Andrew Fifita

[Eyes and Ears]

Speaking of Mat Rogers, what Shute Shield team did he play for?

Souths first, then Randwick

 

[Slim 293]

Having lived in Melbourne for the past four years.........

Who is Andrew Fifita?

 

[TOCC]

Cheika has said that he is after a prop and a hooker for the available contract and EPS spots; so I can't see Fifita fitting in there.

You never know though: maybe that's the reason why here has been a delay in resolving this issue because Fifita has been denying the rumours for a month now and I thought it was a furphy.

Maybe it wasn't, and the Tahs are over-egging the pudding in some areas at the expense of the front row to get a good athlete.

Makes sense until you have an injury or two, especially to a Tahs' hooker.

He wants to stay with the Cronulla Sharks but they are a basket case and his contract has expired. He likes the game but he is a family man who is after a good offer so why not go to union if the Sharks can't afford him?

It won't be at the Brumbies though - he used to be in their development squad and he said he didn't want to live there.
.

Fifita is contracted to Cronulla for 2014, all this contractual talk is for 2015..

 

[Lee Grant]

My mistake - I thought it was for this year and that his contract had expired, not would expire later this year.

 

[yourmatesam]

Having lived in Melbourne for the past four years...

Who is Andrew Fifita?

Plays league for the Kangaroos and Cronulla, previously Wests Tigers. He grew up in Griffith (NSW) playing union for the Griffith Blacks. He got a gig with the Brumbies Academy in the early 2000's but signed with Wests Tigers.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Fifita is contracted to Cronulla for 2014, all this contractual talk is for 2015..

He may have a contract for 2014 but who's to say he'll have a Club to play for? NRL may have suspended part of the fine on condition Cronulla clean up their act governance-wise but they're still in the gun for $600K.

In saying that, this looks more & more like rumours feeding on each other & a nothing comment on what must've been a quiet day at the sports desk.

 

[suckerforred]

Having lived in Melbourne for the past four years...

Who is Andrew Fifita?

Glad someone asked.....

 

[Braveheart81]

Just corrected that for you.

The ARU would not pay money for him to go anywhere else.

Maybe it's a case of the Waratahs historically looking for options from rugby league that they know will put bums on seats and then going to the ARU to help out with the deal knowing that the ARU may well be interested because star power helps them out as well?

Maybe the Reds should do the same and if they find the right high profile recruit the ARU will help them out also?

Reds fans in general on this forum seem less keen to try and sign stars from other franchises or recruiting marquee players (whether from the NRL or from overseas) than some of the other franchises' fans in my opinion. There seems to be a very strong push that Reds fans would always prefer to blood a young local than recruit someone from elsewhere.

I think it is unfair to paint this as ARU favouritism towards the Waratahs without knowing that other franchises have tried similar things and been told by the ARU that they weren't interested in paying some of the cash.

 

[qwerty51]

Dell. Lote. Rogers. Izzy. All with strong links away from Sydney.

Israel and Rogers lived in Sydney and Sailor went to the Reds first? Tuqiri is the only one that chose the Waratahs, probably down to the success of the Reds/Waratahs are the time.

Rogers and Folau are barely Queenslanders at all, they both grew up in Sydney.

 

[TOCC]

He may have a contract for 2014 but who's to say he'll have a Club to play for? NRL may have suspended part of the fine on condition Cronulla clean up their act governance-wise but they're still in the gun for $600K.

In saying that, this looks more & more like rumours feeding on each other & a nothing comment on what must've been a quiet day at the sports desk.

Its in the NRL's best interest that the Sharks remain part of the competition for 2014, Channel 9 and Foxsports have all paid rather hefty fees for a set number of games, any change to this would no doubt be a breach of contract and really piss the broadcasters off.... The NRL won't do this.

Whether the NRL give the Sharks more time to pay back the fine or they come up with another long term solution like moving them to QLD or WA, the Sharks will continue to exist in 2014 and Fifita will have a club to play..

The only scenario where i see Fifita signing with the ARU any earlier would be if the Sharks agreed to release him for the purpose of using his allocated salary to pay for the fine.

 

[suckerforred]

Maybe it's a case of the Waratahs historically looking for options from rugby league that they know will put bums on seats and then going to the ARU to help out with the deal knowing that the ARU may well be interested because star power helps them out as well?
.

And where has that got the Tahs?

Sorry couldn't resist. I'll show myself out......

 

[TOCC]

Rogers and Folau are barely Queenslanders at all, they both grew up in Sydney.

Rogers went to school on the Gold Coast

 

[Braveheart81]

And where has that got the Tahs?

Sorry couldn't resist. I'll show myself out..

That's pretty fair.

Sydney is a fickle sporting market and the Tahs (and every other sporting team in Sydney have struggled at times with crowds). Whether or not it is entirely true the Tahs have decided historically that they need marquee names to increase crowd numbers. Generally they've decided that big names from rugby league will achieve this better than big name rugby players from overseas.

I just don't believe that if the Reds decided to chase a high profile NRL recruit who was likely to play for the Wallabies in the next couple of years that the ARU wouldn't find the money to help it happen.

