Higgers to the Rebels

[barbarian]

Probably a big enough story to justify it's own thread. Plus it's better to have all the chat here than on either the Rebels 2013 or Reds 2013 threads.

I think this is the first major departure of the Reds champion 2011 side, and won't be the last. It''s just part of the cycle of sport's with salary caps- team builds up talent, team wins, team can no longer afford to pay all players their new (much higher) market value, team loses players.

Great news for the Rebs though.
.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Also - not confirmed.

 

[daz]

Also - not confirmed.

Exhibit A and B for the Defence, y' honour...

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/r...-for-three-years/story-fnbyu1ln-1226358725924

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...ds-for-melbourne/story-e6frg7o6-1226358185645

Although, this could be a repeat of the Genia/Force mind-games trick. Bloody Queenslanders....

 

[AlexH]

Lets hope Higgers pulls a Genia.

 

[louie]

everyone becomes about money.

 

[tigerland12]

We simply could not afford a big enough offer, so no hard feelings for him leaving.

 

[daz]

Lets hope Higgers pulls a Genia.

IMHO, the Rebels need Higgers a great deal more than the Reds, methinks. We need all our Oz teams to be competitive and if you ask any Rebs supporter, they will probably tell you that the loss of Delve has the potential to really set the club back significantly.

Higgers is pretty much a perfect replacement and will keep the club pushing forward.

 

[No4918]

everyone becomes about money.

Is that really a fair comment without knowing any details?

 

[No4918]

This has been done to death but why have sides that are competitive against each other and then get blown away by the others. This is an international comp. It will be very hard to make work. And sides have to reduce there salary bill next year. This is a joke of a system the ARU have put in place. Having a side good enough to win the comp is far better for the game than having 1 side only make the finals because they have to.
Look at the AFL and NRL where teams always struggle and others always dominate. This system doesn't work. Good recruiting, coaching and culture do.

 

[Bardon]

If he is moving for more money it's most likely that the Reds simply can't offer him anything close to what he's worth and still retain their other star players while staying under the salary cap. I've no problem with players moving for what they are worth is such cases.

I think top Rugby players earn a pretty good salary but they are good value for it. It's not like they get crazy money like soccer players. Some day in my lifetime they will earn crazy money and then I will have a problem with it but hopefully that day is a long way off.

 

[TOCC]

If he is moving for more money it's most likely that the Reds simply can't offer him anything close to what he's worth and still retain their other star players while staying under the salary cap. I've no problem with players moving for what they are worth is such cases.

I think top Rugby players earn a pretty good salary but they are good value for it. It's not like they get crazy money like soccer players. Some day in my lifetime they will earn crazy money and then I will have a problem with it but hopefully that day is a long way off.

precisely, one of the benefits of the new Salary Cap is that it allows players to be paid what they are worth at a Super Rugby level..

 

[Viking]

If Higgers stays at the Reds, i do believe he will be unpaid for what he's worth (assuming Cooper signs too - along with Genia, Horwill). Would love to see him stay, but then again the Rebels are in need of a player like Higgers. Wouldnt be a bad signing for Aus rugby. QLD will remain very competitive wth a backrow of Gill, Robinson, Shatz. and the Rebs will get a much needed boost.

The salary cap still shits me though.

 

[Bullrush]

This has been done to death but why have sides that are competitive against each other and then get blown away by the others. This is an international comp. It will be very hard to make work. And sides have to reduce there salary bill next year. This is a joke of a system the ARU have put in place. Having a side good enough to win the comp is far better for the game than having 1 side only make the finals because they have to.
Look at the AFL and NRL where teams always struggle and others always dominate. This system doesn't work. Good recruiting, coaching and culture do.

At the moment, 3 Aussie teams are in the bottom 5 teams. The top team is coming 4th on the ladder in pure point terms (even given they still are behind one game).

