Bulldogs can't bring in stars for three years: CEO

[Turvey Chip and Chase]

I just can’t comprehend how with all this, we are stuck with Tolman and Hopoate on back ended contracts ffs....

 

[Moey]

If dogs are paying anything for Suli, it would be fucking peanuts, so everyone chillax your flaps. We got him on the cheap with Tigers chipping in.

Anyways, the positive to all this, is that for once in many years, we should see the emergence of the next SBW, Mason,Hazem, Barba, JT, Lamb, Mortimer etc. By taking greater care of our nursery, it should set us up for the future. This is where the importance of a good coach comes into play. I hope Pay can live up to that, he is the most important person in all this, up to him to use Squad wisely, identify talent and give them a shot in FG instead of worrying about his win/loss record etc

We are screwed for the next few years at least until Hoppa Mbye etc come off contract end of 2020....

I love the club to death and will still support them but it will be a very tough few years ahead...

 

[Moey]

I just can’t comprehend how with all this, we are stuck with Tolman and Hopoate on back ended contracts ffs....

thats what angers me as well. What the fuck was going through Haslers head, is he mentally stable? After the mess he has left, he surely must have something wrong upstairs, and the prick wanted to stay here for another few years as well with this current squad, he must have been delusional

 

[The Dominator]

Absolutely fucking disgusting. There are no other words. And we just paid that freak Hasler millions more in payouts and the stupid goth thing is making a fortune with the ARU. Rewarded for complete and utter incompetence.

 

[SweetFA]

Margie McDonald & Michael Chammas
Timestamp
Thu 17 May 2018, 06:01 PM
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Canterbury will only be salary cap compliant next year if they fill their five remaining positions with players on the minimum wage.

Chief executive Andrew Hill admits it could be three years before the club has "clear space" to sign high-profile players.

At a media briefing before their fan forum on Thursday night, the Bulldogs revealed they:

• Were salary cap compliant for 2018;
• Had 7-10 players on back-ended deals throughout 2019 and 2020;
• Had half a dozen players with ratchet clauses;
• Had 25 of 30 spots filled for next season with more than $500,000 to spend;
• Were not actively shopping players around but would be open to discussions;
• Were paying for five players at other clubs.

The Bulldogs will be letting three international players go at the end of the year – Greg Eastwood, Brett and Josh Morris – but that won't be the end of the pain.

Hill rejected speculation that the club was way over its cap for 2018 and would have to shed players.

"We are cap compliant for 2018 – not significantly under it - but we are under it," Hill said.

"We are not actively selling any player or shopping them around to be salary cap compliant. We will be compliant for 2019.

"And we're starting to embark on 2020. We will have clear space by 2021."

Eastwood and the Morris twins, who are off contract this year, release $2.2 million but that money has already been largely taken up by back-ended deals and ratchet clauses for players contracted to the club in 2019.

For 2019, even though the NRL cap rises from $9.4 million to $9.6m for the top 30 squad, the Bulldogs have "between seven and 10 players" on back-ended deals.

There are also "half a dozen" players with ratchet clauses in their contracts where their pay increases each year as the cap goes up. Hill would not divulge which players for privacy reasons.

"At the time the club signed some of these deals they obviously were working on the cap being north of $10 million," Hill said, not naming the previous administrators involved headlined by former chairman Ray Dib, chief executive Raelene Castle and head coach Des Hasler.


"I wasn't here so I don't know how or why or who. It was before my time. My focus is now and that is to future-proof the club.

"We will manage our cap diligently and become a club focused on development."

Hill said they are in the market for five players. The catch is they have little to spend.

He addressed reports that Parramatta were after David Klemmer, while the Titans and Cowboys have been circling Moses Mbye. Both players are not off contract until 2020 but are believed to be on back-ended deals.

Hill began his tenure at the club in November. New chairwoman Lynne Anderson swept to power in February. Neither official was told about the dire salary cap situation before they took office.

"We were looking in from the sidelines and thought there was something really wrong," Anderson said.

That was based on the fact the Bulldogs did push former captain James Graham out the door in 2017 "solely because we had to become cap compliant", Hill said.


Graham is one of five players the Bulldogs are still carrying part of their salaries in their cap – the others are Brenko Lee (Titans), Brad Abbey (Raiders), Sam Kasiano (Storm) and Moses Suli (Manly).

