No concern over Giteau deal

[KenyaQuin]

No concern over Giteau deal
Bret Harris and Wayne Smith | March 12, 2008

No concern over Giteau deal | The Australian

FORMER Western Force chief executive Peter O'Meara has rejected allegations the team breached ARU recruiting protocols over the signing of Wallabies star Matt Giteau.

Matt Giteau is set to re-sign with the Force. Picture: Lincoln Baker
Giteau's re-signing with the Force for a further two years is believed to be imminent, but there has been a suggestion he was already committed to the Perth-based team.

Under ARU recruitment practices, players are rarely signed for more than three years.

O'Meara said the Force originally intended to sign Giteau for five years, but the ARU, which is a co-signatory on the contract, only wanted to secure him for three seasons.

"How could I contract Giteau for five years when the ARU has to sign the contract and they weren't prepared to go beyond three years," O'Meara said.

"They (the ARU) didn't know what his health and fitness would be like in three years. We withdrew our intent to sign him for five years and went for three.

"We would love to have signed him for five years. Who wouldn't? It was definitely discussed."

The ARU does not appear perturbed about the speculation over Giteau's contract and has no plans to investigate. Sounds to me like there's still a few out there who want to make an issue of this with their persistent speculation.

Giteau, who also secured a third-party sponsorship from fuel technology company Firepower, is expected to re-sign with the ARU and the Force on the same terms and conditions as his original contract. That makes him the highest-paid player in Perth and possibly the second-highest in Australia behind Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock.

The ARU is yet to open negotiations with the Force's in-form outside back Ryan Cross.

Cross has received an offer from the Force, but the ARU has not discussed a top-up with him.

"We have approached the ARU several times in the past two months about this, their latest response (Monday) being they're still working down the list of its top-up players," Cross' manager John Fordham said.

"Which is all rather surprising as Ryan is arguably the form No13 among the four Australian teams, played every Super 14 match last year, played for Australia A in 2007 and went very close to World Cup selection. C'mon ARU, pull yer finger out..

[Swee_82]

All this to-do over Gits really is starting to smack of speculation for speculation's sake. If the ARU had signed off on the original contract then the whole thing seems like a lot of hot air- am I missing something?

[BLR]

All this to-do over Gits really is starting to smack of speculation for speculation's sake. If the ARU had signed off on the original contract then the whole thing seems like a lot of hot air- am I missing something?

There is a reason that this went away very fast, that it wasn't nearly as in your face as the previous allegations....nothing in it....trying to cash in on the 'Wild Wild West' thing...

[no.8]

What ever happened to get him here is okay by me!

Picture: Lincoln Baker

[GIGS20]

All this to-do over Gits really is starting to smack of speculation for speculation's sake. If the ARU had signed off on the original contract then the whole thing seems like a lot of hot air- am I missing something?

Swee......darling....you still don't get it do you....the SMH only HAS speculation for speculation's sake!

[zimeric]

what do mustard, tomato, BBQ, sweet chilli, Jessica Alba & SMH have in common???

they're all Saucy!!!

[Swee_82]

BWAH!

[shasta]

I object Yeronner!
Jessica Alba has nothing at all in common with the SMH!

[MI5_Dog]

I object Yeronner!
Jessica Alba has nothing at all in common with the SMH!

Except they're both something you want to see between the sheets?