NEWS: Genia signs with Western Force

Matt Rowley April 28, 2012 69

It set Twitter alight just before the kick off between the Force and Stormers tonight, and it’s been confirmed that Wallaby and Queensland Reds half back Will Sanchez Genia has signed with the Western Force for 2013.

Sanchez – on the way to Perth

It’s a pretty interesting move — ‘the world’s best 9′ moving from the current Super Rugby champions to a lowly ranked team with no coach or recognised 10 confirmed publicly.

However, G&GR understands the following alleged pieces of information:

The Force have indeed had a coach candidate in place, ever since the Richard Graham news broke. He is Australian and currently overseas — all roads point to Michael Cheika, currently unhappy at Stade Français who only last night were knocked out of the Challenge Cup. His current contract though does go to June 2013.
If this coach is not confirmed by the Force then Genia has the option to walk away.
The Force threw so much money at Sanchez that the Reds simply couldn’t / wouldn’t compete.
Will has been unhappy at the Reds this year, and Richard Graham’s moving in as coach-in-waiting was the last straw. The word is, other Reds have been similarly unhappy.

For the Force, this is truly excellent news. It’s the sort of bac line name that they can recruit around, and with Pocock and allegedly Cheika getting on board, just a world-class 10 is needed for a whole new-look Force outfit. The northern hemisphere country coded phone numbers in Mr Cheika’s mobile would certainly help in this regard…

Footnote: Many people’s first reaction on Twitter was whether Quade would follow his mate out west. First off, it would seem that Quade actually found out about Will’s move via Twitter (no doubt there’s a G&GR Social Pages special to come on this), and second, G&GR has heard that Quade’s sights are allegedly more firmly set on the Melbourne Rebels for 600 thousand and two reasons.

UPDATE: This posted on Western Force Website late Saturday night.

RugbyWA Chief Executive Office Vern Reid said the following;

“In relation to the news on the Queensland website, all I can say is that we have spoken to Will Genia’s manager and other players’ managers about recruitment in the past couple of weeks.

“Nothing has been finalised, I’m certainly not in a position where I’m going to make any announcements about Will or any other player.

“It’s mystifying (the statement by the Reds) simply because no details have been finalised.

“We’re speaking to a number of players and are clearly looking to strengthen our inside backs.”

Someone jumped the gun, or did the horse bolt on Vern?

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Discussion »

Rugbysmartarse

Growden? Is that you?

Jokes, good article
- http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/ Matt Rowley (Gagger)
  
  Yeah, just stole it from Twitter…
  
  ;)
- Barbarian
  
  Haha
  
  Yeah Gagger, I also heard one unnamed provincial official is spitting chips about this move, and abused an unnamed ARU suit after a few too many at a recent function…
  - http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/ Matt Rowley (Gagger)
    
    “Standards of journo on this site = appalling.”
- Kiap
  
  Hehe. “G&GR understands”…
  
  It’s Bret Harris!
The Arrow

reds and tahs – get used to years of underachievement to cater for leaching expansion teams talent/john oniels ego. nfl starts soon. no worries.
Tangawizi

What are the QRU doing pissing off their superstars? Massive fuck up the likes of which Reds fans haven’t seen in all of well, about 2 years actually……

Anyone know what Mike Phillips’ availability for next year is like? We must have a bit of money around for a marquee signing…. Especially if the Cooper rumours re the Rebels prove true.
- ellabroz
  
  Mike Phillips is content playing for a soon to be relegated team in the French Top 14. He will reportedly stick it out in the lower division next season.
  
  No chance he’ll go to the Reds next season. Since when do British backpackers in Queensland do any meaningful work?
waratahjesus

This is all good, QLD have “solid” mike Harris to replace Quade, nice kicking and territory game coming.

Quade and JOC in central midfield for the rebels will show how inept they are as a defensive unit and we won’t have to suffer through it at wallaby level.

Genia
clay

FFS!!!

Is Whitaker back in charge of recruiting at QRU?
Waratahjesus

Will ad starch to the force and whoever the new 10 is will hopefully mean the force will be an exciting team to watch and not strangle the game.

