Nathan Sharpe

[HodgoBerro]

No top-up for Nathan Sharpe as ARU snubs one of our best

Wayne Smith
The Australian
March 14, 2011

NATHAN Sharpe, arguably the best all-round secondrower in the world, has not been offered a Wallabies contract top-up next season.

While the Australian Rugby Union has rushed to re-sign players who were threatening to go overseas following the World Cup this year, it has snubbed Sharpe who recently stated he would be turning his back on offshore offers and remaining with Western Force next season.

At 33 and with 93 Tests to his credit, Sharpe - who on Saturday against the Lions in Johannesburg will equal George Gregan (136 matches) as the most-capped Super Rugby player in history - is easily the oldest player in the youth-dominated Australian team.

That said, his form over the past two seasons has been the best of his career.

And he is still eight months younger than Springboks legend Victor Matfield and three years younger than All Blacks warhorse Brad Thorn, the only other locks in the game worthy of mention in the same breath.

As a primary lineout winner, Matfield might just have the jump on Sharpe and while Thorn is the more damaging runner, no other secondrower carries the ball as often or as effectively as the Australian veteran.

As a lock and a lineout organiser he is the complete package and although the media hype in the lead-up to the World Cup will focus on wunderkinds Kurtley Beale, Quade Cooper, James O'Connor and David Pocock, the one player Australia simply cannot afford to lose over the next seven months is Sharpe.

Not that the durability of the 2007 John Eales medallist has been an issue.

Aside from 2009, when a shoulder injury limited him to five Tests, Sharpe has compiled double-digit Test tallies for the past six years.

Despite that, the Force captain and Australia's most-capped secondrower is not considered worthy of a guaranteed ARU top-up to be paid in addition to his Super Rugby contract.

He has been offered an incentive-based contract that will kick in if he plays half-a-dozen Tests next year but the ARU, which is in savage cutback mode on all fronts save for executive salaries, will be offering him nothing up front.

"It's disappointing," was all Sharpe would say yesterday.

Having absorbed the bitter disappointment of seeing a historic victory over the Blues dashed by an after-the-bell equalising penalty goal by Auckland kicker Stephen Brett in Perth on Saturday night (the match end in a 22-22 draw), Sharpe tomorrow will lead the Force to South Africa where its opening match will be against a Lions side prepared by the Perth club's founding coach, John Mitchell.

"It will be strange opposing John," said Sharpe, who played 62 matches under Mitchell.

"The Lions will be stoked at having just won their first game in nearly two years (25-20 against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein) so we expect they'll be coming at us pretty hard."

Force coach Richard Graham is still awaiting the match stats from Bloemfontein, but before the Cheetahs game the Lions had passed the ball 170 times more than any other team in the competition, so the expectation in the Perth camp is that they will be in for a fast-paced, even frenetic game against the Johannesburg-based side.

Indications are the Force's two injured props, Tim Fairbrother and Matt Dunning, will be fit for the South African tour but seven backs cannot be considered because of injury.

 

[vidiot]

Needs tutelage from Quade Cooper on how to negotiate.

Loyalty is not a big earner. Though I imagine his move to the Force from the Reds was financially advantageous......

 

[TheTruth]

The bloke is a champion

 

[dobduff11]

Bit harsh on Sharpey he deserves a bit of a bump in his salary due to recent performances.

Sounds like they waited for him to confirm next year and then thought he's not going anywhere so lets use his top up on someone else.

I wonder if his dental coverage had an impact on his ARU contract

 

[hench]

Disgraceful.

 

[Set piece magic]

what the aru should have done is given him a monster top up to say, "if your loyal, we want you" Instead of waiting for people to negotiate.

Then you get everyone signing before the top up

 

[Iluvmyfooty]

I think this situation is very similar to the George Smith one.

Sharpie, great fella and great player, who will be one of the first two forwards picked for the World Cup, is coming to the end of a wonderful playing career. You don't top up contracts on players that are not in your plans after the end of their current contract. The current Aus team is currently based around young players and the opportunity may be taken to use someone younger after the WC with a view to the Lions Tour in 2013.

My heart says give him as much as he wants as he has been very loyal and given everything for Aus Rugby, but in these days of business decisions and forward planning, my head says fair enough

 

[Scarfman]

Guys - don't forget the British and Irish Lions. Given that the RWC is a bit of a crap shoot, I would want to be keeping my best side together until 2013. I'm sure the Lions tour is in Sharpie's mind, too.

 

[Bruce Ross]

NATHAN Sharpe, arguably the best all-round secondrower in the world,

he is still eight months younger than Springboks legend Victor Matfield and three years younger than All Blacks warhorse Brad Thorn, the only other locks in the game worthy of mention in the same breath.

As a primary lineout winner, Matfield might just have the jump on Sharpe

Apart from these overly gushing assessments, quite a good article which highlights the Australian propensity to move the old blokes on so that the apprentices can be played prematurely.

Certainly there can be no grounds for disagreement with Wayne Smith's assessment that "his form over the past two seasons has been the best of his career."

Wouldn't a wiser course be to sign players of Sharpe's ability and age to one-year extensions but not to insult them by offering solely incentive-based contracts with nothing up front?

Sharpe has always given loyal service. A little reciprocation of that is warranted. But I've always believed that style is something you either have or never acquire. Nathan Sharpe has style.

 

[DPK]

Guys - don't forget the British and Irish Lions. Given that the RWC is a bit of a crap shoot, I would want to be keeping my best side together until 2013. I'm sure the Lions tour is in Sharpie's mind, too.