 

[gel]

I just don't believe that if the Reds decided to chase a high profile NRL recruit who was likely to play for the Wallabies in the next couple of years that the ARU wouldn't find the money to help it happen.

The ARU wouldn't help out with Higginbotham and he wasn't even a long shot league recruit - he had even already agreed to terms with the reds and was a valuable member of the team and expressed a strong desire to stay there.

If he had been a tah, and the tahs had agreed to terms with him - the ARU would have given him whatever top up required to stay at the tahs.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Maybe it's a case of the Waratahs historically looking for options from rugby league that they know will put bums on seats and then going to the ARU to help out with the deal knowing that the ARU may well be interested because star power helps them out as well?

Maybe the Reds should do the same and if they find the right high profile recruit the ARU will help them out also?

Reds fans in general on this forum seem less keen to try and sign stars from other franchises or recruiting marquee players (whether from the NRL or from overseas) than some of the other franchises' fans in my opinion. There seems to be a very strong push that Reds fans would always prefer to blood a young local than recruit someone from elsewhere.

I think it is unfair to paint this as ARU favouritism towards the Waratahs without knowing that other franchises have tried similar things and been told by the ARU that they weren't interested in paying some of the cash.

If Fifita comes to rugby this year or next, and he's as good as some think he will be, I have no problem at all with him turning out for the Tahs. A good strong replacement will be needed for Cliffy Palu sometime, maybe in the next couple of years, and I don't see anyone made for that job in the current squad.

 

[Braveheart81]

The ARU wouldn't help out with Higginbotham and he wasn't even a long shot league recruit - he had even already agreed to terms with the reds and was a valuable member of the team and expressed a strong desire to stay there.

If he had been a tah, and the tahs had agreed to terms with him - the ARU would have given him whatever top up required to stay at the tahs.

That's a really big leap to suggest that the ARU would have paid if Higgers was a Waratah.

What was in it for the ARU to pay to keep him at the Reds when he was going to be playing for another franchise that realistically needed to recruit better players?

 

[gel]

That's a really big leap to suggest that the ARU would have paid if Higgers was a Waratah.

What was in it for the ARU to pay to keep him at the Reds when he was going to be playing for another franchise that realistically needed to recruit better players?

Where was that thinking with Foley when he signed intent to go to the rebels?

Where is that thinking to have a first 15 fullback taken from one franchise (the reds) so he can "maybe" make the bench one day for that tahs?

What is in it for the ARU to have one franchise allowed to rent out grounds so they can play whatever they want to players, whilst other franchises have to play by the salary cap rules that the ARU lay down?

What is in it for the ARU to have players realise that if they really want to make the serious money, they need to go to the waratahs where they get the ARU top up as well as whatever the ground rental allows, or go to France - because they sure as hell aren't going to get it at their current franchise?

I find it ridiculous that excuses like "he lives in Sydney and might not want to move" when signing an NRL player get trotted out by the same people who say "he is a professional and he will go where the money is" when referring to a player that has left another franchise to go to the tahs.

If the career goals and money is there, a professional athlete will go wherever it take him/her.

There's heaps more that I would like to get off my chest - but it is just going to be major bitch and whine of monumental proportions that is quite frankly going to bore you rigid - and you won't read it anyway.

Bitch and whine over. I'm sorry - tldr: the tahs and the ARU are the same entity in my opinion. You won't change my opinion with logic or reason - because in this instance I am overzealous about it.

 

[Braveheart81]

Where was that thinking with Foley when he signed intent to go to the rebels?

Where is that thinking to have a first 15 fullback taken from one franchise (the reds) so he can "maybe" make the bench one day for that tahs?

What is in it for the ARU to have one franchise allowed to rent out grounds so they can play whatever they want to players, whilst other franchises have to play by the salary cap rules that the ARU lay down?

What is in it for the ARU to have players realise that if they really want to make the serious money, they need to go to the waratahs where they get the ARU top up as well as whatever the ground rental allows, or go to France - because they sure as hell aren't going to get it at their current franchise?

Did the ARU give Foley extra money to stay in Sydney? No.

If Jono Lance wanted to move to Sydney to play for the Tahs, why should anyone stand in his way? The Reds recruited a player from the Tahs who is still only 26 with much better pedigree albeit with two heavily injury plagued seasons behind him.

Is there anything other than speculation to prove that the Waratahs did breach the salary cap?

That's a whole lot of sour grapes suggesting that everything is done to favour the Tahs with little evidence available to back it up.

Why don't you approach the Reds and ask why they don't try and recruit a high profile rugby league player and then ask the ARU to come to the party to help make the deal happen?

 

[gel]

Its all circumstantial evidence - the best kind of evidence

A bit silly suggest that I approach the reds - they wouldn't listen to a random off an internet forum (and lowly member) and you know that.

 

[I like to watch]

It's pretty good speculation.
But the good news is,I am sure they have promised not to do it again.
They'll use an NRC franchise rather than a Shute Shield Club next time.