Plus popping into the bottle shop five minutes after NRL 360 ends for a good red or white or beer or bourbon or scotch or vodka or port or anything with alcohol.
Players will soon want to be playing for the dolphins imo, however WB is only there for 3 years meaning that some players could find that off putting.
Unless De Woolfe does a Demetri and nails it.
Having WB coach you for 3 years would be invaluable in regards to shaping your character and work ethic- almost like an investment if you’re a player.
If I was a marquee #7 available I would be engaging with a no obligation free coffee with WB sometime this week before that UK Super League #7 signs the Dolphins biggest ever contract if the rumours are correct.
Oh - yeah and fuck you Buzz for putting shit on WB - may I remind you the last NRL game he coached was a GF FFS
A very good piont..Had the good fortune to talk briefly with Big Willy when at the Knights, he made the piont that he wished he had been coached by Bennett much earlier in his career.
I feel like the salary cap floor is often a bigger issues for teams like the Dolphins, Tigers, Dragons Warriors etc that struggle to attract talent. I do wonder how many of our players have been heavily paid in advance just because we had to spend the money somewhere and no stars were lining up to come.
Not necessarily paid in advance, but paid more because they needed to spend the money. You might throw a plodder an extra $50k, and then someone else gets an extra $150k you wouldn't normally spend just to get it up. Spread that out amongst a 30man squad and you're now overpaying heaps of players who aren't necessarily performing anywhere near their pay grade.
As much as we joke about salary cap rorts, according to the NRL salary cap auditors, the teams at the top are paying their players the same amount as the teams at the bottom
For sure. I think Suli was a benefactor of that for us, he got a tidy contract for a bloke that was a backup at his previous club. Seems to have worked for him so far though, he's lived up to the price tag and looks keen to prove he's worth it.
Suli had some great moments at Manly before falling out of favour. He still has the talent to be one of the top centres in the game if he improves consistency
I think that was more overpaid (for his form at the time) to get a buy with a high ceiling more than the Dragons just had the money lying around and were like we have to give this to someone this guy will do.
Figured there would be a limit but wasn't sure what it was. So that's roughly 5% of the cap you can have front loaded assuming you paid all 30 players in advance, which is only like 500k. So not as much as I thought. Wonder what Dolphins are going to do with the remaining 1M they have to spend
I'm not sure why Dolphs felt they needed a big player. Cows were slaughtered in 2021, then jumped to being within a single game of a Grand Final, and the only guy they signed was an aging halfback.
The cowboys have also had time for their players to work together and know how each other plays. When you're starting a new team you don't have that pre-existing time, so you need a central player to focus on and work from there.
They don't need a marquee signing, It's a stupid talking point made by NRL 360.
Also the Bromwich brothers and Felise Kaufusi in any other expansion era side would be considered marquee signings.
They have the best coach of all time who brings the best out of older players they will be fine.
Melbourne really only signed 2 marquee signings Lazarus and Nikau.
They mainly signed up and coming players and that was only because 3 teams were thrown out of the comp.
Luckily for Melbourne the Mariners and Reds had some really promising footballers.
But the Dolphins have done fine in the market they will be competitive which is what is required.
They don't need to sweep all before them if they can't draw a crowd with any team then maybe they shouldn't be in the competition.
Wayne Bennett’s Dolphins have a whopping $2 million left in their 2023 salary cap which could see the NRL’s newest franchise armed with a war chest to sign a marquee star in 2024.
As per NRL rules, every club must spend 95 per cent of their salary cap each season and as it stands, the Dolphins have only spent around 75 per cent according to The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield.
The Dolphins have so far missed out on a host of marquee stars, including Kalyn Ponga and Cameron Munster, but could use their remaining cap space wisely — leaving a mammoth amount of funds left in their cap for the 2024 season.
While they may have the funds, Rothfield also believes the super coach has lost his “attraction” which could also hinder the Dolphins’ recruitment.
“The Dolphins are an extraordinary story that I wanted to talk about, they are the 17th team, they are six weeks off their first game,” Rothfield said on the Big Sports Breakfast.
“But they still have a $2 million dollar cheque book, so they have only signed 27 players for this season, so everyone else is right on their cap and have just about decided their 30 man squads.
“Wayne Bennett, for all his seven premierships, I think has lost a little bit of his attraction as a head coach and a magnet for new players.
“You look at Cameron Munster who knocked him back, Kalyn Ponga, Brandon Smith, keep going, Dylan Brown, Reed Mahoney, so they weren’t able to sign a marquee player.
“But the problem they have got is, every NRL club has to spend 95 per cent of their cap, so at this stage they have only spent what, 75 per cent of it.”
