NRL Contracting Issues - By Kristine

One does not have to be a fanatical NRL supporter to know about the dramas that arise with player contracts. Most recently of course are the issues surrounding Bulldogs player Ben Barba and his request for a release from the remainder of his contract. This blog post is not going to attack Barba and his decision rather it will look at the recurring issue of mid-season signings, player releases, escape clauses and trading. However I will clarify that I am undecided on my position regarding Ben Barba. I think he has every right to be with his family but at the same time he has a contract to fulfil and his family should have considered that before moving away. I can understand both sides to the story.

Moving on from that; it is no secret that NRL has one of the more inferior systems regarding contracting players. I think we have a great system when it comes to suspending players for their wrongdoings but when it comes to actually signing a player up, there always seems to be some drama. 

I’ll begin with mid-season contract negotiations. It happens way too often. And on almost every occasion it results in a lose-lose situation. As a Dragons supporter I’m going to use examples from my own club to explain my point. Jamie Soward was told that the Saints could not match the contract he wanted to sign and told him that he either accepted the terms they were offering or move on elsewhere. He chose to move on. He copped a lot of negativity from this. It affected his form - he played so well while he was looking for a contract, when it didn’t come, he slackened off. The fans turned on him. He ended up leaving the game for the rest of the season. His reputation was tarnished. The Dragons and their fans suffered, the NRL suffered. Nobody won from the fact that contract negotiations were occurring in the season. Another instance is that of Darius Boyd and Beau Scott. Both players announced that they were leaving the club to head to Newcastle early in the season. Both players ended up playing average and conservative for the remainder of their time at the Dragons. It was hurtful for the fans to see. Nobody benefited.

I won’t deny that there are instances where mid-season contract negotiations work out fine. The Dragons have signed Joel Thompson from the Raiders and yet one only has to read his twitter account to see that he is still passionate for the green machine until the day he leaves the club. The same goes for Storm player Gareth Widdop who, despite being out injured for the year and then leaving Melbourne at the end of the year, still shows support for the team he is currently contracted to. But these situations are rare.

Then there are the mid-season signings themselves. Sam Perrett is perhaps my favourite example. He pretty much just decided to get up and go from the Roosters one day and head over to the much better performing Bulldogs (at the time), took the place of a Bulldogs player who must have originally felt quite secure in the team, and a few weeks later found himself playing a grand final. In what universe was that fair on the Roosters and their fans and the particular player that he replaced? Mark Gasnier is a slightly more complex example given the fact he came across from another code but in essence the same thing happened. He left a club and just slotted into the Dragons as if he had never left and soon played and won a grand final. It was great for my team, but I cannot help but feel sad for the Rugby team he left in Paris and the poor player who missed out on the grand final because of Gasnier. In a real world business, it would require extreme circumstances for a contractor to be allowed to ditch their commitments and go work for a competitor only a week later. Why should the NRL be any different?

Player releases are the next issue. Again, I’m going to compare NRL to the real world of business. A contractor does not enter their contract if they do not believe they will be able to fulfil it to the very last day. On that note, they cannot simply ask to leave for any old reason, including “compassionate” reasons. Contractors make a lot of their decisions based on what their contract and employment requires from them. They plan holidays, major purchases, marriages and houses around their commitments to their contract. To this day I cannot understand why NRL players insist on acting in a different way, as if they are superior to the standard contractor and deserve special considerations. Ben Barba is only one example of this. No player releases have ever worked out well. They leave everyone with a sour taste in their mouth. It is going to result in contracts becoming shorter because of the risk of a player seeking release. As such, truly loyal players who can guarantee they will stay with a club are going to miss out on lengthy, safe contracts.

Escape clauses bug me but are probably the most legitimate way of leaving a club other than having your contract actually expire or retiring from the game altogether. The issues Manly experienced when Des Hasler left is the best example of escape clauses affecting a team. The uncertainty surrounding the actions of so many players who had an escape clause if Hasler left really ruined the fact that Manly just played a magnificent grand final. Their fans wanted to celebrate, not complain. It seems really unfair that the player has so much control over when they want to leave a club despite being bound to a club by contract. Thousands of people behind the scenes (fans, club employees and team mates) are left disappointed.

Then there is the most ridiculous concept of them all-  really, really, premature signings. When I say that I hope we all think of James Maloney signing with the Roosters an entire year before he was going to arrive there. It didn’t really affect his game. But it just didn’t seem right. It meant his club was still pouring resources into and putting faith in a player who was already preparing himself to leave. I just cannot understand the logic behind this.

So what’s my solution? I think that the NRL needs to develop a trading period at the end of the season (after the grand final). This period would last a few weeks and would be the only time players can seek releases to sign with new clubs outside of their contract. I think players can re-sign with their club and announce retirements at any point of the season because that can only ever result in good things. I think if your contract is finishing with a club at the end of the year you deserve the right to sign with another club because I understand you need job security. But this should be within reason and not be like what James Maloney did. It should still be towards the end of the season.

My other suggestion is that NRL moves away from the focus of buying marquee players for their teams and instead brings in a culture of development for the young stars of our game. There is so much centred around buying the best players for your team and not enough spotlight on introducing young guys. When a player leaves or retires, why do you have to go poach a player from another team when you have an entire reserve team of footballers that are itching to get their chance? Many sports with a draft system do this really well and spend a lot of time and money guaranteeing the future talent of the sport rather than just swapping the current talent around. It will also mean a lot more players can stay loyal to one team because there won’t be constant temptations and offers from other clubs. I think if there was a larger focus on bringing young guys up through the ranks then there would be less focus on contracts and a smoother season overall.

I’m just sick of the season being interrupted by contracting issues.

Love,

@LadiesWhoLeague