Cold, hard facts behind Cody Ramsey’s Dragons exit

If the Dragons were building a roster based on emotion, Cody Ramsey would have been given a lifetime contract. But they’re not. These are the mutually beneficial facts behind Ramsey’s exit.

Making decisions based on emotion is never good business.

Upset Dragons fans clearly see it differently given the torrent of social media rage directed at the club following the decision by fullback Cody Ramsey to agree to terms with the Roosters from next season.

If the Dragons were building a roster based on emotion, Ramsey would have been given a lifetime contract in the Red V.

He boasts one of the best stories in rugby league.

Climbing out of his hospital bed with his large bowel removed and eight months of being fed with an IV drip, learning how to run again with 29kgs stripped from his frame, to captain Saints to the NSW Cup grand final last month.

Ramsey is a gem of a person, an inspiration for every person impacted by ulcerative colitis.

But in the end, rugby league is a business.

Let’s be clear, if Ramsey, as is expected, passes a final medical clearance with the Roosters on Thursday, they won’t be signing him as a charity case.

They too, have made a roster call that requires them to find a talented fullback that can bridge the gap between Dally M champion James Tedesco and talented schoolboy Rex Bassingthwaighte, who is still two years away from NRL.

The Roosters have agreed to terms with Ramsey for an NRL top-30 contract of around $140,000 per season until the end of 2027.

The Dragons? They already have two fullbacks sitting inside the salary cap on significant money in the shape of marquee man Clint Gutherson and Tyrell Sloan.

To also sign Ramsey to a top-30 contract, making the roster count of three fullbacks in their salary cap, is Moneyball madness.

In the end, the Dragons tabled Ramsey a development contract worth around $85,000 with the addition of $3,000 for every NRL game he plays, which also included the addition of a clause that should he play five NRL games or more, he would then be added to the club’s top-30 roster in 2027.

Some St George Illawarra fans were seeing red over Ramsey’s exit.

Ramsey has made the right call, for both his career and his family with the security of a two-year deal.

Ramsey is one step closer to playing NRL than what he potentially was at Saints with Gutherson and Sloan ahead of him.

The Dragons had supported Ramsey through every day of his traumatic diagnosis, continuing to pay his salary of close to $500,000 - which is believed to have been split over the past two years.

Ramsey himself has stated how the Dragons couldn’t have done more to support him.

St George Illawarra has made some monumental roster blunders in the past. But this isn’t one of them.

It’s just business.

Originally published as Cold, hard facts behind Cody Ramsey’s Dragons exit