Hold the freaking phone...
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Sonny, try playing for $55,000
By James Hooper, The Sunday Telegraph
June 1, 2008 12:00am
BRAD Morrin is the NRL's version of blue collar - an honest toiler on $55,000 a year who labours to feed a family and pay a mortgage.
You won't see Morrin complaining, though. He's not the type. But for Bulldogs fans it's hard to ignore the different financial and contractual perspectives of the club's back-rowers.
On one side of the kennel is the petulant Sonny Bill Williams, who tells us he's unhappy and underpaid earning $525,000 a season.
We're told Williams wants out of the club, wants to be an All Black and, of course, wants more money.
On the leaner side of the Bulldogs' pay-packet pasture is Morrin, the loyal forward so desperate for a new deal at the Dogs he told his manager not to bother looking anywhere else.
Just get it done and try to get him a bit more at the end of each week than he's on now.
Morrin subsidises his income with a TAFE scholarship in business organised through the Bulldogs.
He runs his south-western Sydney home on a single income with a mortgage and a new son, Riley, born 9.9pounds last week. Williams is on $2.6million over the next five seasons.
Despite the circumstances, you won't see Morrin whining. It's not his style.
"If you're playing regular first grade, I don't think the minimum wage is probably enough when you compare it to other sports,'' Morrin said.
"I just think the gap between the highest paid player and the minimum $50,000 is probably a bit much.
"But I've got a pretty good lifestyle, I'm doing what I love, so I could never complain.
"I don't begrudge anyone getting money. It's just what you put into it you sometimes feel like you don't get out of it.''
Morrin is at pains to explain he doesn't resent top players earning their market value. What cuts him is overpaid and overrated rivals.
"The worst is when you see blokes at other clubs and you know what they're on and you feel they're only going as good as you,'' Morrin said.
"That's what pisses me off. Sometimes you can't afford the rego. It gets a bit scary when you're having to think about it the day before a game. That's not ideal.''
Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg hopes to hold conciliation talks with Williams' agent Khoder Nasser in the next seven days.
Morrin's new contract, hopefully a slightly upgraded one, will be tended to over the next month.
"I've got a house, a wife and kid and I've got mates who are labourers earning more than me,'' Morrin said.
"And they all ask me to buy them drinks when we go out and stuff.
"I'm in the middle of negotiating a new contract so we'll see what happens there.''