QLD keep telling us about dynasty and that every player link picks steps up, if I was a fan I would be mad as he’ll though whatever way you slice it.
FiveStarStu

Please no Quade. Pleaseeeeee just stay where you are and leave JOC and KB alone.
OS RedsMan

F*ck him off, bring on Nick Frisbee, starting next week…
2ndRowLegal

I think the great shame is that Brett Sheehan has been one of our (the Force`s) best performers for the last couple of seasons. I hope he’s moving to somewhere that appreciates his abilities – he deserves some big, easy money in Japan or Europe. I’d hate to see him warming the bench for Sanchez. Personally, I’d rather have kept Sheehan and paid the big bucks for a sweet fly- half. I hope Sanchez brings some good vibes to the Force though. Half- decent coach and a half- decent no. 10 now and we might get out of the bottom third of the table. (Oh, and Nalaga can f*ck off back to wherever he change from. Does nothing for 95% of the game.)
- Dave
  
  Sheehan has been performing well. But it’s also been off the back of some pretty good forward work by the Force that generally goes unmentioned. A 9 is only as good as his forward pack (well not only, but you know what I mean). The reds’ forwards haven’t been providing the clean platform for Genia that they managed last year. He should have a little more time and space at the Force. Not only that but the reds have been operating without a effective flyhalf to take the pressure off Genia. I only mention this by way of explaining why I think he has seemingly “underperformed”.
  I like Sheehan and too didn’t really need to see the need to replace him. But amongst other things Genia provides recruiting cred that could land the Force an effective coach and the fly half they so desperately need.
AJ

I don’t get it. Sheehan is completely out-playing him at the moment.
It would’ve been nice to see the force spend some of that cash on backline positions they actually need.

Just goes to show Richard Graham is poison. As mentioned, there’ll be a few more ship jumpers before the end of the season…
- http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/ Matt Rowley (Gagger)
  
  That’s very harsh on Woody AJ and not in line with his character.
  
  Getting a new coach will always be destabilising for players – they won’t know where they stand and feel they need to re-prove themselves.
  - bill
    
    From memory Ioane was one reds player who was unhappy at losing Moody, look how they’ve done with McKenzie. Wouldn’t pay too much attention to ‘reports’ about player reaction just yet. Smacks of a media beatup.
  - AJ
    
    Yeah sorry gagger. I know you guys are close. Poison is probably too strong a term.
    
    One thing’s for sure though, Graham will spend a lot of time ‘re-proving’ himself to his players – and is that really what an established Reds team needs next year?
Pedro

“Now the reds memberships are bought up we need to shore up our ‘outer provinces’ . Send goodie two shoes out west and the rock star to the rebels.” overheard…
Alan

personally i don’t care where our star players chose to ply their trade, so long as they remain eligible for the wallabies. Plus alot of red’s fans have been uber critical of genia this season, so maybe some will view this departure as good for them?

and nor do i agree with the ”traitor” tag he is getting labelled with on some forums, if someone offered me or you a shitload of cash to do the same job elsewhere it would be foolish to not at least consider it

its a great buy for the Force but fuck me, they really need some decent backs. They already had a good scrum half in sheehan and while genia is obviously better, they cant score any 5 pointers! Great service can only do so much, they need some dynamic runners to break the gain line more often and cross the chalk!!!

Good luck Sanchez you fucking legend, best of luck with the Force
Treelopper

Sheehan to the reds for a swansong. Link and he already know eachother well and he has got good pay out of some older (for Australia anyway) players like DK Samo, Wallace-Harrison, Van Humphies. Quade will stay. There is extra cash now for him. Sheehan snipes really well with a against defenses that have no worries from the force backline out wide. Imagine the damage he could do if he were at the reds where the defenses never know which way to look. Only problem in oz is that coaches look first at the players date of birth before they watch a video of said player.
- James
  
  agree. link is the moneyball man of union. buy cheap, sell expensive.
stillatragic

Waratahjesus, I am a Reds fan and I am as mad as hell. Wtf are they doing? And I agree with OS RedSMan. Nick Frisbee needs more game time now. They have a good utility in Lucus who has re-signed, so I’m not so sure on the need for Sheehan, though I agree, he has been excellent this year while Genia has been ponderous, rarely worrying the opposition. All in all, a shocking position for the Reds, precipitated I’m sure, by the Richard Graham appointment. Just hope the likes of Gill, Shippley, and Slipper and the rest of our home grown talent don’t follow suit. One thing is for sure, there won’t be 30000 members next year.
suckerforred

After letting the news settle in for the night…… SHEEEEEEEET!!!!!! How the f*** did that happen?

