News Retired Greg Inglis to make shock rugby league comeback with Super League side Warrington Wolves

[Jackson_1994]

AUSTRALIAN superstar Greg Inglis was planning to return his childhood club on the NSW North Coast for a season before Warrington swooped to make the shock signing.

Inglis, 33, has agreed to come out of retirement for Super League side Warrington next year in a shock development that was confirmed by his new management company, Rich Digital and shortly afterwards by the club.

It’s understood the announcement would have come earlier but for visa issues which needed sorting out.

Rich Digital said in a statement: “Rich Digital would like to congratulate Greg Inglis on signing with the @warringtonrlfc for the 2021 Super League Season.

“Best of luck Greg! We will continue to work closely with Greg, Brand G.I., and The Goanna Academy whilst he is in England.”

Inglis, who played 38 Tests for Australia between 2006 and 2016, told the Warrington website: “I can’t wait to get over there and play for a club that has so much rich heritage. I’ve seen the success the team have had in the Challenge Cup and I want to help the team to deliver more glory.
Former South Sydney CEO Shane Richardson, a partner in Rich Digital with his son Brent, tells rugbyleaguehub.com: “Greg came to me a little while ago and said he was feeling good and wanted to go around with Macksville for a season.

“I said ‘Macksville? I think you could do something a bit more high profile’.

“I have a good relationship with Simon Moran and Karl Fitzpatrick at Warrington so I made a few calls and it went from there.”

“I’ve played over in England many times in representative footy and love how passionate and vocal the supporters are.

“To get the opportunity to live in the UK, to play for such a powerhouse club that I believe is on the rise is something I’m looking forward to and hopefully I can add value to the team.”

Coach Steve Price added: “Greg is a world class athlete and has received the highest honours within our game.

“Having had 12 months out of the sport he has had time to refresh both mentally and physically, and he is focussed on having a positive influence on Warrington Wolves.

“I’m looking forward to working with him on a professional and personal level, and I’m excited to welcome him into our group.”
Fitzpatrick, the CEO, was also quoted in the announcement story, saying: “This signing is a gift to every one of our fantastic members and partners who are currently experiencing difficult times.

“We wanted to give everyone something to look forward to and to say thank you for their extraordinary loyalty. With this in mind we were extra motivated to get this deal completed.

“Greg is considered to be one of the greatest Rugby League players of the modern era. To see him pull on the primrose and blue will be a historical moment in Warrington Wolves and Super League’s timeline.”

if current contracts are honoured, next year’s Super League will feature genuinely iconic players Inglis, Sonny Bill Williams and Israel Folau.

Inglis was granted a medical retirement, with attendant salary cap concessions, by the NRL after announcing on April 19, 2019 he would cease playing.

Critics of the NRL’s decision to grant the salary cap relief were vocal on social media late Tuesday Australian time when news of the signing came out.

 

[Mitch Connor]

So Richardson is now the head of GI's new management company, Rich Digital.

What a load of shit lol.

 

[Raysie]

Is this like a delayed April Fools?

First Gallen offering to come back and now this! WTF!?

 

[zappa]

What a fucking farce.

 

[MatstaDogg]

Haha here we fucking go knew this shit smelt the day he was "medically" retired. This is absolutely a fucking joke.

 

[Moedogg]

So he retires..... creates cap space for Souths to upgrade or sign players which disadvantages other clubs who were interested in player x then resurfaces again.... How is that fair? Once you're retired and the club is given cap relief you shouldn't be allowed to play top level rugby league for a period of 5 years...

 

[Kempsey Dog]

Absolute rort.. that old skeleton **** has form in this area. Retired Gasnier early on his backend deal which rest sealed the 2010 final for the Dragons.

 

[bricktamland]

2 things . Souths are grubs and also don’t worry it’s understood vlandys and politis are close mates.. he won’t do Souths any favours . This is what their like I bet burgess will try do the same

 

[Nasheed]

Nasheed here,
No no no. You guys never paid attention!

Inglis did not medically retire. He retired on Bennett's wish.

This is where it gets worse than assuming it was a medical retirement.

Greenberg and the NRL waived Souths salary cap issue on account of his contribution to the game! What a disgrace. I have no idea why, but Greenberg always bowed down to Souths and always sucked Inglis' black dick.
I didn't mind at the time as Souths are one of my teams, but the neutral fan in me can't understand it. This rubs it in.

 

[Noeasyday]

Inglis salary cap ruling gives Rabbitohs $1 million war chest
Author
Brad WalterNRL.com Senior Reporter
Timestamp
Thu 16 May 2019, 06:38 PM

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South Sydney may have more than $1 million to sign a replacement for Greg Inglis after the NRL agreed not to include any of the retired superstar's playing contract for next season in the salary cap.

