2GB's Mark Levy mentioned on Tuesday that it is a farce that Parramatta fans need to cop Dylan Brown signing with Newcastle nearly a year out from joining them, meaning they need to watching him in their beloved jersey when his future is somewhere else. Now the mention of a free agency period is a nice idea though not practical as it is a nice thing in the NFL but they have so much time off compared to NRL they can do it with time to spare. Come November, a month after the final game of the year, teams are back preparing for the next season. So what would work as a solution to player movements?
November 1 was a claim from some. Say that Brown is off-contract for 2026, come November 1 2025 he can sign for the next year so there is no distraction for the year being played. Can this be disruptive? Maybe, though at the same time star players are not back to pre-season until mid to late November anyway. So if Brown signed for Newcastle in first week of November he wont miss any pre-season time. Or could do a tampering period a week out from November 1. Have teams talk to players but they cannot sign, they can agree but not sign. That way, teams and players are not scrambling and it is chaotic. They can get to November 1 knowing mostly what they are getting to prepare for pre-season.
Another option is June 30. Make that date as the date players can move for the following year. I like this one and it is team and player friendly somewhat too as it does not disrupt pre-season what so ever. The issue will come for teams in finals race having the distaraction of a star player moving elsewhere. Imagine if Parramatta were sitting 7th with a few rounds left and Brown news dropped, Ryles would not be pleased in the slightest. Though it is an option that can work.
Or this option would please the paper and tv, make it the week after the GF as a free agency period. Gives teams and players the extra month to get ready for pre-season and not as much fast past scrambling to fill roster spots or decide where to go.
I agree with Levy in that it is ridiculous players can sign a year in advance and we fans need to suck it up and watch them in our jersey. Though i will say to finish, these ideas are nice but the issue will be the players and agents would want to keep November 1. Why? Injuries and form. Someone like Dylan Brown has taken a deal where he has a 40% of tearing his ACL from his partial tear. He tears it in next few weeks or months and June is the period he can sign, there is no 10 year deal, there is no deal at all from Newcastle. Same with say somone like Isaiah Papali'i in 2021. Had a breakout year and latched onto a great offer from Wests, who is to say his 2022 season was bad and he was a one year wonder?
So overall the NRL are the main focal point of blame for this, something should change as it is not fair on fans.
Replies
One thing the current system provides is certainly to clubs, especially Parra at this stage. We now have time to find a new 5/8, rather than just throwing the first player in who puts his hand up to play there. We have time to either buy in talent, or to develop our own players. I suspect the club will have a foot in either door and we'll see our young halves given chances to shine. I would not be surprised to see Lynn and Twidle get a chance before Moses comes back in.
I get what Levy is saying, and I've never been a fan of other clubs raiding squads so far in advance, but clubs need to be better prepared to fend off those raids, or to have alternative plans in place to cover for any losses.
Good blog as usual, LB.
Longfin - like your balance & intelligence seeing different angles. We've got more time to replace DB, but will Ryles give hopefuls a shot & are any near ready? Will we wait till Nov 1st?
There would've been some plan B in place if Dylan decided to leave. But Plan B doesn't seem to be to drop Dylan immediately. Or weaken an already weakened team even if Ryles has already shown he's not afraid to drop players swiftly.
Dropping Dylan - as pleasant an impulse it would be - would mean a combined spine of probably not much over 50 NRL games. Somewhat suicidal.
It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Good point re Brown dropping. You bring in somone to replace him and their confidence drops due to getting hammered everyweek with nobody to help. At least wait for Moses to return if it is ever considered which i doubt it would be.
Good point about how we now have to find a 6. But at the same time the big targets techincally are all signed for 2026.
Allegedly Luai & Galvin have clauses which mean they could switch clubs from post Nov 1st. Anasta, a player agent, said Wishart also has options in his contract (but he seems happy at the Storm). Irony has a sense of humour often missed in mob noise.
Make all contracts enforceable until after the GF. Then make a 2 week trade window. All deals must be finalised in that time. Obviously, informal negotiations would happen behind closed doors, but this would stop a lot of innuendo in the media. This bullshit about players not having time to relocate is ridiculous. Some people finish a job in Sydney on Friday and start a new one in Perth on Monday. This is how the rest of the world works.
The November 1st rule suits everybody other than the fans. I would prefer if the signings didn't get finalised by the NRL and announced by clubs until a later date. Possibly a June 30th announcement for new signings for the following year would be better.
Only issue is how do you keep that hidden? It will leak for big players. If that's the case what's the point?
I think June 30 is fair, only issue being near finals that's it.
A Trade Period works pretty well in the AFL. The trade period (and draft) are extra interest events for fans after the season.
It's pretty interesting how they go about it. They have additional rules around restricted free agents, unrestricted free agents and other stuff that may or may not be workable in NRL but surely they can work that out.
It will be the RLPA (players) that is dictating the Nov1 stuff.
Regardless of the November deadline, the club should grow a pair and drop his ass to reserve grade for the rest of the season.
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