Well, good luck to Will. I hope that what ever has been unsettleing him this season is now done with and he can finish this season in style and move on to the Force next year and make some improvements there.

I did find Poey’s response in the end of game interview interesting. He seemed genuinelly shocked that the news of Genia had leak out, and then when asked about his own plans, the silence seemed deadly. I would not be surprised if whoever leaked these couple of tit-bits to Horan last night is not currently polishing up his CV.

I do feel sorry for the players when they are trying to negotiate their contracts and the media is reporting anything and everything that they can get their hands. Not that I think that it will happen but all this reminds me of is the debarcle that was JOC last year. It indicates something that we have been mentioning on this site for a while – all is not rosey in the west and I think that it is the admin that needs some scruititney.

As to where QC is going to be next year…. the speculation is already rife. I guess we will have to wait and see, but one thing is for sure I can’t see him going to the Force. Poey, Will and QC would account for close $1.5 million a year of a $4.8 million (alledgely) salary cap. I don’t think any team would be able to afford all three.
- James
  
  which begs the question. Could the rebels really afford QC, Bieber and KB?
  - redbull
    
    They will if they have got the Storms accounting department
  - suckerforred
    
    Exactly. Unless they are better at getting third party payments then the rest of then teams. I wonder if the ‘private’ ownership has anything to do with it.
    
    Point might be nul and void after am anyway.
white lightning

Boys all a bit harsh
,Bring on the new talent,let Graham have his Fair Go
.Lets get back to playing the ball not the man
BloodRed

Well, didn’t see this coming but as always it will be about dollars rather than sense. No doubt we will hear the usual crap about “best place to develope/improve” his rugby. What developing you need when you’re rated the best in the world is beyond me. Can’t see what he’s got to be unhappy about at the reds, vice captain of the current champions, automatic selection in the national team, popular with fans of all ages and we even forgive all the aimless box kicks. The Reds obviously knew this was coming which is why he wasn’t “consulted” on the Richard graham appointment. Perhaps he wants to work on brand Sanchez.

This is just more shuffling of the deckchairs on the titanic that is Australian rugby. Reds get weakened and the force take the lazy option of recruiting rather than producing talent. Queensland and NSW (and the ACT to a lesser extent) need to be our strong teams. They have the juniors that all the teams get to take advantage of and have to try to attract and retain them against the challenge of not just the AFL but also NRL. Until they start to deliver some local players, Force and Rebels should not be allowed to target established stars unless they have first been released by their team, otherwise we’d all better get used to seeing 5 Aussie teams in the bottom half of the table.
- ChargerWA
  
  Meanwhile the ARU closes our academy to spend the cash in QLD and NSW. The WARU have managed to keep our academy open in a lesser capacity but wankers like you need to realise that Qld and NSW don’t own rugby in Australia.
  
  It is a professional sport and if you ever hope to grow the game in Australia to a position where we can compete with NZ and SA every year we need development everywhere.
  