What's the point of having one team capable of winning the whole thing and 3 or fours other that are pretty shit?! I think it's great for Australian Rugby (and rugby in general) that Higgers goes and I wish Genia had gone as well. People in Perth and Melbourne don't give a rat's arse about the Reds winning the Super Rugby title (speaking generally) but if the Force and the Rebels can consistently compete and win against ALL teams (which would mean the other Aussie teams as well obviously) then they really start to build interest and momentum in traditional non-rugby strong-holds.

And the NRL is usually one of the most evenly competitive comps going around. But there are always tradionally dominant teams no matter what sport or competition you look at.

 

[trophyhunter]

After what happened with Genia, I hope they all learnt a lesson and didn't go blabbering the news of a signing when there has been no pen to paper.
I'm not happy about Higgers leaving the Reds, if it is true. He is one of my more favorite players in Australia.
On the bright side, at least I still get to see him play in a Wallabies jersey.

 

[barbarian]

Agree totally Bullrush. Don't know what NRL you have been watching No4918, but there have been nine unique winners since 2001! (Panthers, Dragons, Tigers, Eagles, Storm, Broncos, Dogs, Knights, Roosters).

I think the salary cap is a good thing for the game in this country provided it isn't too tight.

 

[Troy]

With the Reds winning the S15 last year it raised the profile of rugby across the whole country. Got more people interested and now numbers are up. If all teams are barely competitive how is that a good thing for the game?

How many of you non Reds supporters had them as your second team last year?

We need a Crusader like team in AUS to keep the media interest. Unfortunately rugby isn't the most popular sport in AUS but at least the Reds kept the lights on last year!

If a union can afford to pay their players what they're after they should be able to do it. That would also pull in more guys that may have gone to other codes and thereby grow the game..

 

[AlexH]

IMHO, the Rebels need Higgers a great deal more than the Reds, methinks. We need all our Oz teams to be competitive and if you ask any Rebs supporter, they will probably tell you that the loss of Delve has the potential to really set the club back significantly.

Higgers is pretty much a perfect replacement and will keep the club pushing forward.

That may be so, but as an ardent Queensland Reds supporter, I would have to say that I could not give two shits whether the Rebels need him more than the Reds.

 

[Troy]

If it's true that because the Rebels are privatley owned they don't have to adhere to the slary cap, then it seems their plan to buy the entire Wallaby team is well under way! How's that spreading the wealth?

 

[barbarian]

With the Reds winning the S15 last year it raised the profile of rugby across the whole country. Got more people interested and now numbers are up. If all teams are barely competitive how is that a good thing for the game?

Do you have facts to support that? We also won the Tri-Nations, and it was a RWC year.

I am not arguing the Reds win was not great for Aussie rugby. But I must make the following points;

1. The Salary Cap system is not hugely different from what was in place before. It isn't like players were all on $300k and are now looking at $100k. The budget of $4.4 (for 2012) is not too far different from the budget's at S15 sides before.

2. There is an interesting notion at the core of what a few are arguing here. Basically that the Reds should be given carte blanche to pay their guys whatever they want, because AUSTRALIAN RUGBY NEEDS A CHAMPION. This ignores the reality that a) the Reds don't have that much cash to begin with (as shown in Skip's great analysis on the blog) and b) the Reds can keep all the players they want, it's just they have to take a slight pay cut.

So you guys can have your cake and eat it too, it's just that you have to take a slight pay cut. The Melbourne Storm guys did it. Will Genia did it.

It's hardly the big bad ARU forcing Higgers to take the cash. And it wasn't like he would be earning a pittance if he stayed at the Reds. Higgers is chasing the dollar here, which he is well within his rights to do. But the blame for this decision should be firmly with him.

.

 

[barbarian]

If it's true that because the Rebels are privatley owned they don't have to adhere to the slary cap, then it seems their plan to buy the entire Wallaby team is well under way!

Do you have any evidence to support this claim? I have never heard it...