[url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby/2009/07/09/bruise-brothers-sam-and-luke-burgess-thrive-on-rugby-league-rivalry-115875-21505944/D'oh...[/url

Ah I see.

I actually know the young lady reasonably well.

Did something happen at the fans forum regarding this then?

Rugby League Week over here has Sam saying he's looking at NRL for 2012, after his Bulls' contract is up.

[url=http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/112368/Manly-to-wait-for-BurgessThis[/url says Manly want him for 2011, for salary cap reasons.

Hopefully he will see his contract out. Then I'm sure he will go with everyone's blessing and good luck wishes.

If you sign a contract and then disappear part way through it, it can leave a bitter taste in the mouths of some. Nobody wants to see that happen with a homegrown product like Sam.

[url=http://www.manlyseaeagles.com.au/message-board-detail.asp?mbid=134925&s=0Manly fans forum topic about sam[/url

Looks like the locals over there have no more firm ideas than us, one guy says "after 2010". Would this not make more sence?

Sam, would you like to play on NRL? er, yes. Would any NRL clubs be interested? Yes, many. Can we offer him a shot at silverware in the foreseeable future? No. So its not difficult to see where the story comes from but I think the timing is questionable.

Surely after just signing a contract he woud be better served at his age finishing that contract with us and then going? After possibly playing in the first team with his brothers?

I dont think anyone would begrudge him the opportunity to play in the NRL, and clearly thats where he wil end up, but I'd be surprised and disappointed if he wanted to be off during this close season.

That would make sence and I'd be relatively happy with that.

We just need this confirming at our end I suspect if this is the case, not that I want the club or Sam to respond to every rumour...they dont have that kinda time, but this is different. Here we have our franchise player, home grown lad that we're supposed to be building around, and hes rumoured to be jumping ship. If we confirm he is seeing out his contract and then moving to the NRL to test himself against the best I think everyone will understand, but without confirmation these rumours will be with us unitl he goes and wont be be good PR for the club.

It's fairly clear that he does want to go at some point so I'd be happy to release him early if we could include some return clause. Say in exchange for an early release he agrees to come back to us, or appropriate financial compensation, on return. We'd get a more experienced player back, Sam gets to try prove himself and we part on good terms.
Rather that than he leaves out of contract having stuck it out and if/when he does come back we possibly find ourselves watching as he goes elsewhere.

Odd for the T&A to have the story without comment or even 'no comment' from the club.

I like the idea but I'm sure I've heard of similar arrangements in the past that didn't quite work out as intended......

Didn't quite work out for 2 party's, the 3rd one involved seemed to come out of it with something.

If by now we don't have the experience of employment and contract law to draft something legal then we've learnt nothing. Make the compensation high enough, maybe dependant on his earnings and caps, and we might price enough clubs out of bidding for him anyway.

I wasn't saying dont try it, I would like to think that Sam would either like to play in the NRL or with only us in SL, so yes, get a contract drawn up that brings him back to us after his stint in Oz and includes suitable compensation if he goes a year early. It's just that with our luck, previous form, call it what you will, I can see it not working out like that for us, hope Im wrong.

Such arrangements might sound good in theory, but in reality it's hard to see them working out well.

What if Sam went down under and was a big success and never wanted to return to Superleague?

The only way you could guarantee him having to return, contractually, would be for us to tie him to a long contract then loan him out.

If and when he does go I imagine it will be a clean break, with both parties making noises about how he will return one day, to lead McNamara's young "building for the future" team out of Championship 1 in 2018.

Losing our Sammy would be a big loss of playing talent and eye candy at the club

Time for a new banner competition as it looks like neither faces will be at Bradford for much longer.

A Nero & Worrloard one would look nice

No need, I keep one ready just for this eventuality

It looks spookily like the world collapsing around the Bulls. Rather than the other way round.

Given we've brought Burgess through from the academy aren't we legally entitled to some financial compension if he moves before he's 24?

Also, would we be able to hold his SL registration? I believe we did something similar when Karl Pryce left?

No and no.

We would be entitled to a fee as he is on contract, but the compensation thing only applies in the EU to OoC players.

The fee would be for his RL registration (which applies worldwide) which would transfer to Manly or whoever. We were able to keep Pryce's registration because he left the sport.

Well that sucks monkey wang

Certainly in football, the transfer fees have always exceeded any compensation deals, so that's maybe not a bad thing. The compensation is for costs incurred in the 'production' of the player - not to compensate his market value (although these costs would include wages, which may reflect the market value).

There were two options mentioned in the thread earlier - one would be some form of clause in his release allowing the Bulls first choice if he cam back to the UK. I've no idea if that would stand up (although I didn't think that the Harris one would have done if we'd have taken it all of the way).

The second would be some kind of long term loan, but this is fraught with complications - any of which bearing out would see The Bulls losing out financially.

If he's going we need to screw the maximum possible fee for him, without any clauses lowering that fee and subsequently proving unenforceable.

Which is a £100 for every week the player has spent at the club.

Nil Desporandum people
All are flimsy rumours and none even accredited let alone confirmed.