  If you think all the cash should be spent in Qld and NSW then you don’t have the best interests of Australian rugby at heart. You are basically suggesting that we create two priovinces in Australia and artificially handicap them to give a boost to the 3 traditional unions. Poor form.
  - bill
    
    True the cash is spent in Qld…by WA poaching our players!
  - BloodRed
    
    Its nothing to do with money for QLD. Wankers like me would like to see the talent that we have developed from childhood stay to help entice more kids into the game so wankers like you have some talent to poach. You need to grow a pair and grow some local produce. 6 years in the competition and nothing to show for it, bad form.
    - Moz
      
      Players like Genia you have developed from childhood???
    - BloodRed
      
      He went to school in Brisbane from the age of 12, so by my reckoning that’s childhood. Had never played rugby until he came to Brisbane so by my reckoning QLD is responsible for developing him.
  - Pie Thrower
    
    Wankers like us are sick and tired of having our best talent poached from under our noses. Name some players that WA have produced since the Force started? All the Force seem to have done is poached players and made them mediocre. They ruined the Reds when they started and now they seem to be intent on doing it again. Maybe your fabled WARU academy could start produicing your own players and stop relying on players ‘from the east’ as you all put it?
Lex

I wonder what the Brumbies’ total players salary cost is this year. Less than last year I suspect. Given what is happening in the ACT I would expect clubs to start putting more emphasis on getting the best coaches and less on recruiting “star” players.
- Jack white to Wallabies Coach
  
  True that, Mogg, fardy, foto, power, Rudi, Tomaine, Big Fiji OC who i cant name, have come from no where and are currently out preforming their respective Wallaby counterparts, Most of these players only had a training contract at the start of this year…….WTF!!
  
  the coaching set up at the Brumbies must be world class, yes they lost hooper to the Star factory (Tahs) ( history of buying stars and not developing there own) but look out for young Colby got to have a bright future.
  - Patrick
    
    I must say I fear for Hooper’s future, nothing like a stint at the Tahs to wreck a promising young talent – and he’ll doubtlessly resent watching from the bench whilst his former team wallops his new one.
    - Lex
      
      Yes a silly move for Hooper . As a Brumbies fan I would prefer that they bring on Colby Faingaa and another young 7 rather than buy Pocock, I think it would be a better fit for the team.
    - bill
      
      Alcock and Hooper for the tahs, be an interesting backrow. They’d complement each other I think.
Colvin

This is the fundamental problem of Australian rugby and only occurs because there is no depth and not enough developing players coming through.

It is totally the opposite in New Zealand. Can you imagine Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Kevin Mealamu et al changing teams because of money. The NZ franchises are remarkably stable. Players do move on but generally they are for career development purposes (Israel Dagg) or survival (Andrew Hore, Ma’a Nonu etc.) Others go overseas towards the end of their careers ( Stephen Donald, Brad Thorn) And lastly loyalty to Head Coaches may be a factor in players moving.

The key is for Australian rugby to speed up it’s development programme for younger players to create genuine competition for places in the squads and to ensure the franchises head coaches are top draw.
- farva
  
  Thats not entirely true.
  
  There are some NZ players who remain loyal to their teams (McCaw and Carter are the obvious examples) but loads dont. There are also Australian players that are the same – Pocock, G Smith, Larkham, Gregan, fatcat.
  Look at the cleanout of the Hurricans this year. Look at the way the Crusaders pick through the best of the Highlanders squad to fill their ranks (Dagg, Donnelly, Guilford recently). Players go to the place that is best for them, either financially or for their development for financial rewards later.
  - colvin
    
    farva,
    
    Yes, Pocock has been loyal but what about the rumours swirling about him just now. Smith, Larkham and Gregan were loyal at an earlier time and only left to go overseas towards the end of their careers. Not sure who fatcat is.
    
    The cleanout of the Hurricanes has nothing to do with my post. It was instigated by the franchise.
    
    I mentioned Dagg. Donnelly left to save his career as he couldn’t get game time at the Highlanders. Guilford was still young and left Hawkes Bay for career development purposes.
    
    No, the point I am making is that top players in NZ ( i.e up to the status of Genia, Elsom, Cooper, Ashley Cooper, even Sharpe, O’Connor, Giteau, Barnes, Pocock, Beale et al ) generally don’t swop franchises for money, like what is happening in Australia.
Tommy

Utterly gutted. Regardless of his form this year, he is unarguable the best 9 in the country & this is a huge loss that must raise questions at qru. I read on the forum that he wasn’t happy at reds cause he wasn’t skipper. Could this be the reason?