Some of the players will hang around until then, sure, but some of them will have time to play the RWC this year and then have a one or two year sabbatical overseas and return home in time to throw themselves into the selection mix for 2013.

So really there's a choice of strategy; try to convince the players to stay here for the long haul, or try and convince them to do a Boomerang stint overseas with the Lions Tour as the returners reward.

 

[fatprop]

OK, so Vickerman gets a contract and I assume an ARU top up, and Sharpe doesn't?

 

[Ruggo]

Looks like he is getting the same treatment as Latham.

 

[Newb]

occasionally has an off game but i think it's clear he's shown a dedicated effort to do exactly what's needed of him in both the force and wallabies teams. he's in the middle of his best rugby. why give him the shaft?

besides simmons and douglas there isn't much looking flash these days anyways. mccalman looks good but might be a tad small. kind of over mumm. would be nice if horwill and vickerman boosted the locks but i'm waiting for some proof from them before i even figure them into the rwc.

 

[Ruggo]

It is a bit early to tell but it looks like Sam Wykes is taking a stp up in his game.

 

[daz]

Sharpe has always given loyal service. A little reciprocation of that is warranted.

I whole-heartedly agree with your post Bruce. The only thing I am not so sure about is the perception of loyal service. I am not saying Sharpe has not been loyal, but there is a difference between saying "I will go to France/Japan if I am not looked after, or as another option to continue my professional career", compared to "I am not interested in France/Japan as my family wishes to stay rooted to our home and therefore I would not even contemplate an o/s job".

Hopefully that made sense. I'm just saying that wanting to stay in Oz may show loyalty, but it may be for more pragmatic reasons.

Having said all that, Sharpe was outed from the Wobs 2 years ago until he showed he could still cut the mustard. The fact that he has done so to such a high level (and the lack of quality second row personell coming behind) should be rewarded.

 

[Zeno]

Needs tutelage from Quade Cooper on how to negotiate.

Exactly right. If someone says up-front that he's not interested in going overseas, there won't be a top-up offer to keep him here.

Bit harsh on Sharpey he deserves a bit of a bump in his salary due to recent performances.

Well, it's his current salary that recompenses him for his recent performances. This is about what he might be paid in 2012. The ARU is offering a performance-based contract rather than an up-front, guaranteed bonus.

why give him the shaft?

It's not a shafting, is it? After this year he'll negotiate for a Super contract. He'll be eligible for Wallaby selection in 2012; if he's selected there's an incentive-based contract to recompense him.

quite a good article which highlights the Australian propensity to move the old blokes on so that the apprentices can be played prematurely.

I don't think there's any such propensity; surely the state of the Wallabies still reflects the opposite problem, pre-Deans. Regardless, there's no suggestion in the article that anyone is trying to move Sharpe on. The issue is whether the ARU gives him a guarantee of extra payment in 2012 to stay in Australia, or offers him bonuses subject to Test selection and performance.

 

[Gnostic]

I would like to see all Australian players put on a base salary which has a significant incentive component. The fact that the ARU has been paying Giteau a massive Salary for four years when his form didn't warrant him getting half that wage should be a good enough reason for all punters to support this.

On another topic I noted the ARU is stepping in to limit 3rd Party deals. It s a good business decision really, the players get their profile from their employment by the ARU and not only due to their ability. By allowing 3rd party deals the ARU is basically losing potential sponsorship dollars as the sponsor goes straight to the player for the endorsements. How many players endorse products by way of 'Player X Wallaby, Waratah etc etc uses Z product etc.' It makes sense therefore for the ARU to regulate such endorsements and keep a bit for organisations that afterall provides the conduit whereby the players is wanted for such endorsements.

 

[Scarfman]

But it doesn't make sense if you are trying to stop players from going for the Euros.

 

[Gnostic]

But it doesn't make sense if you are trying to stop players from going for the Euros.

I think the days of the Euros for most are pretty much over with the limits being brought in the Top 14. Add to that our elite players are payed on average more than their NH counterparts and only those elite are the ones targetted with the really big dollars. Many of those who will go now will be going more for the life experience than the pay IMO.

 

[daz]

Hell's donkey's, Gnostic. Here I am agreeing with you again. Sort of.

The only fear I have in regards a lower base salary + incentives is the very real possibility that players will almost certainly shoot through to France/Japan/Other as soon as they are worth more than what they would get with the ARU. While part of me wants to say "see you later, you ungrateful bastard", the reality is that very few truly talented players would remain, and the Wobs would suffer badly.

Of course there will always be kids who would play for the Wobs for free, but our excitment during the RWC cycle would be beating Hungary and PNG in the qualifying stage.

Our player base is not so high that we can happily implement a base salary that is heavily structured towards incentives, and expect our stars to stay for love of the Gold jumper. That ship has sailed.

Does it shit me that a player might be on a 4 year deal worth 4 mil, then his form goes out the window and we are paying a lot of money for little return? Yes it does. My son's club could do with a few more dollars so that I don't have to keep supplying water bottles, oranges, training jumpers and fucking balls on top of his annual registration.

Do I accept that this is the reality to keep Oz players in Oz? Yes I do.

So, pay them a shit load, allow third party deals to remain the business of the player and the sponsor, and in return, if a player goes o/s to play, he is banned from ever playing for SANZAR again.

Umm, actually, maybe I don't agree with you at all...!