NRL salary cap auditor Richard Gardham held a one-on-one meeting with Inglis to discuss his sudden retirement and future plans before deciding on a policy that would not disadvantage the Rabbitohs but did not create a loophole that clubs could exploit in the future.

The Inglis situation is unusual in that he has walked away without being paid the final 18 months of his playing contract, which is believed to be worth about $1 million per season, and will take up off-field employment with Souths.

Had he received full payment for his contract or negotiated a settlement from the Rabbitohs that amount would have been included in the salary cap.

Instead, the NRL has ruled that the money Inglis earned before his retirement on April 14 – estimated to be about $500,000 – would be included in this season's salary cap along with all off-field earnings for new coaching, ambassador and community roles with the club for 2019.

This would leave about $300,000 for the Rabbitohs to spend before June 30 and the NRL will make a final determination on next year's salary cap later in the year but Souths could have up to $900,000 available for 2020.

Inglis' new Rabbitohs coaching role begins


Inglis' new Rabbitohs coaching role begins

Inglis' new Rabbitohs coaching role begins

The amount will depend on how much Inglis is paid in 2020 over and above the expected wage for the roles he will be doing and the NRL has given Souths a preliminary indicative value of $100,000 to be included in next year's salary cap for planning purposes.

Gardham said the NRL had decided to treat the Inglis case similar to a medical retirement, whereby the full payment to the player is included in the salary cap for the season in which he is injured but not the following year.

The other options considered were:

• The full value of Inglis's contract being included in the cap, even though he will not receive the money;
• Any payment to Inglis by Souths for off-field employment to be included in the salary cap, and;
• All payments to Inglis being cap exempt.

The first two options were considered a disincentive for clubs to employ big-name players after their retirement, while the third may prompt clubs to offer players off-field jobs as a salary cap rort.

The ruling is similar to the way the NRL treated Peter Wallace's decision to retire last season and take up a coaching role at Penrith.

NRL chief operating officer Nick Weeks said Inglis was a player widely agreed as being important to retain in the game.

"Souths were keen on ensuring an ongoing connection between Greg and their club, and saw real value in him providing ongoing services across their community activities, their commercial activities and their football activities," Weeks said.

"We are comfortable that Greg had genuinely had enough and didn't want to play so if you accept that, and we do, then we think it is a good thing to remain involved with the club and in the game.

"We have tried to take an approach which was consistent with past assessments but also is one we can apply in the future and we think we have struck the right balance."

Rabbitohs pay tribute to Inglis with goanna celebrations


Rabbitohs pay tribute to Inglis with goanna celebrations

Rabbitohs pay tribute to Inglis with goanna celebrations

Souths had made contact with the NRL a week before Inglis announced his retirement to advise that he was considering his future and to discuss the salary cap implications if he was to take up off-field employment with the club.

Gardham then met with Inglis at the Rabbitohs offices in Redfern.

"After the club put their application in we went back with just three areas for clarification and also said we want to meet with Greg," Gardham said.

"We sat down for 30 minutes at Souths offices and just had a discussion really to gain an understanding of what his motivations were for walking away when he walked away, why he wants to work in the areas he is working in and getting some understanding of how the agreements came about.

"I thought he was very honest and quite open in terms of the responses he gave."

The NRL wants to ensure Inglis gains the skills required to fulfil the off-field jobs, including coaching qualifications, before making a final ruling on next season's salary cap.

If it is felt he is being paid more than the job is worth, the difference will be included in the salary cap.

"If Greg Inglis was fit and wanting to play Souths are probably a stronger team with him, so any decision we make here we have got to make sure it is not over-penalising anyone from a competitive evenness point of view," Gardham said.

"If we are comfortable with the amount they are paying him and the activity he has done in the past six months the position could be that it is all excluded or an amount could be included in the salary cap."

Rival clubs were advised of the NRL's decision at last week's CEO's conference and Weeks said they appeared comfortable with the ruling.

The Rabbitohs believe they mounted a strong case that none of Inglis' post-career salary should be included in the 2019 or 2020 salary caps but accepted the NRL's decision.

"The club is supportive of the transparent and exhaustive process the NRL undertook in coming to their decision and looks forward to a consistent approach being taken in the future," a Souths statement said.

 

[boggie23]

Surely this needs to be appealed by every NRL CLUB and sports administrator for the farce it was medically retiring him and allowing Souths to get his contract paid out. FUCK YOU NRL AND FUCK YOU GREENBURG!

In the words of Geoff Toovey, there needs to be an investigation. You could tell Souths weaselled out of 2 huge contracts that were under-performing more so that were career ending.

