Quote ="vastman"Whats game time got to do with anything?
It's about money, they were offered a deal and didn't accept it, absolutely nothing to do with game time.
A coach puts a value on a player and the club then has to find the cash, those two players were given a value by Mash and they didn't agree. His job depends on who he signs so he cant be emotional even though he was the man who signed them as youngsters. He will have offered then the most he could but just like Chester and Poching he is yet to find the magic money tree. Do you know where it is?
Finally should you be willing to show some patience and not pre judge, you will soon see that the money earmarked for Croft and Shaw has now been used to promote two more youngsters. How do you know they won't be far better?
In fact I'd hazard a guess that one is Ollie Pratt, and no offence to Croft, Pratt is in a different class.'"
As I see it these rules were brought in to protect clubs from having their pockets picked; very noble & worthwhile. It appears that the unintended consequence though is to potentially force young players to accept a contract beneath their value/worth or face being forced out of the game. This isn’t good at the best of times & with the player pool shrinking every year is just plain silly - anyone else remember pre-bosman? I just can’t see this standing up in Court, whether the player(s) can afford to challenge it is a different matter.
I’ve every sympathy with Wakefield, but I just don’t think it’s a good look for them, not any club to effectively say to young players: sign the deal or go find another sport to play. It would certainly make me re-evaluate as a parent to a rugby playing kid.