Asked if he felt let down by the previous administration, Hill said: "I see it as a great challenge for Dean (Pay) and myself.

"We'll get through the next period because we have wonderful and experienced people in key roles."

The Bulldogs have set up a retention and recruitment committee comprised of Hill, Pay, board member and former premiership-winning coach and player Chris Anderson, general manager of football Andrew Farrar, recruitment manager Warren McDonnell and finance manager Vince Costa.

"Dean will have a large say in who we recruit," Hill said. "But the coach won't be meeting players and managers on his own. We will not offer ratchet clauses moving forward, and we will avoid back-ended contracts."


Pay is contracted until the end of 2019. But Anderson hinted extending Pay's tenure at Belmore was high in her thinking.

Anderson and Hill were due to tell club members and supporters the salary cap situation at a fan forum at Canterbury Leagues Club on Thursday night.


ARL Commission chairman Peter Beattie and NRL boss Todd Greenberg were also due to address members on the plan to grow rugby league. The Bulldogs are the first of all 16 clubs they are visiting to talk directly to supporters.


Source: https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/05/17...ign-high-profile-players-for-three-years-ceo/

How ironic that the architect of our current situation addressed the members forum. Just a reminder peeps, it was Greenberg who signed & agreed to Hasler’s contract terms in 2011- while Dib & Castle bumbled & stumbled embarrassingly. Let’s not forget where this started!
Thanks Todd!!!

 

[SweetFA]

If dogs are paying anything for Suli, it would be fucking peanuts, so everyone chillax your flaps. We got him on the cheap with Tigers chipping in.

Anyways, the positive to all this, is that for once in many years, we should see the emergence of the next SBW, Mason,Hazem, Barba, JT, Lamb, Mortimer etc. By taking greater care of our nursery, it should set us up for the future. This is where the importance of a good coach comes into play. I hope Pay can live up to that, he is the most important person in all this, up to him to use Squad wisely, identify talent and give them a shot in FG instead of worrying about his win/loss record etc

We are screwed for the next few years at least until Hoppa Mbye etc come off contract end of 2020....

I love the club to death and will still support them but it will be a very tough few years ahead...

Our whole football department, the entire current coaching staff in particular should be under scrutiny & review, because at present our lower graders are not improving & progressing.

 

[no1bulldog]

ok lets get this shit done roosters style.....time to start spiking players drink bottles and having them fail drug tests, also follow them and film some shady (paid off) druggy trying to slip them some shit....someone slip a bogey board bag full of weed in the boot of Mbye's car & fill Tolmans kit bag with gorilla steroids

 

[Vek]

The former board (Dib and co) , management and Hasler need to be held accountable....in a law of court.

More like in front of a firing squad.

 

[Bluebody]

Easily Fixed - offer Eastwood to retire and agree to end his contract a year early - employ him for school development clinics. Give that money to the Morris twins to stay and sign them up for a 3 year contract post footy for ongoing community focused initiatives on good money.

 

[Novdoggie]

Easily Fixed - offer Eastwood to retire and agree to end his contract a year early - employ him for school development clinics. Give that money to the Morris twins to stay and sign them up for a 3 year contract post footy for ongoing community focused initiatives on good money.

Not as easy ask that. If we sign Morris twins for even $300k each they will take up our cap and we would be about 5 players short of registering a mandatory 30 players

 

[Dogtime]

As I posted yesterday in the klemmer thread "fuck Paul kent" dirt bag spreading bullshit rumours to protect his mate hasler.

I know you read the forum kent go stick it up your arse.

Andrew hill TOLD kent it wasn't as bad as what the media are making it out and now our club comes out and says 5 players left with 500k to spend on them.

That doesn't sound like 14 players to go into 800k you lying sack of shit Paul kent

With due respect, may I humbly suggest that what Hill has told us is the current situation. NOT how we got there. We dont know what behind the scenes horse trading the club has pulled off. maybe some players have varied their contract in the last few weeks, reducing their salary for next year and taking more in the year after, or that some other corporates have come on board with 3rd party agreements.

Truth be known, I myself run a financial services company and was thinking of approaching the Club to offer a 3rd party deal for a player on hearing of the Dogs problems. I still might. So dont run off your mouth by castigating the media in particular Paul Kent. Dont shoot the messenger. We are only engaged in this discussion BECAUSE the Club couldnt keep it quiet after the media have got wind of it.

