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Sam Perrett is about to finalise a contract extension with Canterbury. If it's a dud deal, the New Zealand international will have no one to blame but himself.
Perrett is one of the few NRL stars to forgo a manager and do the deal himself. While it means he can save himself about 6.5 per cent in commission fees, the downside is he has to go in and play hard ball with coach Des Hasler himself. "That's not my style," Perrett said. "Probably not one that works too well with Dessie, either."
While Brisbane, Queensland and Australian forward Corey Parker does his own negotiating, he and Perrett are the exception to the norm. "It's not for everyone," Perrett said. "I'm pretty set with things that I'm looking for. It's not just about cash, but a lot of people are looking for the people dollar value. For me, there's a lot of other things that hold value for me - comfort, momentum, opportunity, and a good, healthy environment. That's really important for me and my family. But then you have other players, they don't really want to focus on that. They want to focus on their football and they're not too interested in that side of it. In that instance, it's good to have someone else working for you."
Perrett's retention is a timely boost for the Bulldogs as they prepare to take on St George Illawarra in the opening weekend of the finals. The 30-year-old has learnt that the hard way that loyalty isn't always reciprocated in rugby league, as evidenced by his forced departure from the Roosters. Perrett was hoping to finish his career a one-club man but salary cap pressures forced a switch from Bondi Junction to Belmore. The Auckland product felt for Wests Tigers captain Robbie Farah, who is the latest contracted player to be tapped on the shoulder.
"[Loyalty] really doesn't seem existent," he said. "Someone who's been a servant for the club for so long, he's been such an amazing player for them and such a hard opponent to play against, it's really sad to see them go through these things. I went through a similar experience myself. It's sad, it really is sad. It's just the reality of the way it works ... To be honest, being around the game this long, there's not a whole lot that surprises me these days. You never know what's going on, third-party deals sometimes fall through. That could be a part of it. I don't know. Sometimes players have disagreements with staff. I really don't know the details of it, but it's happening all the time. It is sad, you'd think things would be a lot more transparent and you'd want to stay at places, but it doesn't always work out that way."
The Bulldogs have been in two of the past three grand finals but have fallen just short of a premiership. The pain of those defeats still burns and is a motivator for those involved to be part of a premiership triumph. "Just to fall short just one step, it's heartbreaking," Perrett said. "But they are always opportunities to learn from, so long as you can take the lessons and apply them. Hopefully the last couple of GFs that we've missed out on, we can fill in the missing pieces to the puzzle."
Perrett is one of the few NRL stars to forgo a manager and do the deal himself. While it means he can save himself about 6.5 per cent in commission fees, the downside is he has to go in and play hard ball with coach Des Hasler himself. "That's not my style," Perrett said. "Probably not one that works too well with Dessie, either."
While Brisbane, Queensland and Australian forward Corey Parker does his own negotiating, he and Perrett are the exception to the norm. "It's not for everyone," Perrett said. "I'm pretty set with things that I'm looking for. It's not just about cash, but a lot of people are looking for the people dollar value. For me, there's a lot of other things that hold value for me - comfort, momentum, opportunity, and a good, healthy environment. That's really important for me and my family. But then you have other players, they don't really want to focus on that. They want to focus on their football and they're not too interested in that side of it. In that instance, it's good to have someone else working for you."
Perrett's retention is a timely boost for the Bulldogs as they prepare to take on St George Illawarra in the opening weekend of the finals. The 30-year-old has learnt that the hard way that loyalty isn't always reciprocated in rugby league, as evidenced by his forced departure from the Roosters. Perrett was hoping to finish his career a one-club man but salary cap pressures forced a switch from Bondi Junction to Belmore. The Auckland product felt for Wests Tigers captain Robbie Farah, who is the latest contracted player to be tapped on the shoulder.
"[Loyalty] really doesn't seem existent," he said. "Someone who's been a servant for the club for so long, he's been such an amazing player for them and such a hard opponent to play against, it's really sad to see them go through these things. I went through a similar experience myself. It's sad, it really is sad. It's just the reality of the way it works ... To be honest, being around the game this long, there's not a whole lot that surprises me these days. You never know what's going on, third-party deals sometimes fall through. That could be a part of it. I don't know. Sometimes players have disagreements with staff. I really don't know the details of it, but it's happening all the time. It is sad, you'd think things would be a lot more transparent and you'd want to stay at places, but it doesn't always work out that way."
The Bulldogs have been in two of the past three grand finals but have fallen just short of a premiership. The pain of those defeats still burns and is a motivator for those involved to be part of a premiership triumph. "Just to fall short just one step, it's heartbreaking," Perrett said. "But they are always opportunities to learn from, so long as you can take the lessons and apply them. Hopefully the last couple of GFs that we've missed out on, we can fill in the missing pieces to the puzzle."