Almost guaranteed we will now loose quade too..
Redman

Again another player chasing the dollar. Was even cosidering over seas. No loyalty to the club,fans and almost the wallabies.shows how much the jersey means to these young punks.if theres anything good I can say about the kiwis its if theyre in all black contension moneys not the first option. Loyalty to your team and contry first I say…
- James
  
  Utter pish. You have 10-15 years in this profession. So you should play for peanuts and hope your knees hold out that long?
  
  i’m disappointed he’s going. but he needs to do what right for him – not for you and me.
  
  Would you turn down a big payrise to make Will happy? so why the fuck should he do that for you?
  - Redman
    
    Hes 24 yrs old hes got plenty of time.he will get a contract in japan on one leg no worries. If these guys are playing soley for money ,then bugger off overseas. We can find true blue aussies who love playing the game and standing proud on the world stage repersenting our countrie..
  - Pie Thrower
    
    I’d suggest he is doing himself a diservice in the long run. Go to the Force for a few years, watch your star fade as you get rubbish ball from a rubbish pack, can’t ignite a rubbish backline, can’t perform in a losing culture. Instead – hang around the reds, develop your game further, perform against the BI Lions and in the RWC 2015, then fark off overseas at the peak of your earning powers.
- Noisey
  
  Sorry mate, sick of comments like these. The young bloke is a professional sportsman. He has a limited time to make as much money as he can before his body gives out or the next hot kid takes his place. Why be loyal to the jersey if it is only a one way street? Was there any loyalty shown to George Smith towards the end? Do you think the QRU will give Peter Hynes another run next year? And be very sure that Noddy, Eales, Horan, McLean, Moon, Smith, Willie O, Little, Herbert and the other great Queensland players would do the same in the same boat. In the amateur days they were largely supported by sympathetic employers who allowed them to train and play as well as have a crack at a non rugby career. I think throwing out comments about disloyalty are naive and disrespectful to the individuals involved.
  - thebigcode
    
    Sure he has a limited time to make money, but he’s 24, not 34. We aren’t talking about someone who has done it all and is looking to make some coin for him and his family. This is a guy who hasn’t reached the peak of his powers yet, and he is leaving his home state, who have seen him grow into the player he is today, supported his side when they were at the bottom of the table, kept turning up when he was part of a side that could lose a game from anywhere, and you expect fans just to cop this and say ‘Oh good on him he’s a professional’.
    
    Sports wouldn’t exist if that was the prevailing attitude. Fans would stop going to game as soon as teams started losing, and they certainly wouldn’t keep supporting teams like the Reds were a few years ago. We can debate till the cows come home the merits of his decision but surely everyone can understand the Reds fans being upset about this, when he is clearly just going somewhere that offered him more money, nothing else.
    
    I will especially be annoyed if he does a Berrick Barnes and comes out and says this is about something else other than money. Just be honest, cough it up and say they offered you more money. I will respect him more for that.
    
    He’s lost a lot in most Reds fans eyes because he could have built a legacy here. One team players are special – Darren Lockyer, Steve Menzies, Shane Crawford – because money wasn’t the only thing driving them. Same can be said of Horwill (even though he is not as marketable as Genia).
    
    And I think it’s a different kettle of fish entirely to say Peter Hynes won’t be shown loyalty. Ask him about it. He’s suffered injuries but they have kept paying him when they could have ditched him, and not only that, they have put him into the QRU development program so he can have a path there if he chooses when his knees give way fully (which can’t be far away).
    
    The fans are what make sports and make these players, so it’s not disrespectful or naive to think these guys are disloyal, in fact it’s the other way around.
farva

Wow. Some bitterness here.

Force and Rebels should not be allowed to target established players unless they are released? What utter rubbish. That will consign the Force and Rebels to the bottom of the table indefinitely and ensure that they fail and rugby remains a Qld / NSW thing. Perhaps established teams should sign longer contracts if they want to keep their stars.

Qld, NSW and ACT need to be the strongest franchises because that is where the juniors are? The complete opposite arguement could be made with equal strength. We need the Rebels and Force to be strong as that is where the growth in rugby will be in this country. We are already seeing the WA rugby playing numbers triple since the Force came in. I am sure Melbourne will do the same.

