Im sure a sport players contract doesn't have a notice period so uf breached he would be liable for the remainder of his contract if breached.

DOyou want a player who will not give you 100%

I agree and also wonder what sort of reception he would get if he did return???
However, I think this is all about the 'contract'. Either it's legally binding or what's the point of having it.
What would the player or his agent think if, after agreeing the contract, Leeds or Castleford or Warrington said to the players concerned, " sorry, we've changed our minds we don't want you after all and we're not going to pay your wages. We suggest you play for some other team. Or if the player got injured and the club reacted in the same way.

This needs following through so that players and 'poaching' clubs realise that a contract is 2 way and has both a value and is both legally and morally (whatever that means these days) binding on all parties involved.

This is the thing with the whole "don't want him back if he isn't truely dedicated to the club".

It's an unlikely scenario that he'll be back but for arguments stake if he did you know that if he put in a couple of good performance at the start of the season then people wouldn't be saying they still don't want him back in the team.

This is sh*t. Has screwed our season.

He's not going to be back, so either we get an acceptable offer for him, or he can rot without playing for 2 seasons as far as I'm concerned. We need to take a firm stance on this he signed a contract for 2 years.

He was at a loose end and we gave him a chance. He came over no strings attached and had the option to return to NRL, but he committed to us then we gave him extra time off over pre-season.

Now he decides meh not sure I feel like it.

Tough.

No we don't, but if the other option is just to let him walk away then we stand our ground. We don't come out as winners either way, but if clubs keep capitulating to the whims of players then the game will die.

Leeds will get an undisclosed "acceptable" offer at some time. The tragedy here is Leeds can't afford to let him rot and the Aussie clubs know it.

GH has gone public now because Leeds want the deal done ASAP because we desperately need a replacement in quickly to train with the squad for the new season.

Just something else worth considering;

In the NRL, any transfer fee paid counts against that year's salary cap, which will have a serious impact on any NRL club being able to pay a fee anyway. Not only that, the NRL then charge the clubs an additional charge of 50% of the transfer fee that is put into the NRLs grass roots kitty (this charge doesn't go on the salary cap).

So let's say an NRL club was to agree a £300k fee and Segeyaro is earning £150k.... That would mean to get their man, they'd be paying out £450k on their salary cap for the first year - no NRL club will have that sort of room left in their cap. If you then take into account the £150k grass roots charge, you're talking £600k in total for year 1.... That's makes him the most expensive player in the game in 2017... Not going to happen....

So Leeds either forget the fee/accept a minimal fee and let him go, or force him to come over and have a disgruntled player on the books..... It's a no brainer for me...

It's the principle of it. He's decided at the last minute after we've made pre-season plans based around him, and now we're supposed to bend over because he'll be unhappy?

For me, either he returns disgruntled and has to play well to make sure he get's a deal next season or he can rot.

Unless we can get someone decent to replace him.

See this is one of the issues I mentioned before about how badly do Cronulla want him? Let's not forget he was out of favour from the start of the year at Penrith and in all that time no one offered him an NRL deal. Cronulla knew Ennis was retiring before Segeyaro even set off over here let alone the Option date of Sept 1st and still didn't go for him and were happy to go with other options for the hooking role rather than get rid of somebody to bring him in. It's only Ben Barba's departure that's led to them having some salary cap to spend. That they didn't bring him in when they could've had him for free doesn't strike me as a team that's then going to splash out for him especially when the void in their squad has come from a starting FB departing. You would imagine he's not the only player they're looking at right now and you wonder if they themselves wash their hands of the messy situation.

Can we afford though? I'm sure we'll have the cap space to still bring in another hooker as we normally leave something spare in the cap and whatever hooker we bring in wont exactly be big time/money. Whatever wage he's on will be serioualy dented by fines if he doesn't return to the country so probably wouldn't lose that much at all keeping his registration. The usual problem in these situations is that you don't want an unhappy sulking influence on the training ground and in the dressing room but again if he stays in Australia that part isn't a issue either.

I get the whole principle argument - it's absolutely right..... but it still doesn't make it the best option all round.

