Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
As Wests Tigers and Canterbury set out to blast Parramatta off the park in the chase to sign Mitchell Moses, here’s proof of the perils of paying overs to lock down a marquee man.
We’ve put together a list of 15 controversial big money signings of recent years, delivering our verdict on who has aimed up and who hasn’t.
And for every Cooper Cronk there is an Ash Taylor, or every Chad Townsend a Jarryd Hayne – signings that don’t always deliver bang for your buck.
While the Eels are willing to pay Moses what most would consider his fair market price of about $1m-a-season, reports suggest the Tigers could be willing to go as high as $1.4m to get their man, and the Bulldogs $1.2m.
But as we have learnt on numerous occasions in the past, just paying top dollar doesn’t guarantee success.
What is certain is that the big money always comes with massive expectation.
And while some players thrive on the pressure, it can also destroy careers.
In 2022 alone no fewer than five million dollar players were also unable to lift their respective teams into the play-offs.
That star-studded list included Sea Eagles’ champions Tom Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans, along with proven Queensland Origin super hero Ben Hunt at the Dragons, the Knights’ Kalyn Ponga and the Titans’ David Fifita.
Meanwhile, others initially considered overpriced but who did deliver included Townsend for the Cowboys and Nicho Hynes at the Sharks.
ASH TAYLOR
($3.2m over 3 years at Titans)
The NRL definition of irresponsible spending on a young man who was completely overwhelmed by everything that came with that exorbitant price tag. Retired in his mid 20s having never reached the heights promised as the 2016 Dally M rookie of the year.
DALY CHERRY-EVANS
($10m over 8 years at Manly)
One of the game’s premier playmakers, the current Queensland captain and Kangaroo World Cup representative. But still chews up too much salary cap space when you consider the Sea Eagles are often referred to as a one man team, but the one man everyone is talking about is not DCE.
DAVID FIFITA
($3.5m over 3 years at Titans)
Another example of how market forces have potentially ruined a young career. The fact Fifita is about to get such a massive salary cut for his next deal clearly tells us the Titans got this one horribly wrong as well.
TOM TRBOJEVIC
($6.5m over 6 years at Sea Eagles)
Every time Turbo runs out to play he is not only a standout because of his God given talent, but a player whose commitment can never be questioned. The issue is Turbo has only played a total of 44 of 97 Manly games since 2019. And the stats show without him the Sea Eagles only win 30 per cent of those games.
KIERAN FORAN
($4.8 over 4 years at Parramatta)
Peter Sterling said this would be the “most important signing” in Parramatta’s history. But in the end the Eels were enormously short changed when Foran only managed just nine games before he was gone.