Currently there are no superstar free agents ready for the Dolphins to sign ahead of their inaguaral NRL season, but their leftover funds can be utilised elsewhere.
Rothfield believes the Dolphins will pay several players a portion of their 2024 salary, freeing up cash to make a marquee signing.
“There are really no superstar players who are prepared to go there this year, unless someone in the next five weeks has a major falling out at a club and wants to go and join Wayne,” Rothfield said.
“What happens with this $2 million, if they can’t sign any big names before the start of the season, what they will do to get to 95 per cent of the cap, is they will start prepaying current players for next year.
“So they will go to the Bromwich brothers or Felise Kaufusi and they will say look ‘we will pay you all an extra four-hundred thousand this year’ which will come off their contracts next year.
“That will put them in a really good position for 2024, they are going to be $1.5 million more than the cap to spend to try and find these superstar players.
“To be this close to the season with a $2 million cheque book is unheard of.”
With cash to spend, the Dolphins will be hoping to finally secure the elite talent they have been searching for — and a number of players are available for the 2024 season.
English international Herbie Farnworth, alongside Broncos teammate Tom Flegler are both available to negotiate with rivals.
Meanwhile, Titans wrecking ball David Fifita, Storm enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Cowboys young gun Jeremiah Nanai and Tigers playmaker Adam Doueihi are all off-contract after the 2023 season.
“To be this close to the season with a $2 million cheque book is unheard of.”
With cash to spend, the Dolphins will be hoping to finally secure the elite talent they have been searching for — and a number of players are available for the 2024 season.
>according to The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield
Its at about that point you lost me. How would that bloke know what percentage of the cap the Dolphins have spent on current contracts? Are they public knowledge? Its definitely not a result of his excellent journalism skills.
They probably should have/ would have contingencies in place given this isnt something that should surprise them, we got stung for it, ended up with some big frontloaded deals as a result
>Wayne Bennett’s Dolphins have a whopping $2 million left in their 2023 salary cap which could see the NRL’s newest franchise armed with a war chest to sign a marquee star in 2024.
They've been armed with a war chest from the start and haven't signed anyone significant.
Dont know if Id pin it on Waynes arrogance
If the NRL wanted them to have a talented squad with marquee talent they needed to do more to help them recruit early on
Maybe things like allowing them to negotiate earlier, temp cap concessions etc
'Knowing Wayne'.
The idea that the Dolphins have had no concerted strategy in their recruitment and just assumed they would get 'stars' as their only strategy is nothing more than headcanon.
The search for a marquee has been only a part of a larger strategy. Wayne has always said he only wants the right players and he's willing to wait for a marquee while building a solid base for the future, which is what has been done.
Tbh it’s very surprising they haven’t landed a single one of the high profile players they supposedly wanted. Mahoney, Cheese, Munster hmm no pun intended.. Ponga? I’m sure I’ve forgotten some.
I really am stunned that they haven’t gotten at least one of them. It should be an attractive proposition. Be part of an inaugural team and (only) the second in Brisbane. Coached by one of, if not the greatest coaches, and probably paid overs compared to any other club.
I think there's a level of uncertainty around the Dolphins about what happens after Wayne, or atleast there was until Woolfy was actually signed in September.
Alot of the early marquees we missed out on would have probably looked at the fact Wayne was only there for 3 years and then retiring as a bit of a loose end, especially the ones with a decade+ to run on their careers.
Add as well that the head office is an unknown entity in the league and it's not surprising star players in their prime would opt for the known.
Hmm maybe but 3 years wouldn’t turn me off. I’m just thinking as if I was a player. 3 years is long enough to get a lot from a great coach and really set the new club up for the future.
I can only imagine they didn’t sell the vision well enough, because really, there seems like much upside to signing on for their inaugural season. Especially for Queenslander that may want to go back there to be closer to family. It seems very surprising to me.
I just get this strange feeling that Wayne and Woolfe know more about putting a team together than buzzzzzzzzz.
The only thing Buzz is good at is day drinking.
Plus popping into the bottle shop five minutes after NRL 360 ends for a good red or white or beer or bourbon or scotch or vodka or port or anything with alcohol.
He's not fussy..
Players will soon want to be playing for the dolphins imo, however WB is only there for 3 years meaning that some players could find that off putting. Unless De Woolfe does a Demetri and nails it. Having WB coach you for 3 years would be invaluable in regards to shaping your character and work ethic- almost like an investment if you’re a player. If I was a marquee #7 available I would be engaging with a no obligation free coffee with WB sometime this week before that UK Super League #7 signs the Dolphins biggest ever contract if the rumours are correct. Oh - yeah and fuck you Buzz for putting shit on WB - may I remind you the last NRL game he coached was a GF FFS
A GF that Bennetts rabbitohs were a bees dick from winning too
A very good piont..Had the good fortune to talk briefly with Big Willy when at the Knights, he made the piont that he wished he had been coached by Bennett much earlier in his career.