I think at this stage of the season, most fans have come to accept that we are not one of the top teams this year. We now know with the problems going forward and losing the Morris boys and Eastwood at season end that we wont be a top team on current projections for 2019 or 2020 either. Nonetheless, the fans will support our team because thats what we do, through thick and thin. The players have no excuses. We will still field 17 Bulldogs each week and its up to each individual to take pride and responsibility for their own performance and the teams performance.

Many teams over the last 20 years have had salary cap problems and have had to shed players they dont want to shed and it can take many years for bad deals to work their way through the system. We know our situation now and should be focussed on encouraging our current players and giving them confidence that they can perform with our full support and belief in them.

Lets send our much loved and loyal servants Josh and Brett Morris and Greg Eastwood out in style. GO THE DOGS!!!!

 

[froggy]

How the fukk does Vince Costa keep his job as CFO? Surely he must go.

 

[Kempsey Dog]

The thing that annoys me the most upon reflecting on this is that some of our players like Klemmer and Jackson (if they are still with us) will be wasting the best years of there career with us.

 

[Mr Invisible]

So it was all exaggerated bullshit as I thought. Good on the club for setting it straight.

Club and board should have stated this months go, not let things fester in the media so long.

 

[Vlasnik]

Hind sight is a wonderful thing .....But honestly after the 2014 grand final loss our side should have been torn down, reinvented, reinvigorated with younger cheaper personnel. I guess by keeping the side together by holding onto players that on paper and reputation alone would command big bucks else where, we were trying to keep the Premiership window open for another year or so but by doing so we have created a situation where we are stuck with players on heavily back ended contracts, even with some players on ratchet deals which worries the life out of me as their contracts adjust with the salary cap as it rises, always eating away at extra funds that could be used to sure up our clubs playing future. I believe that Mbye is on such a deal where his contract started at 750k and then adjusts every time the cap rises by 20 percent. Of cause I'm only going by memory but I remember reading about it when Mbye was stalling, putting pen to paper through prolonged contract negotiations. But honestly which other club would have offered a kid that kind of money purely based on potential??? I know at the time of his contract negotiations the Kennel was in meltdown saying we could have another JT situation on our hands and that Mbye was worth the risk but surely not for the money that was reported in the media, and for the conditions stipulated in his contract which I believe are true since he is reportedly being shopped around last year and this year. And NO I'm not blaming the kid or am I having a go at him, good luck to him. I'm just using his contract as an example for the mess and on going problems that the people who were running our club at the time created behind closed doors.

I only hope that Lynne Anderson takes after her father Peter Moore. Bullfrog was a true thoroughbred of a man (pun intended) He was a master when it came to recruitment and retention of players. Let's just hope that she and the new board members follow his lead / example.

 

[Vlasnik]

Club and board should have stated this months go, not let things fester in the media so long.

In their defense Mr I they were still dealing with that parasite Hasler at the time. After they burnt his lips from our ass' and sent him on his way I guess the cap situation was next on the agenda. I don't know about you Mr I but I appreciated Hill coming out and telling us how we stood with the cap and the situation moving forward. I really hated the unholy trinity and their cloak and dagger approach that they took with us fans.

 

[berries67]

The greed of players like Mbye has played its part in the mess the club is now in. They and their managers would know there is a limit to the money the club can pay. If they negotiate a large slice of the cap it doesn't leave much for the rest, Now they find their club cant afford quality players to support them so now they are part of a team that will do it hard for the next few seasons. What did they expect? Now club, players and supporters all suffer. To make it worse Mbye like many of our highly paid players is no where near the value he is being paid. He is a rookie fullback still trying to properly learn the position if he ever will. He is nowhere near worth the amount he is reportedly being paid.

 

[_G-Dog_]

Anyways, the positive to all this, is that for once in many years, we should see the emergence of the next SBW, Mason, Barba, JT, Mortimeretc. By taking greater care of our nursery, it should set us up for the future.

None of them were local juniors. The point im making is identifying young talent wherever they are is crucial..

history has shown their isnt enough talent in our local juniors to supply enough NRL standard players

 

[GUSLER]

Send this article to Dean Ritchie. See if he is still smug about us wanting Des gone...

 

[doggieaaron]

It just shows how diabolical haslers recruitment has been from day 1 overpaying so many duds then having to pay some of their wages to get rid of them