On Cronulla, they were interested pre-September re-signing, but didn't have enough cap space to do anything. And now it's not a question of replacing Barba, as Barba will be rejoining the Sharks on a much reduced contract (basically his $900k salary minus the 3 months he'll be suspended - I guess they'll also be paying him less per year than his original contract, but will offset this by extending the number of years he's signed for.) Essentially, Segeyaro will be paid out of the Barba savings this year - so he Sharks get both their men!

The issue is the contract and whether players face a penalty if they walk away mid-contract. SL really needs to send a message as a sport that players will face financial penalties if they do so. In an ideal world the sport as a whole would deregister players in this situation, either until they reach agreement with the club they left, or at the very least until that contract expires (personally I'd add an additional one year suspension on top).

What we can't have is a situation where all the power is one way - players insisting on long-term contracts (understandable) but then deciding to walk out when it suits. RL as a whole ought to be strong on this - the NRL is seeing players like Radrada threatening to go to RU and a couple of others will no doubt jump ship if the NFL shows even the slightest of interest.

Whilst we can't stop players leaving for greener pastures, the game needs to ensure it has contractual integrity, and IMO remove the safety blanket of a quick return to the sport in the event things don't work out (Solomona, Radrada etc).

Isn't Barba returning not a gimme though? Looking at a Cronulla message board they say he's not happy at how reduced the offer is and is considering other teams so if Cronulla offer more to keep him it will limit how much they can spend on Segeyaro.

Looking at their views on it quite a view praised Leeds for standing their ground over Segeyaro and they aren't overly fussed if they do get him. Some saying it's a done deal others saying it's off because Cronulla management aren't prepared to get into a fight for him.

If they can land a player of Chicko's calibre for no transfer fee then great.

If it means getting into a battle with Leeds, they can just rinse their hands of the matter for now and walk away, knowing that in 12 months time they can land him for next to nowt.

Surely some kind of dispensation can / could be offered by the RFL in these extreme cases?

Is Andrew Ettingshausen in any way involved with running Cronulla?

He could help broker a deal between his two former clubs

Maybe Gary should sign Ettingshausen.

He'd make a mint off shirt sales at 50p a letter.

GH slaps a £250k transfer fee on Segeyaro.

Cronulla respond by ruling out any move for Segeyaro.

No surprises there



I look forward to GH trouncing his opposing Aussie CEO and player agent in due course when [i"an undisclosed fee"[/i is eventually announced.

Don't mess with GH's Plan A, especially when he's on his annual jollies in Australia.

[url=http://www.foxsports.com.au/news/all-nine-sydney-clubs-pass-on-hooker-james-segeyaro-and-his-whopping-425000-transfer-fee/news-story/35a2258c1303994cfd972fc1975dc8a3[uLeeds boss Gary Hetherington... told The Daily Telegraph his club would not accommodate Segeyaro if he wanted to return to England and honour the final two years of his deal.[/u[/url

No NRL club will pay GH's transfer fee.

And GH has now ruled out a return for Segeyaro, should he change his mind.

This could run on, and on, and on...

Good distraction from all the other club issues though

Good, who wants a player that doesn't really want to play for the club?

'Do whatever makes you happy! Not what makes others happy!' James Segeyaro

I agree James, but maybe Should have thought of that after you lied and said you loved it at the club and put pen to paper on a two year deal, before wiping your aris with it!

Make him squirm if you ask me.

Not really the way to endear your club to potential future employees though, is it?

Did you see how they treated Segeyaro?

I'm not interested in playing under that kind of culture.

Do we want to be signing players who will only sign for us if they are confident they can leave at any time without consequence?

He's basically blown a £175,000 a year salary.

Go him.

Don't let the door hit you on the vagina on your way out.

What? a culture that won't allow players to turn their backs on a player who has just signed a contract committing themselves to the club?

If a player thinks that that is being unfair maybe we don't want that kind of player at the club anyway.

Bottom line is, this kind of thing needs addressing and if that takes us digging our heels in on this to get something put in place for the greater good of the game then so be it, i'm all for it.

Absolutely not, but what concerns me is the reputation the club has for retribution, recrimination, hostility, malevolence... etc... as is being displayed currently by the CEO and the coach, yet again!

I know of no other club which has been so antagonistic, threatened or participated in as many legal actions, slapped so many transfer fees on players.

All this is indicative of an authoritarian management culture at the club armed with a nasty streak if anyone should dare to not tow the line. Not including obvious player exceptions of course who display the required level of loyalty demanded, without question.