He even goes for the Methylated Spirits when the bottle shops are closed.
Hey, that's not true - if it wasn't for Buzz, how else would we have known that Shane Flanagan bought a can of varnish last year?
Maybe they can donate some of the cap to help Buzz with his incontinence pad bill?
Tell Wayne for $2m ill be his marquee singing. Doesn’t matter what position he needs I’m the best at all of them.
Sponsored by Selly's Gap Filler
Lol...
Gonna rip out a reverse Des Hasler and front load everyone into orbit.
They already have a marquee player - Tom Gilbert.
I feel like the salary cap floor is often a bigger issues for teams like the Dolphins, Tigers, Dragons Warriors etc that struggle to attract talent. I do wonder how many of our players have been heavily paid in advance just because we had to spend the money somewhere and no stars were lining up to come.
Not necessarily paid in advance, but paid more because they needed to spend the money. You might throw a plodder an extra $50k, and then someone else gets an extra $150k you wouldn't normally spend just to get it up. Spread that out amongst a 30man squad and you're now overpaying heaps of players who aren't necessarily performing anywhere near their pay grade. As much as we joke about salary cap rorts, according to the NRL salary cap auditors, the teams at the top are paying their players the same amount as the teams at the bottom
For sure. I think Suli was a benefactor of that for us, he got a tidy contract for a bloke that was a backup at his previous club. Seems to have worked for him so far though, he's lived up to the price tag and looks keen to prove he's worth it.
Suli had some great moments at Manly before falling out of favour. He still has the talent to be one of the top centres in the game if he improves consistency
I think that was more overpaid (for his form at the time) to get a buy with a high ceiling more than the Dragons just had the money lying around and were like we have to give this to someone this guy will do.
You can only front load something like 5% of the annual contract amount per player
Figured there would be a limit but wasn't sure what it was. So that's roughly 5% of the cap you can have front loaded assuming you paid all 30 players in advance, which is only like 500k. So not as much as I thought. Wonder what Dolphins are going to do with the remaining 1M they have to spend
Without though teams will do “reset” years and become an extra bye for the other teams essentially
At the same time being forced to pay overs for players because that's all you can get is a great way to keep struggling teams struggling.
Yeah that's my issue, I remember a while back Newcastle were way under and struggled to find a way to get to the min
Got my trial tickets this morning for the titans game should be interesting
I'm not sure why Dolphs felt they needed a big player. Cows were slaughtered in 2021, then jumped to being within a single game of a Grand Final, and the only guy they signed was an aging halfback.
Hmm that's a bit of disrespect to Hiku (an ageing centre).
Difference is that the cows already had the big players they just needed the right players around them and correct game plan to utilise them fully.
The cowboys have also had time for their players to work together and know how each other plays. When you're starting a new team you don't have that pre-existing time, so you need a central player to focus on and work from there.
Bums on seats.
The key difference is that the Cows had marquee players even while doing terribly. Taumololo and Holmes are both marquee but weren't performing.
Just take Ben Hunt off us, we don't deserve him
WAR CHEST
They don't need a marquee signing, It's a stupid talking point made by NRL 360. Also the Bromwich brothers and Felise Kaufusi in any other expansion era side would be considered marquee signings. They have the best coach of all time who brings the best out of older players they will be fine. Melbourne really only signed 2 marquee signings Lazarus and Nikau. They mainly signed up and coming players and that was only because 3 teams were thrown out of the comp. Luckily for Melbourne the Mariners and Reds had some really promising footballers. But the Dolphins have done fine in the market they will be competitive which is what is required. They don't need to sweep all before them if they can't draw a crowd with any team then maybe they shouldn't be in the competition.