Fact is players move. JOC, Mitchell, Ioane, Giteau all left the Force for other teams. Equally, others come here.

And for those that say it is all about money, well of course it is. This is Genia’s profession. Who on here would say that they would not consider shifting their place of employment if their salary was to double? He has a future and a family to consider. I dont blame any player for moving to make more money.
- BloodRed
  
  And where will rugby in this country be if QLD and NSW fall over? …….Bottom of the table with the force and the rebels.
  Unsigned juniors are fair go eg young JOC and Pocock, as are unwanted older players eg Beau and players stuck in line behind the established stars eg Adam Byrnes.
  If you read my comments as intended, half a brain would tell you that this approach would mean the force would still have JOC and would not have to worry about losing Pocock. Funnily enough the Brumbies are having their best year in ages and it happens to be right after they lost their bought stars and are giving the “lesser” players like Lealiifano a real chance and as a result we are looking like getting a few new wallabies out of them.
  Australia doesn’t have 5 provinces all developing rugby players like SA and NZ do, so we cannot afford to tank the small nurseries that we do have.
  - farva
    
    I dont think that spreading the talent amongst the Australian teams will mean that the Reds and Tahs fall over. That is an extreme case and not worth considering at the moment.
    
    The Tahs are doing more damage to themselves at the moment with the way they play.
    
    And most revenue comes from the ARU anyway.
    
    I am of the opinion that we need to have 5 teams that are equally treated instead of favouring one or two.
johnny-boy

I don’t think this is that big a blow to the Reds. The truth is Genia has been very bloody ordinary this year, apart from last night when he was good, probably trying to put on a big show to show the Reds what they will miss and improve his ‘price’ to the Force. But his aimless kicking and gregan like slow passing and shyness to run before last night has been a significant factor in the Reds being unable to get some momentum. I love the Reds announcing it before he has apparently signed on the dotted line with the Force, so the Force can screw him down on the final terms. Classic Qld payback. The most noticeable flaw with Genia is that he very quickly gets shirty when things aren’t going his way and I suspect that is one of the reasons the Reds weren’t prepared to pay over the top for him. He appears to have a sense of ‘entitlement’ that he has inherited from his PNG politician father and is obviously not really a committed team man. Moving to the Force, well he aint felt nothing yet. You only have to look on the faces of JOC and Beale to see that being a so called gun going to a crap team is not as much fun as the dollars first seem. My bet is that Genia gets a dose of the Barnesys for betraying QLD (and by association, betraying it’s nearest neighbour PNG). It’s the voodoo Will man ! After seeing Nonu give him an agreeable half Hopoate last night do we really want him ?.
QLD has great options with Ben Lucas an excellent option as halfback and Frisby sure to keep coming back stronger and Sam Lane could fill in for Lucas at 1st five. There is some great depth planning going on at the Reds. Onwards and upwards boys. Keep the fire burning !
gg

what rubbish. cheika ‘currently unhappy’ at Stade Francais. What do you base that gibber on? half the clowns reporting on rugby in aust don’t even check with coaches when jobs come up. they listen to imbecile board members who have never spoken to these coaches and toss them up in a group like as if they have been knocking down doors to get to Perth – please. who in their right mind is going to give up a major club to be on a short-list for a b-grade franchise. get real. australian sides will continue to struggle until they make a decision behind closed doors that they want one candidate and go for him alone and tell that person they will have sole control. time and time again names get tossed up without being checked out and they were never interested…then next time another job comes up the same hacks write about how this person missed out on that job last time…..wake up
Jimbo81

what happens when you introduce a salary cap.
The reds have more $ now for their up and comers.
redbull

People, rugby is a professional business and Genia is like any other staff member. Loyalty is based on incentives, normally a combination of cash and professional development.

I am not disturbed by Genia moving on, more will replace him. It is the rumour about people being unhappy at the Reds that is more worrying. Has the McKenzie-Graham changes upset the playing roster and will some believe professional development will not be as strong as it has been?

