Australian Rugby / RA

[Reds Rick]

Doesn't the report say they have a first preference where they play, and they would rather play club rugby than play anywhere else, not just in NSW?

Yeah fair enough, I should have checked the specific wording before I fired that off

 

[John S]

Yeah fair enough, I should have checked the specific wording before I fired that off

But I also think there are some Rebels fans making out that the players should "stick it to the man" and refuse to play for the Tahs as if NSW was the origin of all evil. So it's got a bit lost in translation somewhere

 

[Pfitzy]

Sydney cost is living isn't that much different to Melbourne. And these guys who moved to Melbourne in the first place are claiming they want to be close to family?

Is this all coming from Pandaram's article?

 

[eastman]

This is all from managers trying to squeeze a little more from Rugby Australia.

The cost of living argument is interesting: in rugby league, clubs from smaller markets have to pay extra to get people to want to live in Canberra and Townsville etc.

 

[KOB1987]

I think we'll find that News Corp is doing a fair bit of the heavy lifting here. Listen to the Inside Line podcast and you'll get quite a different view of the whole situation.

This is what I said as well. It's basically a rehash of the article from a few weeks ago and it's coincidentally timed with the onset of the contract negotiations. It helps with their side of the negotiations if it appears that some of the code's best players don't want to participate in the product they are bidding on. Not like them to use real people as pawns!

 

[KOB1987]

Sydney cost is living isn't that much different to Melbourne. And these guys who moved to Melbourne in the first place are claiming they want to be close to family?

Is this all coming from Pandaram's article?

And this.

 

[dru]

Sydney cost is living isn't that much different to Melbourne. And these guys who moved to Melbourne in the first place are claiming they want to be close to family?

Is this all coming from Pandaram's article?

Sydney eastern suburbs?

 

[Adam84]

cost of living definitely isn’t the same between the two especially when looking for housing within proximity to the the training facilities of the respective teams

 

[KOB1987]

Sydney eastern suburbs?

You don't have to live at Tamarama or Vaucluse to be close to Daceyville. Places like Zetland, Redfern etc are closer. It's a choice really, no different to Melbourne.

 

[Bullrush]

You seem to be stuck in a nostalgic world where the realities of professional sport don’t apply. These players have contracts to play in Melbourne until they choose to go elsewhere. RA could have continued a Melbourne franchise and these guys would be playing there. RA also strung the decision out for a whole season - just long enough to not let them have a farewell game at AAMI. I’m sure that uncertainty was great for their mental health, They have been treated like shit and you want them to just eat that and move wherever RA need them. This is also now a market where there are 20% fewer jobs available.

How about the realities of business? These guys were playing for a franchise that was millions of dollars in debt. Treated like shit? They have another year worth of income guaranteed, that's a shit-load better than most people who get made redundant.

These guys knew from the start of the season that their jobs in Melbourne were in jeopardy. One thing that would have made it hard for RA to cut Melbourne would have been these guys winning games. The reality of this professional sport is that some of these players aren't up to the required standard of this competition and the size of the job market was unsustainable.

 

[KOB1987]

cost of living definitely isn’t the same between the two especially when looking for housing within proximity to the the training facilities of the respective teams
View attachment 19906
View attachment 19907

Didn't say the same, we said not that different. Rent is just one part of the equation, a significant one no less. Sure, it probably justifies a premium when it comes to negotiations. About $100 a week by the looks of it, or $10k p.a pre tax.

 

[Rugby King]

These questions, to a degree, were attempted to be covered in the Arbib report published late last year.

Edit: In this thread http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/community/threads/aru-governance-report.11992/ is a link to the Arbib report.

RA is failing the game.

it’s time to consider out of the box ideas.

The NRL are masters at admin, talent management, branding, growth, commercialisation….

Perhaps let’s get rid of all the dead wood, ex-wallabies, old boys and let the NRL take us over and run it as a seperate Brand.

 

[Adam84]

Didn't say the same, we said not that different. Rent is just one part of the equation, a significant one no less. Sure, it probably justifies a premium when it comes to negotiations. About $100 a week by the looks of it, or $10k p.a pre tax.

Semantics, the point was to highlight there is, in fact, a significant gap between the cost of living between Melbourne and Sydney... Likewise a similar discrepancy that extends to Brisbane, Canberra and Perth compared to Sydney.

For a player earning $100k; a $10k increase in rent would fall outside the scope of "not that different"

Given the cost-of-living crisis and disruption to their families, players are well within their right to demand that they be paid more to live in a comparatively more expensive city.

 

[Bullrush]

Semantics, the point was to highlight there is, in fact, a significant gap between the cost of living between Melbourne and Sydney... Likewise a similar discrepancy that extends to Brisbane and Perth compared to Sydney.

For a player earning $100k; a $10k increase in rent would fall outside the scope of "not that different"

Given the cost-of-living crisis and disruption to their families, players are well within their right to demand that they be paid more to live in a comparatively more expensive city.

I think this is fair.

When I was in the corporate world, I was paid an extra $10K because I was based in a large metro area and the cost-of-living was higher.

 

[KOB1987]

Yes, which is why I said it justifies a premium. Lots of professional sportspeople choose to live in Sydney for various reasons, just like other career people choose to live there, it's about also opportunity and lifestyle.

All that said, I'm assuming the players we are referring to with this specific discussion aren't the $100K players.

 

[Adam84]

Great, so you agree then that the cost of living difference between Sydney and Melbourne is, in fact, quite different and entirely relevant to the issue.

 

[Bullrush]

Great, so you agree then that the cost of living difference between Sydney and Melbourne is, in fact, quite different and entirely relevant to the issue.

I do agree with this. I think if the only option left for a Rebels is to go to Sydney, they should get a little extra to compensate for the increase in living costs.

If they don't want to do this and choose to play club over Super Rugby, that's when I think RA should play hard ball.

There are probably a couple of Rebel players who aren't wanted by any other Super Rugby team. I have no issue with those guy playing club footy where ever they want to play. I have no issue with them getting released early to take up other offers.

It's the players who have the option of playing Super Rugby but opt not to that I would have problems with.

 

[KOB1987]

I've admitted all along there is a not insurmountable difference (either through a slightly higher wage, and/or choosing what suburb to live in), and it was the other part of Pfitzy's post I was placing equal weight on, i.e. the bit about wanting to be closer to family despite moving to Melbourne in the first place. Let's be honest, the players we are talking about here are LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto), Tupou and Leota. How many Rebels players actually live at or near Bundoora?

 

[Wilson]

I've admitted all along there is a not insurmountable difference (either through a slightly higher wage, and/or choosing what suburb to live in), and it was the other part of Pfitzy's post I was placing equal weight on, i.e. the bit about wanting to be closer to family despite moving to Melbourne in the first place. Let's be honest, the players we are talking about here are LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto), Tupou and Leota. How many Rebels players actually live at or near Bundoora?

There's a list of 11 players we've been talking about, some who would be on something like the base super rugby contract (I think that's set at around $60k scratch that, it's $85k). Family is also a very real concern for some of these guys - Salakaia-Loto reportedly left Northampton early because his partner was homesick, how keen do you think she will be for another new city in 3 years if it's not where her family are? Particularly if he's only on a single year contract to see out his current one?

The article describes a set of reasons these players have for knocking back the tahs initial offer, that doesn't mean they necessarily apply to all of them. They are all very real concerns across this playing group and something the tahs will have to overcome if they want to get any of these players to Sydney. To ignore

 

[Derpus]

cost of living definitely isn’t the same between the two especially when looking for housing within proximity to the the training facilities of the respective teams
View attachment 19906
View attachment 19907

Depresso