
“I have a home,” Gwen said. “But he wants to pay my mortgage off quickly. It is just me and him and my oldest son. You have to give back to your family. They were there before the footy came along.”
The Broncos have other issues to consider. Some of their best young players are coming off contract at the end of next year, among them Xavier Coates, Thomas Flegler, Kotoni Staggs, Jake Turpin and Thomas Dearden.
As good as Fifita is, the club doesn’t want to sell the farm to keep him. The Titans and Bulldogs are lying in wait, ready to swoop on anyone who is squeezed out should the Broncos retain Fifita.
Seibold holds aces
There has been plenty of toing-and-froing this week over the contents of Anthony Seibold’s contract in Brisbane.
After Broncos board member Darren Lockyer insisted there were no performance clauses in Seibold’s deal, chief executive Paul White appeared on the Nine Network on Monday and contradicted that by claiming there were performance measures. Seibold then stepped up at his weekly press conference on Thursday and claimed no such clause existed.
The issue has become a distraction as debate rages over Seibold’s future. The Broncos have no plans to part ways with their coach as it currently stands.
Regardless, we can now put the matter to bed. Weekend Read can reveal there are no clauses in Seibold’s contract related to how the team performs on the field or where they finish on the ladder.
The Broncos can miss the finals this year and Seibold will be no worse off, at least as far as his contract is concerned. The only clauses that would allow the Broncos to sack Seibold without financial compensation are the standard triggers in any contract relating to bringing the club into disrepute or not performing the duties for which he was hired.
No doubt, a gung-ho lawyer would suggest that if the Broncos were to finish with the wooden spoon, that would suffice because it has brought disrepute on the club. Or alternatively, that Seibold has failed to carry out the duties for which he was employed.
It’s the sort of issue that would need to be resolved by a legal fight and the likelihood is that the club would struggle to win.
Arthur to battle mate
Parramatta coach Brad Arthur hosted a barbecue earlier in the season to celebrate his daughter Charlotte’s 13th birthday.
Among those in attendance was Charlotte’s godfather, Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien. Arthur and O’Brien have been mates for more than 20 years, having first met when Arthur moved to Bateman’s Bay to captain-coach the local team and O’Brien was one of his players. Arthur would often frequent the local pub that was run by the O’Brien family. When Arthur moved to Cairns to coach, he convinced O’Brien to join him.
For a time, they lived together and then O’Brien moved in with Arthur and his wife in Brisbane. When Arthur made the biggest leap to that point in his career to become the inaugural coach of the Melbourne Storm under-20s team, he convinced O’Brien to join his coaching staff.
Their friendship has endured. When the Sydney Roosters offered O’Brien the chance to join their staff last year, Arthur encouraged his mate to spread his wings, his belief that O’Brien would benefit from being exposed to a different system.
When O’Brien was given the chance to take over at the Knights, he leaned on Arthur for advice about staffing and support. Earlier this year, O’Brien spoke about his respect for Arthur. Now, as the pair prepare to meet at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday, it is Arthur’s turn to return the favour.
“I gave him a chance,” Arthur said. “I was pretty hard on him to improve himself. I pushed him hard. When I first went to Bateman’s Bay and I didn’t know anyone, his family looked after me. Adam sort of chaperoned me around the town. We trained together a lot. I took a liking to him because he was similar to me with the way he played and worked.
“The work ethic was probably the big one.”
As for their coaching philosophies, Arthur said: “I thought I could coach but it wasn’t until I got to Melbourne that I realised there was way more to coaching.
“I always encouraged him when he was at Melbourne – before he became a head coach – to go to another system and see another way of doing it. I think him going to the Roosters has helped him. He is a good mate. We are happy to help each other.”
The conversation has understandably slowed down this week.
Asked whether they had talked, Arthur said: “I haven’t. Not this week.
“We’re both competitive but it is not about me getting one over him or him getting one over me.
“We both want to win but we have two reasonable footy teams. We want to put a show on for everyone else.”
Broncos cast CEO net
Brisbane will this week officially commence their search for a new chief executive after appointing a recruitment firm to conduct the search. The club has already been linked with a handful of potential chief executives, among them Melbourne’s Dave Donaghy and former player Ben Ikin. Brisbane Lions chief executive Greg Swann is also a prospective candidate.
Coogee off limits
The decision to move State of Origin to the end of the season and the looming cricket season is playing havoc with NSW‘s preparations for the series. The Blues have traditionally been based at Coogee in Sydney’s eastern suburbs but the ground they use for training, Coogee Oval, will be unavailable. It is understood NSW coach Brad Fittler is still keen to base the side in Coogee, but the search for a new training ground is on in earnest.
Culture in doubt
Former Canterbury and NSW Rugby League executive Dirk Melton spoke eloquently about his own fight with autism this week in the wake of Addin Fonua-Blake’s outrageous slur against referee Grant Atkins last weekend. Melton also revealed that current and former officials at Rugby League Central had used similar slurs to denigrate him during his time in the sport. It raises legitimate questions over how endemic that sort of language is within the code.
Kevvie to Bulldogs?
Kevin Walters is the latest name to appear on the radar of the Canterbury Bulldogs. There is an acknowledgment that seven-time premiership winner Wayne Bennett won’t be at the Bulldogs but Walters has now been suggested by one of the power players behind the scenes at the club.
Spared from Izzy call
The Rugby League International Federation is likely to be saved from an uncomfortable decision at the end of the year thanks to COVID-19. There is talk of a potential game between New Zealand and Tonga in November and the likelihood is that Israel Folau would have been selected in the Tongan team.
Strict quarantine rules surrounding overseas visitors are likely to put paid to that, sparing the RLIF from making a call over Folau’s eligibility.
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