Official: Trent Hodkinson signs with the Sharks

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...r/news-story/a6bbf3c4ef1c1938726489e3641b65e8

Two weeks ago, your columnist revealed that Cronulla were making a play for Trent Hodkinson.

“We need a bit of security there in case of long-term injury,” coach Shane Flanagan said.

“We are on the lookout for a half, if needed can jump in there straight away and Trent probably falls into that category.”

Now, we’re hearing a one-year deal is ready to be struck.

With Newcastle pre-paying much of Hodkinson’s contract, the Knights are still set to save by contributing to the No.7’s wage.
 
Wobbles said:
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...r/news-story/a6bbf3c4ef1c1938726489e3641b65e8

Two weeks ago, your columnist revealed that Cronulla were making a play for Trent Hodkinson.

“We need a bit of security there in case of long-term injury,” coach Shane Flanagan said.

“We are on the lookout for a half, if needed can jump in there straight away and Trent probably falls into that category.”

Now, we’re hearing a one-year deal is ready to be struck.

With Newcastle pre-paying much of Hodkinson’s contract, the Knights are still set to save by contributing to the No.7’s wage.
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Hodkinson's was paid a large portion of his 2018 salary in 2017's cap, so we shouldn't be chipping in too much (out of this years cap space) for him to be playing elsewhere.

Personally, I'd love him to stay and Cogger go. Hodkinson still has a bit to offer.
 
We don't have to give Hodko another cent if he leaves of his own volition. My understanding is Hodko is currently not taking up the Cronulla offer because they haven't come near the 300k or so we still owe him for 2018 if he stays.
 
Heard Trent Barrett on the BSB this morning and Manly are definitely still interested and in the frame for Hodko but they need the salary cap breach penalties finalised so they can look at an offer. he did indicate that they will have the coin to make an offer, even anticipating that their will be some penalties imposed re their salary cap indiscretions. The general tone of the discussion suggested that the salary cap breaches aren't systemic rorting but 'accidents' in not properly tracking where contract clauses kicked in, etc.

I would expect Hodko is going but it may not be resolved until much closer to the season kick off or even into the early comp rounds and I think he will wait until Manly are in a position to formally make an offer before he weighs up options between them and Cronulla - time is not a significant factor for him (or the other clubs for that matter) because he is already doing all the pre-season work on the fitness side and the main loss will be the building of combinations with whoever he ends up with.

I do wish him well though and hope there is still life in an NRL career for him
 
If what you say Nutty about Manly and payments "accidental" doesn't say much for the front office, accounting etc, surely they should be aware and on top of it all or was the accident a bit deliberate? Surely not!!!
 
Defender1 said:
Hodkinson's was paid a large portion of his 2018 salary in 2017's cap, so we shouldn't be chipping in too much (out of this years cap space) for him to be playing elsewhere.

Personally, I'd love him to stay and Cogger go. Hodkinson still has a bit to offer.
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It's time for Hokko to go. We're in the business of winning this year & Hokko has had his chances. I doubt he could pass on anything to the younger players that he hasn't already, after being with the squad every day for the last 2 years either. It's better for him to move on anyway rather that rot away here, if reports are true he's behind Cogger for a spot. Even though he's leaving, I'm looking forward to seeing Cogger get some gametime with a decent squad around him, I think he can play his part in 2018.
 
Still_Nutty said:
Heard Trent Barrett on the BSB this morning and Manly are definitely still interested and in the frame for Hodko but they need the salary cap breach penalties finalised so they can look at an offer. he did indicate that they will have the coin to make an offer, even anticipating that their will be some penalties imposed re their salary cap indiscretions. The general tone of the discussion suggested that the salary cap breaches aren't systemic rorting but 'accidents' in not properly tracking where contract clauses kicked in, etc.

I would expect Hodko is going but it may not be resolved until much closer to the season kick off or even into the early comp rounds and I think he will wait until Manly are in a position to formally make an offer before he weighs up options between them and Cronulla - time is not a significant factor for him (or the other clubs for that matter) because he is already doing all the pre-season work on the fitness side and the main loss will be the building of combinations with whoever he ends up with.

I do wish him well though and hope there is still life in an NRL career for him
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I hope Manly can work out a deal for him. Firstly because he's a great bloke & it would be feel good to see him finish his career off in first-grade, rather than plugging away in the Sharks' reserve grade side for peanuts. Second reason is a bit more evil though, I think it would be funny to see Manly's season being stunk up by having Hokko in the halves the entire year, although his game will probably improve even slightly with a better team around him.
 
Frank McWilliams said:
If what you say Nutty about Manly and payments "accidental" doesn't say much for the front office, accounting etc, surely they should be aware and on top of it all or was the accident a bit deliberate? Surely not!!!
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Just excuses, every single person involved with the game or a fan of the game knows the clubs set up TPAs. It's actually incredible that the NRL has done nothing about it with it being so obvious.
 
