Hey my first blog on this site. First want to say this is an awesome site!
After losing Kingston last season and some of the mess we have made with the retention and recruitment this year i was wondering if it would be more productive if the NRL installed a transfer period at the end of the season.
Essentially this would be a period where players would enter contract negotiations with their club or with another club. The NRL could enforce this by not allowing players to play for a club if negotiations/agreements were made before the beginning of this period.
The NRL would have to review and sign off on each contract for them to be legitimate. Penalties would be included if it was found out that a player was actually in negotiations with a club whilst the transfer season was closed.
The only potential issue with this idea is that it could potentially leave the sport open to union and other codes who wouldnt have to abide by this transfer season but i believe this could be handled by a few solutions. For example it should be standard for each contract to include a clause that says a player or player manager are not allowed to discuss any kind of neogitations or with any club from any sport whilst the NRL season is ongoing.
I believe we need something like this for the following reasons:
1: The club can then do a review of each player whose contract is up and assess their entire season long performance.
2: Negotiations are terribly distracting and the main focus for the players should their footy.
3: Once a player has signed for another club he tends to lose focus on the current season. Even if he manages to maintain focus it would be a bit of an effort and there is no reason to place extra pressure on the players.
4:Clubs wouldn't feel pressured to make rash decisions regarding recruitment or retention. A players true value to the club would be estimated more accurately.
While i agree there are some flaws to this system there are none i think the NRL couldnt solve nor do i think the players would be opposed this system as it would give them greater chances to get a contract as they have the entire season to prove themsevles. Plus they wouldn't have the burden of negotiations and media scrutiny during the middle fo the season.
What does everyone think? Is it a terrible or idea, a fantastic one, or one that could do wtih some tweaks?
Replies
I imagine this would be a big undertaking one that woulnt come into frution for several years. Itr would need the NRL, the players, the players union, NewsLTD all on board for it to work.
I think it would be healthier for the clubs and the players tho.
Where as if the transfer window was only available say after the 26th round, then it would give the players a full season to show that they were prepared to give their all week in week out, thus creating opportunity for a bigger payday.
Poore, and Shackelton were signed and then Mannah came up and started impressing everyone and then we couldnt re-sign Kingston.
And what if a player has an average season but comes alive in the finals? This hypotherical player could be unsigned with nowhere to go but england or france or union etc after perhaps being the best player in the finals??
Mortimer is another would we have pushed so hard to have signed him if we waited until october to judge his 2010 season? It would reflect their value much more accurately if we wait until see a players entire season.
It might be overwhelming as everyone is going for players at the same time.
But the way i see it the period would start at the beginning of october and go until the end of november or december giving plenty of time for players to make up their minds, giving clubs plenty of time to decide.
Alot of clubs will keep thier own players as well so i dont think it will be as crazy and busy as you might think. Right now there is no discernible time its just whenever so its a little more crazy and up in the air the way it is.
It prolly needs some tweaks and a really thorough overview before implementing it. and like i said it would require the player's union and the players themselves to agree to it. NewsLTD would have to something to say about it as well.
It wouldnt be ready until 2013/14 if someone was to start working on it now.
One of the flaws I can see is the retention of juniors or "up and coming" young players.
I think the home club should be permitted to offer contracts during the season to any of their "home grown" players if they wish to retain them.
This could give the young guns a bit more incentive to prove their worth and stop a lot of the migration of juniors.
Given the context in which you have posted this blog I believe it deserves serious consideration.
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