Graham seems to have done the best he could with the cattle he has at the Force. Would he not stiffen the Reds defence without stifling the attacking mindset?
thebigcode

All this talk of Genia following the money being the right thing to do because it’s his profession is interesting. This is not just any old corporate job, this is sports. Fans make these guys, they watch them play, they buy the jerseys, they make them into a commodity. And they get jerked around by guys chasing coin. It’s not like the Reds offered Genia a meat pie and diet coke – he would have been getting decent money.

I wish him the best, but I can’t see how it will be a good outcome for him going to a side with no coach and no backline. I hope it’s good for rugby and makes the Force stronger. But I don’t think it will be.

And where are all the rumours of Graham being a bad seed coming from?
Train Without A Station

As a massive Reds fan it definitely isn’t ideal to see Genia go. However as many have said, he hasn’t been playing his best rugby this season that’s for sure. Ultimately management have made the call best for the Reds interests by not getting in to a bidding war. As also mentioned Genia has only really been a solid Super player since 2009.

The Reds under Link and the Brumbies under White have shown the ability to unearth and resurrect quality players is there and there is no reason why Nick Frisby or Ben Lucas cannot seamlessly replace Will, or another youngster pop up.

The other factor that has to be considered is the character of the player. If Genia is willing to go backward professionally to be the marquee signing of a club, was he a player worth fighting for really? Don’t give me this bullshit, ‘have you every changed jobs?’. We’re talking about a guy who would have been early probably $600k including ARU top up by staying. It gets to a point of greed, and in this case it would have been greed at the expense of his own teams success, because meeting his asking price would have required the loss of other critical players. Will has made the best decision for his back pocket but I can see his career going the way of Matt Giteau’s, in not ever managing to kick on from his early career success.
bill

Genia will be a loss for us. It’s a shame to see him go. I don’t think it’s disloyal of him, but it’s nice reading the stuff reported about Horwill and Holmes in the aftermath of last year that they wanted to stay at qld even during the worst times.

I’m sure Will will have my support in the wallabies jersey, but although he’s a good player to watch when he’s on form, I won’t be going out of my way to watch his games or follow his career now.

I guess the most adaptive thing, and challenge, for the reds is to improve their organisation to the point no one wants to leave. For whatever reason.
thebigcode

Has anyone seen that Genia is considering staying with the Reds?

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/rugby-gold/will-genia-keeps-western-force-and-queensland-reds-on-edge-over-contract-talks/story-fn8t7efs-1226342144698

This could all be rubbish, or could it be because the Force leaked the news on Saturday night before he had signed?

There could be a few twists in this tale yet.
Treelopper

No-one can claim QRU mismanagment on this one, in fact I think quite the opposite. They are doing what is best for thier team. Being held to ransom by one player is not good economic management and the type of thing that got them into trouble a few years back. With the money they save on not paying what Genia was asking they now have more in the coffers to offer Quade plus also having more to help retain others that they will need to keep. He is a big part of the team, but only one cog in a 30 piece machine. That extra cash means there is now the opportunity to buy better backups, and retain currents. Depth is what wins a super 15. Paying 2 good halfbacks 150′gs is better than paying one very good one 600 and having a very average backup half who you have to get on the cheap. You’ll still be 300 ahead and that can go to the likes of retaining a Higganbotham, Faainga, Robinson, Hanson, Tapuaii type player and maybe even attract one or two others that they may not have had the finances to get across the line before.
Don’t blame the QRU. He asked for too much. He’s gone. Move forward.
thebigcode

Fox Sports news is reporting Genia has decided to stay at the Reds. This is either a huge coup from the Reds of a massive cock up from the Force… will be very interested to see the details of the last few days.
Dave

My head is spinning. I’m going to wait until Genia himself speaks up.
suckerforred

Horse has spoken – Genia staying at the Reds for 3 years. (Dependant on ARU negotiations.)
Davey

Now everone that bagged him please apolgise to Sanchez right now!
- johnny-boy
  
  Not sure I trust him just yet Dave. If he plays the house down from now on and gets the Reds to the finals, well OK. Apology submitted in advance, conditionally.
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