Re: James Graham : Thu Nov 24, 2016 1:06 am  

jaybs wrote:

We can't compete with wages like in Australia for top players like James, same with RU here, England players get around £300,000 per year and clubs pay the same to England players as well as sponsorship?

Graham isn't going to move to Union, so we don't need to price him out of that bracket. If he's leaving Canterbury, and it's a big IF, it might be possible. I'm sure other NRL clubs are going to be interested, but I don't see the Bulldogs liking that unless they get paid, which is unusual in the NRL. If, at 31, Graham decides it's time to come home, we'd be in first place. We'd be able to pay him more than other clubs wouldn't we, as he'd count as our player, or does that exemption only kick in if the player is already at the club?

The club needs to monitor this, if it's in any way true, very closely. Can you imagine the ill-feeling there would be towards the club if such an iconic player was allowed to join a rival club? Warrington have their marquee spot free and Wigan must surely have space for him too. Either of those would be a PR disaster. The Luke Douglas signing would suddenly look a lot less solid if Jammer really was on the market and we'd spent the cap elsewhere.

Re: James Graham : Thu Nov 24, 2016 8:58 am  

Saddened! wrote:

Graham isn't going to move to Union.

Did I say that? I was stating that the UK RL set up is so far behind the NRL & RU now in salary rates, nothing else!

Re: James Graham : Thu Nov 24, 2016 5:48 pm  

As far as i am aware the first 175k wouldn't count on our cap IF he came back as he came through our system( and i don't for a moment think he will ) Any other SL team only the first 100k wouldn't count on their cap.

Re: James Graham : Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:07 pm  

brook40 wrote:

As far as i am aware the first 175k wouldn't count on our cap IF he came back as he came through our system( and i don't for a moment think he will ) Any other SL team only the first 100k wouldn't count on their cap.

Other way around.

IF he came back to Saints and IF the club used the marquee rule he would count for 100k on Saints cap.
IF he signed for another SL club and IF that club used the marquee rule he would count for 175k on their cap.

It's not happening though.

Re: James Graham : Fri Nov 25, 2016 12:48 am  

brook40 wrote:

As far as i am aware the first 175k wouldn't count on our cap IF he came back as he came through our system( and i don't for a moment think he will ) Any other SL team only the first 100k wouldn't count on their cap.

Let's for one minute believe that he would resign for Saints and he was to be paid a similar amount of money (remembering that money is the driver for most people), which players would you release to get under the cap?

Re: James Graham : Fri Nov 25, 2016 8:30 am  

I,m not sure if a James Graham 2017/2018 would be a good move, he would have played lots of minutes in 10 years by then and could be approaching burn out with the usual age related possible injuries.

Re: James Graham : Fri Nov 25, 2016 8:37 am  

Sweaty Betty's wrote:

Let's for one minute believe that he would resign for Saints and he was to be paid a similar amount of money (remembering that money is the driver for most people), which players would you release to get under the cap?

None, we have quite a bit of cap space free after missing out on Lewis, and as posted above would only count for 100k. The only issue from a playing perspective would be fitting Graham, Amor, Walmsley, Douglas and Walker into a match day 17.

Re: James Graham : Fri Nov 25, 2016 12:57 pm  

Fatbelly wrote:

If James wants to realise his true potential then he'll come to the Wire.
Any where else would be a downward step.

Does Chris Sandow think the same?

Re: James Graham : Fri Nov 25, 2016 7:05 pm  

Magic Superbeetle wrote:

None, we have quite a bit of cap space free after missing out on Lewis, and as posted above would only count for 100k. The only issue from a playing perspective would be fitting Graham, Amor, Walmsley, Douglas and Walker into a match day 17.

You should be able to sign a superstar with that amount of money available. Many teams play with five props in there 17 now.

Re: James Graham : Wed Nov 30, 2016 12:45 pm  

On his way to Manly allegedly.