 

[CaptainJackson]

While roosters cook their own books and hand out brown paper bags, soufs have the NRL do it for them.

Their title in 2014, i saw the refs doing everything in their power for 3 season's, prior to that grand final win, do everything in their power to get south's to win.

It's been a rort for a long long time for souths

 

[KambahOne]

Shocked.

 

[Wahesh]

NRL has no power over the Super League guys, nothing will happen.

 

[Merimbula Man]

NRL has no power over the Super League guys, nothing will happen.

They could still include his original contracted salary in the 2020 cap, seeing his retirement was concocted bullshit to create space for other retention/recruitment

 

[Dingo]

 

[Noeasyday]

They could still include his original contracted salary in the 2020 cap, seeing his retirement was concocted bullshit to create space for other retention/recruitment

Exactly this. Souths gained an advantage twice by manipulating the salary cap thru retiring an injured (mentally or physically) player, having the NRLol remove the majority of the players wage from the salary cap. This allowed Souths to sign Jai Arrow and Latrell Mitchell amongst others.
The NRL should now retrospectively apply salary cap penalties to the amount of Inglis' contract for 2020 and future years to ensure this situation is not repeated in a couple of years when Sam Burgess wants to run around again.
In reality, the NRL will probably just close off the loop holes created and issue a warning to clubs, if they even do that.

 

[gbrussell]

Just another example of one of the 4 "protected species clubs" getting away with something shonky. As others have said this looks like a Bennett tap on the shoulder that he has been famous for going back many years. All of the other 15 clubs and their ceo's should be beating down the door of the nrl interim ceo and the waste of space that is the integrity unit.

 

[Bull Terrier]

No wonder I have lost interest in the game. But always love my dogs

 

[Blueandwhiteblood1968]

AUSTRALIAN superstar Greg Inglis was planning to return his childhood club on the NSW North Coast for a season before Warrington swooped to make the shock signing.

Inglis, 33, has agreed to come out of retirement for Super League side Warrington next year in a shock development that was confirmed by his new management company, Rich Digital and shortly afterwards by the club.

It’s understood the announcement would have come earlier but for visa issues which needed sorting out.

Rich Digital said in a statement: “Rich Digital would like to congratulate Greg Inglis on signing with the @warringtonrlfc for the 2021 Super League Season.

“Best of luck Greg! We will continue to work closely with Greg, Brand G.I., and The Goanna Academy whilst he is in England.”

Inglis, who played 38 Tests for Australia between 2006 and 2016, told the Warrington website: “I can’t wait to get over there and play for a club that has so much rich heritage. I’ve seen the success the team have had in the Challenge Cup and I want to help the team to deliver more glory.
Former South Sydney CEO Shane Richardson, a partner in Rich Digital with his son Brent, tells rugbyleaguehub.com: “Greg came to me a little while ago and said he was feeling good and wanted to go around with Macksville for a season.

“I said ‘Macksville? I think you could do something a bit more high profile’.

“I have a good relationship with Simon Moran and Karl Fitzpatrick at Warrington so I made a few calls and it went from there.”

“I’ve played over in England many times in representative footy and love how passionate and vocal the supporters are.

“To get the opportunity to live in the UK, to play for such a powerhouse club that I believe is on the rise is something I’m looking forward to and hopefully I can add value to the team.”

Coach Steve Price added: “Greg is a world class athlete and has received the highest honours within our game.

“Having had 12 months out of the sport he has had time to refresh both mentally and physically, and he is focussed on having a positive influence on Warrington Wolves.

“I’m looking forward to working with him on a professional and personal level, and I’m excited to welcome him into our group.”
Fitzpatrick, the CEO, was also quoted in the announcement story, saying: “This signing is a gift to every one of our fantastic members and partners who are currently experiencing difficult times.

“We wanted to give everyone something to look forward to and to say thank you for their extraordinary loyalty. With this in mind we were extra motivated to get this deal completed.

“Greg is considered to be one of the greatest Rugby League players of the modern era. To see him pull on the primrose and blue will be a historical moment in Warrington Wolves and Super League’s timeline.”

if current contracts are honoured, next year’s Super League will feature genuinely iconic players Inglis, Sonny Bill Williams and Israel Folau.

Inglis was granted a medical retirement, with attendant salary cap concessions, by the NRL after announcing on April 19, 2019 he would cease playing.

Critics of the NRL’s decision to grant the salary cap relief were vocal on social media late Tuesday Australian time when news of the signing came out.

Guaranteed if the Bulldogs were anywhere involved with this story it would have been on every newsfeed and social media in the blink of an eye.