Psssst Want a good player for your team? Player Moves etc Latest: DCE and Balin holding things up?

[Graham]

Some big name players are still officially available for signing for nest season:

Lote Tuqiri, Josh Hoffman, Willie Mason, Fuifui Moimoi, Chris Houston, Reece Robinson, Bras Takairangi, Timana Tahu, Tinirau Arona, Jonathan Wright, Bryce Gibbs, Bodene Thompson, Kyle Stanley, Joseph Paulo, Ben Lowe, Heath L’Estrange  -

Have I missed any? Probably.

 

OK they are the Off contract players and some/many may actually be on a promise.

Still you never know, one or two might be coming your way.

[Graham]

Plus:

 

 

The split in the Manly playing ranks has filtered down to the club’s Mad Monday celebrations, at which high-profile Sea Eagles Anthony Watmough and Brett Stewart were notable absentees.

Technically the pair are still contracted to the Sea Eagles for next season but after completely snubbing their teammates, that looks increasingly likely to change.

[Railway End]

Joseph Paulo has been resigned for the Eels, rejecting an offer to follow Ricky Stewart to Canberra.

[Graham]

Joseph Paulo has been resigned for the Eels, rejecting an offer to follow Ricky Stewart to Canberra.

 

Sensible move based on this season - Eels unlucky not to get into Top 8 

[Graham]

Corey Oates has re-signed with Broncos until end of 2017

[Graham]

Tim Glasby isn't going to Cowboys after all despite signing for them.

He's staying at Storm having been allowed out of the commitment on compassionate grounds.

Cowboys have got Ben Hannant though

 

Matt Duffie is staying with Storm for 2015 despite having a tough couple of seasons with injuries

[Graham]

Bryan Norrie has retired from the game:

 

 

Melbourne Storm premiership forward Bryan Norrie has announced his retirement with one year remaining on his contract.

The veteran front-rower made the difficult decision following medical advice on a neck injury.

“It’s shattering and disappointing my career has come to an end,” Norrie said.

“It was a tough decision to make, however based on the medical advice I’ve been given over the last week it was the decision I had to make and importantly think of my family and health first.”

[Graham]

So, it looks like Watmough to  Eels and Willie Mason to Manly ... unless Storm do make a late play for him, though they say they are looking elsewhere for a Norrie replacement.

[Graham]

Dragons going to announce release of Brett Morris for salary cap reasons???

 

Is that after the horse has bolted?

Thought he was off to Bulldogs to join his brother anyway?

[Graham]

 

As strongly rumoured Team Morris is now a reality at Bulldogs with Brett joining brother Josh there.

[Graham]

Manly have confirmed Anthony Watmough’s release to the Eels.
In a press conference the club also announced:
* Willie Mason, Feleti Mateo and Siosaia Vave will join the club for 2015, with the side having lost Glenn Stewart, Jason King and Watmough
* JamieLyon has re-signed until the end of 2016

Joe Kelly will become the club’s new CEO from November 24. He is the former chief financial officer at South Sydney.

[Railway End]

Just announced via RLW that Josh Hoffman has signed for Gold Coast and Martin Kennedy is off back to the Roosters.

Looks like Wayne Bennett is clearing the decks at Brisbane.

[Graham]

Parra have finally confirmed the lucrative signing of Test forward Anthony Watmough for the next four seasons.

One of rugby league’s worse kept secrets, the Eels signed off on the Manly backrower’s signature on Thursday afternoon.(30th Oct 2014)

[Graham]

Ben Barba to Sharks from Broncos on three year deal.

 

So a talented young player who looked a world beater has been transformed into a player on the slide that is picked up by a wooden spoon side.

[DeadShotKeen]

Ben Barba to Sharks from Broncos on three year deal.

 

So a talented young player who looked a world beater has been transformed into a player on the slide that is picked up by a wooden spoon side.

 

Isn't that the sign of a healthy league though? God forbid these elite players all just load up on the same 4 or 5 sides a la Super League. Looking forward to seeing the Sharks next year. On paper a top 4 side.

 

Broncos look really strong this year - Milford and Hunt is a mouth-watering halves combo. I think them, Cowboys and Panthers look like top 3 for mine.

 

Dragons look a bit of a worry....rumours that Merrin may want out as well? Surely they pin him down with the newly available big bucks post-Brett Morris. Not sure that roster could cope with another elite departure.

[DeadShotKeen]

Barba to Sharks is interesting given that they apparently only missed out on Benji Marshall due to cash. Suggests Barba has either taken a huge pay cut or the Sharks were near the salary floor when Benji was available and have found some additional sponsor cash. Or that Benji is being grossly overpaid by the Dragons!

 

Seems to have worked out well for the Sharks anyway.

[DeadShotKeen]

Oh hang on - was Benji's Dragons move pre-Carney's "bubbler"? That would explain.

[Graham]

Barba to Sharks is interesting given that they apparently only missed out on Benji Marshall due to cash. Suggests Barba has either taken a huge pay cut or the Sharks were near the salary floor when Benji was available and have found some additional sponsor cash. Or that Benji is being grossly overpaid by the Dragons!

Seems to have worked out well for the Sharks anyway.

Seems Sharks have got Ben on the cheap. Broncos are paying half his money for two years!

[Graham]

St George Illawarra Dragons have confirmed the signing of centre Dane Nielsen on a two-year contract which will seem him join the club until at least the end of 2016.

[Graham]

Sharks announced the signing of Kiwi international Gerard Beale and former Dragons utility Kyle Stanley ahead of the 2015 season.

[Farmduck]

I don't know what St George are doing. I hope they're not selling half the team to pay all the $$$ to Benji. As a Wests fan, one of my happiest days in recent years was when Benji decided to leave.

 

I can't believe they let Beale go and replaced him with Nielsen. Beale had a good 2014. When was Nielsen's last good game?

[DeadShotKeen]

Is there still a salary floor in NRL? Used to make mention of a 92.5% figure on NRL.com but I can't find it on there just now.

 

Dragons must be threatening falling below such a floor I would have thought.

[Farmduck]

I don't think there is a floor but, over the last few years, club bosses have been pushing for the annual NRL dividend to the clubs to match the salary cap. If this was achieved, we could see a situation where clubs have to submit their salary books to receive their NRL cash.

[Graham]

According to Wiki (!!!) the NRL had a salary cap of A$6.4 million in 2014, with a salary floor of A$5.92 million (92.5% of the cap). The salary cap keeps average annual player salaries at around A$256,000.

[Farmduck]

I'm not sure how a cap floor could be enforced. Teams like the Raiders can't recruit A-list players so they could easily fall beneath the floor despite recruiting as hard as they could.

 

I also think that a floor of 92% is too high. Every year we see teams fined for going over the cap. Surely leaving a gap of 7.5% in your bill allows you to cover potential emergency overspends. Most of these are injury-related - the Sharks used 37 players in 2014 when the NRL average is 27 - or related to the payment of per-match bonuses, which itself is often inaccurately predicted due to the NRL Salary Cap Auditor's preferred method of estimation.