An English billionaire has crushed South Sydney’s hopes of securing the signature of barnstorming winger Semi Radradra.
Stephen Lansdown, owner of Bristol Rugby in England, has blown the Rabbitohs out of the market with a $3 million two-year offer for the Fijian superstar that is too good to refuse.
UK rugby clubs have a salary cap of $16.5 million.
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Lansdown has a personal wealth of $3.5 billion compared to Souths owner Russell Crowe ($95 million).
The UK finance guru also owns the Bristol soccer club.
The $3 million is his first offer, according to UK sources, and may even be increased.
The offer is more than double the $700,000 Souths were prepared to pay for arguably the best winger in either code.
Russell Crowe’s bid for the Fijian star appears to have been thwarted. Picture: Brett CostelloHe would have become the highest paid winger in the NRL.
Radradra was in Sydney three weeks ago to meet with South Sydney officials and expressed a strong desire to return home to the NRL.
They met at the home of a third party, art dealer Steve Nasteski, who is a Rabbitohs tragic.
However the money in English rugby union is too good to turn down.
Billionaire Stephen Lansdown is ready to launch a huge offer for Radradra. Picture: Nathan StirkThe 27-year-old winger scored 26 tries in his last season of NRL with the Parramatta Eels.
The Rabbitohs’ major signing priority is a middle forward replacement for Sam Burgess. They are favourites to sign highly regarded Gold Coast Titans forward Jai Arrow, but won’t have him on deck until 2021.
Replies
money talks and bullshit walks
lol, and yet only a few days ago everyone was saying how Semi was no longer concerned about money and all he wanted to do was come back to the NRL - that was what people were "hearing". It's not like Souths would have offered him a shit deal. Then again, he may suddenly turn up at a presser in a Rabitohs jersey in a couple of weeks - who knows.
The point is - the media only know what people decide to tell them, or what they "hear" and most of it is pure speculation. Sports journos pump out speculative stories daily - it's hardly investigative journalism and in reality sweet FA time is put into research.
Same with the Dylan Brown story - best to wait and see what happens before deciding whether or not the club has made the right decisions.
Agree mate. Ash Taylor at The Titans is a classic example .He's on a million bucks but he'd be alot happier (and probably performing alot better) if he was on 4 or 500 thousand.
It's like any job - performance/expectation is always related to salary. Player managers seem to never take this into account when organising the futures/careers of blokes that are often barely out of their teens.
The NBA worked that out 30 years ago when they implemented a rookie salary cap. NBA rookies are awarded standardised contracts based on their draft position, and the NRL equivalent salary would be about 175k for the number one pick. When they've completed their rookie contracts they automatically go onto their 1st veterans contract, and those are somewhat controlled as well via the Maximum salary constraint. In effect, a 24 year old NBA player in his 5th season is limited to an annual salary the NRL equivalent of about 500k per year. It's only after they've completed their 1st veterans contract, (4 or 5 years in length), and they've been in the league about 7 years that they can get the really huge contracts. By that time they've proven what they can do.
The AFL is halfway there, but hasn't fully committed to it.
I read an interesting article a few weeks back that said that professional sport in Australia is stuck in a tug of war between traditional British/European tribalism & American commercialism. It was a fascinating read and something the NRL in particular really struggles with.
I don't think you can make a rule for all. Look at Cam Smith, here he is 36 and still going strong. It really depends on how influential he is to your success. If he is a pivotal player like Smith then to me you keep paying him until its obvious he's got nothing left.
If on the hand the player is less influential, they yeah you'd probably make the call a bit earlier.
I don't think you can make a rule for all. Look at Cam Smith, here he is 36 and still going strong. It really depends on how influential he is to your success. If he is a pivotal player like Smith then to me you keep paying him until its obvious he's got nothing left.
If on the hand the player is less influential, they yeah you'd probably make the call a bit earlier.
Tad: In about 1949 or so, Parramatta bought Mick Crocker, the Australian lock forward, from Queensland, for $600 pounds.All the fans and officials thought and expected Parramatta to win the competition! An expextation held by many today when we buy a player! Crocker did not live up to expectations. I was in the grandstand early in the season when Crocker was coming in at half time. A fan shouted out : " $600 pounds ? Your not worth 600 peanuts" ! So pressure is no new thing. When Crocker left the club it was revealed that he was more interested in the ladies than in scoring tries! Suck is life.
So his manager says Semi says its not about the money. I wonder what Semis manager thought about that comment.
It's all about the money and always will be. Liked him as a player but was an absolute liability in defence. Just like Sonny Bill. Going to Toronto for the challenge. Yeah right. I'm sure the $10mill is just an added bonus!
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