The NRL has been guilty of doing some strange things that no other football code seems to do in this day and age – a schedule where times are set by broadcasters just a few weeks ahead of the given round, and delayed broadcasts stacked with commercial interruption when social media makes it damn near impossible (or, at least, requires a concerted effort) to avoid scores – and the transfer rules are right at the top.
Good on Dave Smith for fixing the schedule so that it’s set in stone before the season, and getting live Sunday afternoon football. Now, he has to work on the ugly business of transferring players. No other sporting league allows this practice. We’ve seen it really rear it’s ugly head this off-season, with the constant speculation on the futures of Sea Eagles halves Daly Cherry Evans and Kieran Foran. It’s been confirmed that Cherry Evans is leaving Manly, and Foran appears to be following suit.
I’m absolutely disappointed, but that’s not why I wrote this article. The fact that players seem to be able to negotiate publically a year or more in advance of their contact ending is wrong. If they decide to move on from their current club, what does that mean for the final year(s) on their contract? Manly is looking at something of a dead rubber season with two of it’s most important players on the way out at the end of the year.
Football, of course, is a team sport, and it’s hard enough to win a premiership when everyone in the dressing room is on the same page and united. When you have guys announcing a year in advance that they’re off to a new club, it does absolutely nothing for the morale of the players around them. Manly, last night, played like a team divided. As much as I hate to agree with Phil Gould, he pointed out that there was little talk amongst teammates, and that’s a recipe for disaster.
No matter what the canned and clichéd press releases say, a player who signs to a new club a year ahead of his current contract actually expiring does not have a sole focus on closing out their career with a premiership at their current club. Does anyone believe that tired old statement? Your teammates aren’t going to be happy that you’re bolting, and have announced it a year before, derailing the season almost before it’s begun.
Imagine how South Sydney players might feel, with this talk of Greg Inglis being shopped around to rugby both here and abroad? His contract doesn’t end until 2017, and already he’s making front-page news for what he might possibly do. It’s ludicrous, and just might be the biggest blight on the game right now.
Take the NFL, for example. They have a specified time where off-contract players can decide upon a new contract with their current team, or sign a new one. I understand the EPL has a similar setup. The NFL’s designated period is during the off-season. That generally restricts contract talk until then. Yes, there is still speculation about a particular players, but it doesn’t completely hijack the actual game as the Manly pair’s rumoured movements has largely done.
In the weeks before the 2015 NRL season when we should be talking about what a wonderful year we have in store, there’ve been two narratives: off-field behavioural issues stretching from drug-related drama to Arizona night club drama, and the contractual status of Cherry Evans and Foran. There’s scarcely been talk of football. Imagine how much better things would be if we were actually talking about the on-field product!
The NRL needs to go to an NFL-type system where there’s a designated window for player transfers, and make sure it’s in the offseason. The sooner it happens, the better. Yes, I know sport is a business, but the business side shouldn’t overpower what happens on the park every weekend. You can’t stop players from thinking about their future (and I don’t blame them for securing a future in a career that is definitely a finite one) but the NRL can stop them from making contact with other clubs during the tenure of their current contract.
I know it won’t completely cut out conjecture on television, social media and in newspapers about where particular players might be heading at the end of their contracted term, but it should be less of a major talking point – speculation will die after a while – when we don’t see images of players like Cherry Evans visibly shopping himself from club to club. No matter what player or team is doing that, it’s a bad look, giving a sort of mercenary look to the game. It’s in bad taste, and it sends a message that that player believes himself to be bigger than the team. In a sport like rugby league, that’s can be a season’s death knell.
David Smith can quickly end what’s becoming a circus by following the lead of other sporting leagues around the world. Bring in a trade window as soon as he possibly can, and let’s try to get the focus back on football, because the on-field product is pretty damn good!
No comments:
Post a Comment