Joshhh said:
Just excuses, every single person involved with the game or a fan of the game knows the clubs set up TPAs. It's actually incredible that the NRL has done nothing about it with it being so obvious.
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Evening out the playing field is fair enough, but chasing money away from the game would be bat **** crazy.
I don't know what the answer is - but I know what it isn't. It isn't telling someone who wants to throw money at the game that we don't want their money thanks.
 
Billy said:
Evening out the playing field is fair enough, but chasing money away from the game would be bat **** crazy.
I don't know what the answer is - but I know what it isn't. It isn't telling someone who wants to throw money at the game that we don't want their money thanks.
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I wouldn't ban them. It's not favourable but I would probably try & set a limit, the players already get paid huge money & only a few of them will get TPAs anyway. Doesn't stop money under the table though. The only real solution is a removing the financial cap & moving to a points system. It would take a lot of work & need plenty of fine tuning, but it might be the best system for fairness out there.
 
Joshhh said:
I wouldn't ban them. It's not favourable but I would probably try & set a limit, the players already get paid huge money & only a few of them will get TPAs anyway. Doesn't stop money under the table though. The only real solution is a removing the financial cap & moving to a points system. It would take a lot of work & need plenty of fine tuning, but it might be the best system for fairness out there.
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Realistically it'd be a whole lot fairer if the poorer clubs could get their shlt together and find a way not to be so poor

Take the west Tigers for example. The Leagues club board have been sitting on a key resi development site in Balmain for a decade and I can tell you that it has sat vacant, without development approval from council, for no reason other than lazy incompetence on the part of the board.
 
Billy said:
We don't have to give Hodko another cent if he leaves of his own volition. My understanding is Hodko is currently not taking up the Cronulla offer because they haven't come near the 300k or so we still owe him for 2018 if he stays.
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Lovely bloke but Trent's become like that bloke you put up for a night and no matter how nicely you drop hints he won't leave.
 
Frank McWilliams said:
If what you say Nutty about Manly and payments "accidental" doesn't say much for the front office, accounting etc, surely they should be aware and on top of it all or was the accident a bit deliberate? Surely not!!!
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That was the tone of the discussion between Terry Kennedy, Jimmy Smith and Trent Barrett in highlighting the original sensationalisation of the investigation in the media was overkill for the alleged level of offences being investigated now.

I don't know any specifics on the Manly situation (and couldn't care less in truth)...BUT most clubs (including the Knights) have had varying degrees of salary cap infringements across seasons within the past several years that relate to player utilisation between grades during the season and other factors that can trigger bonus payments and other clauses that make managing within the cap limits a fluid rather than cut and dried affair. https://www.nrl.com/news/2010/04/22/history-of-nrl-salary-cap-breaches/.

Consistent poor management of the cap under these sorts of excuses is something that the league are supposedly cracking down on ( http://www.canberratimes.com.au/rug...or-nrl-salary-cap-breach-20170516-gw5pma.html ) but it is more common than many think.

Like I said above, all I am doing is just relaying that the tone of the discussion in the interview seems to indicate that the NRL, after going through the investigation, are looking at appropriate penalties based more around poor administration than deliberate rorting
 
Joshhh said:
I wouldn't ban them. It's not favourable but I would probably try & set a limit, the players already get paid huge money & only a few of them will get TPAs anyway. Doesn't stop money under the table though. The only real solution is a removing the financial cap & moving to a points system. It would take a lot of work & need plenty of fine tuning, but it might be the best system for fairness out there.
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I did a bit of a mock up of a points system based on levels of NRL appearances, tier 1 tests, tier 2 tests & Origin series all fixed from what players have to their name before the start of the current season, along with allowances for players that have played 100+ games at their current club. Also allowances for players that are 30+ years old so they don't get isolated by clubs that avoid signing them because they take up too many points from having too much experience. Both allowances get greater the more games a player plays for the club or the older they get. This would also hopefully give incentive for clubs to keep old club legends around rather than ditching them, while also giving other clubs like Souths incentive to not sign a Manly legend like Glenn Stewart because they would have to pay the full points for their experience because they have no history at the new club.

My total that I came to for our likely top 17 was 161 points. The Roosters top 17 was 247 points. Only the interpretation that I have made, but that gives you a bit of an idea of where we are at compared to the Roosters talent/experience wise. Surprisingly, Melbourne came to 328 points, Cameron Smith taking up a big chunk of that, with about 4 or 5 other big point players. Our 2016 round 1 side with 5 debutants came to 127 points, helped big time by a few of the experienced players we had left though, Mullen, Hodkinson, Uate, Smith, Snowden etc. I only did those 4 sides though so I don't know what the average team points should look like, also remembering that the overall points would have to cover the top 30 too, meaning some clubs could strategically have more points stored in depth than other clubs, while other clubs would just concentrate on stacking their top team.

The revolutionary change that it would cause probably scares the NRL off, but it really seems like it would straighten things up. Clubs will always look for little tricks & loop holes so it would have to be constantly worked at, also certain demographics of players would eventually have to be protected to make sure they don't get isolated through natural selection as clubs move towards players with as little points to their name as possible. Love to see it given a go though.
 
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