If JOC now goes to the rubble will you be upset?

[jono]

Sweet. Wonder what kind of fights we would see then!
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[GIGS20]

Sweet. Wonder what kind of fights we would see then!
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If Roscoe takes the field, it wouldn't so much be Quality as Quantity!

[beige]

Rabbit will simply be the first of many who find their pay packet shrinking......

I'm not sure the pay packets of the elite Wallabies will shrink actually - unless I'm mistaken the salary cap doesn't cover ARU top-ups. Seeing as they're talking about reducing the number of them too I'm sure there will be money in the war chest. Of course teams will still have to manage their lists properly to avoid losing players as I doubt the ARU will be 'equalising' payments between teams.

[Rex Messup]

The Melbourne Storm showed how to arrange contract extras
In rugby it's legal. The sky is the limit if you have the advisors, connections, accountants and legal advice. Luckily, the rugby brotherhood provides brain dead morons with such connections.

JOC has it all...........rugby talent, super hot women, contacts and $$$$$$$$$

[Happy]

just like giving him a credit card with a month $50,000 limit and saying "go nuts lad" lol

[jombi]

Don't take this the wrong way jombi. But I think it's naive to say that his contract negotiations would have gone any other way. He's the most sought after player on Australian rugby.
Any contractual move he makes was always going to be all over the place, especially with the sensationalist nature of journalism.
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I don't think it's too naive!

Remember when Pocock re-signed? He shopped around a bit to get his pay up but he didn't do anything nearly as stupid/disruptive as this.

And I think it's safe to say that Pocock means A LOT more to the force' future than O'Connor. He could've done a Tiqiri but he didn't, because he's full of class.

[jono]

i'm not mindlessly defending JOC here, but what has he done but try to calm shit down with twitter posts?

[doobie69]

There's been some pish written in the SMH but nothing in comparison with this thread. You're 20 years old, good at your job and several companies want to employ you. So you go to your management and tell them this, stating good money has been offered but you'd like to stay. Your manager either negotiates or thanks you for your time at your job, gives you 4 weeks notice and you go to the best offer. Where's the difference between a "normal" person good at their job and a professional rugby player? Give him a break- it's his manager who's negotiating and other clubs interest putting his value up. And talk about salary caps and 3rd party sponsorship is just heresay just now. Nothing confirmed, other than he's waiting to see who else signs for the Force before making his decision. I said it before in another thread- what possible reason does he have for being pressurised into making his mind up now? Get real

[jombi]

3 things in my mind (which may not be possible but still);

1) He obviously didn't tell the rebels not to leak this, or he leaked it himself. A true professional would've told them not to or if they had - locked them out.
2) Never had a shot at SMH for 'making it up', they've basically gone unpunished if JOC had nothing to do with it.
3) he hasn't re-signed with the force!

what possible reason does he have for being pressurised into making his mind up now? Get real

He put himself in this situation by allowing it to go public, and by doing it mid-season.

[travelling_gerry]

Maybe....

His manager has been leaking in an attempt to up the price.
He, like any sane rugby follower doesn't read nor take notice of SMH

[jombi]

Maybe....

His manager has been leaking in an attempt to up the price.
He, like any sane rugby follower doesn't read nor take notice of SMH

Of course, but you can't say it isn't disruptive to the team when things are leaked like that.

[travelling_gerry]

Totally agree....refer to Sharpie comments in todays West.

[James]

Just because a 'normal' person can get offers from 4 different companies and choose the best one doesn't mean that it is the same when it comes to sportspeople. O'Connor's last contract was what about 1.2 million over two seasons? Now I am not sure if that includes or discludes match payments but either way thats over half a million dollars a year. Is a protracted bidding war and media circus really worth it for what would effectively be a teardrop in the ocean in the long run? He has a good 10 years of rugby left in him, and could easily retire on that, although no doubt he'll make enough connections to keep the dollars rolling in.

Call me a cynic but I don't believe for a second that whichever journalist broke the story did it without conformation from a reliable source and I think that reliable source was prompted by his management to up the ante on his contracting. Now if I am proven wrong, I will humbly accept it and hang my head in shame. But I suppose we'll never know.

At the end of the day he is entitled to do whatever he likes. But that doesn't mean I have to agree with it or like it. And it's not unique to O'Connor's case. I don't like it when the league card is played, or the France/Japan/UK card. To O'Connor's credit, at least he didn't bring up those.

[jono]

o'connor hasnt brought up anything. it's sensationalist journalism like everything else. and yet he's being crucified for it...

there probably was a leak somewhere. but i really doubt that it was from JOC himself.
just doesnt click for mine.

if he goes it'll be a real big loss for the force. but you get that on the big jobs...

and at the end of the day i wont be calling for his head when we play against the team he does go to. it's the professional era now. people move around.
do we all hate scott fava because he played for all 4 super teams when he left the force to join the tah's before he retired?

and dam you puse for wanting to fly helicopters...
dont even get me started on AJ or taipan...

[James]

He is not getting crucified. Jombi and I have expressed our mild dislike for what is happening. There are more people in his support than not based on the content of this thread.

Fava, David Pusey, AJ Whalley and Tai McIsaac are completely irrelevant to this discussion. First of all, McIsaac retired so a completed different story. Pusey was released so again a different story. AJ Whalley made the very uncomplicated decision to
go to France with zero hoo-haa contract-wise. Same with Fava only going to Waratah land. Like I say thats all irrelevant anyway- It isn't about whether he leaves or not. Plenty have left in the past for a variety of reasons.

It's about letting the contracting process turn into a circus.

Now lets stop arguing about this because I doubt either of us are going to change our opinions any time soon. For me at least, this is only about whether his management released it or not, and whether he should cop any flak at all for what his management does or not. Nothing wrong with having an opinion either way. I wonder, though, what things would be like if every player, or at least a significant amount more players, courted multiple clubs and/or multiple sports.