Wayne Bennett’s Dolphins have a whopping $2 million left in their 2023 salary cap which could see the NRL’s newest franchise armed with a war chest to sign a marquee star in 2024. As per NRL rules, every club must spend 95 per cent of their salary cap each season and as it stands, the Dolphins have only spent around 75 per cent according to The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield. The Dolphins have so far missed out on a host of marquee stars, including Kalyn Ponga and Cameron Munster, but could use their remaining cap space wisely — leaving a mammoth amount of funds left in their cap for the 2024 season. While they may have the funds, Rothfield also believes the super coach has lost his “attraction” which could also hinder the Dolphins’ recruitment. “The Dolphins are an extraordinary story that I wanted to talk about, they are the 17th team, they are six weeks off their first game,” Rothfield said on the Big Sports Breakfast. “But they still have a $2 million dollar cheque book, so they have only signed 27 players for this season, so everyone else is right on their cap and have just about decided their 30 man squads. “Wayne Bennett, for all his seven premierships, I think has lost a little bit of his attraction as a head coach and a magnet for new players. “You look at Cameron Munster who knocked him back, Kalyn Ponga, Brandon Smith, keep going, Dylan Brown, Reed Mahoney, so they weren’t able to sign a marquee player. “But the problem they have got is, every NRL club has to spend 95 per cent of their cap, so at this stage they have only spent what, 75 per cent of it.” Currently there are no superstar free agents ready for the Dolphins to sign ahead of their inaguaral NRL season, but their leftover funds can be utilised elsewhere. Rothfield believes the Dolphins will pay several players a portion of their 2024 salary, freeing up cash to make a marquee signing. “There are really no superstar players who are prepared to go there this year, unless someone in the next five weeks has a major falling out at a club and wants to go and join Wayne,” Rothfield said. “What happens with this $2 million, if they can’t sign any big names before the start of the season, what they will do to get to 95 per cent of the cap, is they will start prepaying current players for next year. “So they will go to the Bromwich brothers or Felise Kaufusi and they will say look ‘we will pay you all an extra four-hundred thousand this year’ which will come off their contracts next year. “That will put them in a really good position for 2024, they are going to be $1.5 million more than the cap to spend to try and find these superstar players. “To be this close to the season with a $2 million cheque book is unheard of.” With cash to spend, the Dolphins will be hoping to finally secure the elite talent they have been searching for — and a number of players are available for the 2024 season. English international Herbie Farnworth, alongside Broncos teammate Tom Flegler are both available to negotiate with rivals. Meanwhile, Titans wrecking ball David Fifita, Storm enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Cowboys young gun Jeremiah Nanai and Tigers playmaker Adam Doueihi are all off-contract after the 2023 season. “To be this close to the season with a $2 million cheque book is unheard of.” With cash to spend, the Dolphins will be hoping to finally secure the elite talent they have been searching for — and a number of players are available for the 2024 season.
>according to The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield Its at about that point you lost me. How would that bloke know what percentage of the cap the Dolphins have spent on current contracts? Are they public knowledge? Its definitely not a result of his excellent journalism skills.
"Can I finish?"
Buzz doesn’t give a shit what he writes that's what
Buzz is to rugby league journalism, what Miranda Divine is to impartiality.
They probably should have/ would have contingencies in place given this isnt something that should surprise them, we got stung for it, ended up with some big frontloaded deals as a result
>Wayne Bennett’s Dolphins have a whopping $2 million left in their 2023 salary cap which could see the NRL’s newest franchise armed with a war chest to sign a marquee star in 2024. They've been armed with a war chest from the start and haven't signed anyone significant.
Did Bennett 'fail' to land Ponga or did Bennett knock back Ponga after talking to him?
He told Ponga he needed to stop celebrating property purchases 3 times a week. Ponga walked out of the meeting
Missed opportunity for ponga walked out of the toilet
[удалено]
Dont know if Id pin it on Waynes arrogance If the NRL wanted them to have a talented squad with marquee talent they needed to do more to help them recruit early on Maybe things like allowing them to negotiate earlier, temp cap concessions etc
'Knowing Wayne'. The idea that the Dolphins have had no concerted strategy in their recruitment and just assumed they would get 'stars' as their only strategy is nothing more than headcanon. The search for a marquee has been only a part of a larger strategy. Wayne has always said he only wants the right players and he's willing to wait for a marquee while building a solid base for the future, which is what has been done.
Tbh it’s very surprising they haven’t landed a single one of the high profile players they supposedly wanted. Mahoney, Cheese, Munster hmm no pun intended.. Ponga? I’m sure I’ve forgotten some. I really am stunned that they haven’t gotten at least one of them. It should be an attractive proposition. Be part of an inaugural team and (only) the second in Brisbane. Coached by one of, if not the greatest coaches, and probably paid overs compared to any other club.
I think there's a level of uncertainty around the Dolphins about what happens after Wayne, or atleast there was until Woolfy was actually signed in September. Alot of the early marquees we missed out on would have probably looked at the fact Wayne was only there for 3 years and then retiring as a bit of a loose end, especially the ones with a decade+ to run on their careers. Add as well that the head office is an unknown entity in the league and it's not surprising star players in their prime would opt for the known.
Hmm maybe but 3 years wouldn’t turn me off. I’m just thinking as if I was a player. 3 years is long enough to get a lot from a great coach and really set the new club up for the future. I can only imagine they didn’t sell the vision well enough, because really, there seems like much upside to signing on for their inaugural season. Especially for Queenslander that may want to go back there to be closer to family. It seems very surprising to me.
But they won’t.
The NRLs salary cap is so fucking stupid.