Eels Blogs

Which players in the NRL do you see as being a value investment that you would like to see Parramatta sign?

Often when we discuss player signings, we talk about a player's rumoured market price and their current form. Is that how we should be approaching player recruitment?

Or are we simply gambling and hoping we strike gold?

The way I'm running this little experiment, is to see if we can tie the investment frameworks of renowned investors Warren Buffett and Ben Graham into the NRL player market.

The approach is simple: Great players at a fair price.

That doesn't mean you can't target marquee players, or you're trying to sign Cleary on $500K/year.

It means you're identifying players who have a strong foundation to their game, with a track record that you can quantify.

If you bought them now, for a 4 year contract, would you be happy to have them at the end of that contract, or would you theoretically be able to sell them at a profit?

I had this discussion yesterday regarding Matt Burton.

The market probably rates him at $1m/year, but is that his underlying value to a club? What about his performances at Canterbury make him a million dollar player?

Or would he present an overvalued asset? Would you draw the line at $700k/year as his track record indicates that's where he tops out?

Could you compare him to Dylan Brown in that we saw $1.4m/year as beyond his actual value and that his track record indicated that remaining at Parramatta would represent a poor investment?

Criteria:

- Player of your choosing at any level

- What the market rate is

- What you would pay and why

- Which players you think would be overvalued/undervalued

- How would this align with our need to recruit outside backs?