Big Dave T wrote:Dunno, i know of 2 clubs that have come in for him and neither have offered as much as Rovers apparently. Depends if Rovers can actually afford it without the debt further spiralling out of control.
Cooke is one of the highest earners and is being touted around to be offloaded, i'd also guess Galea wont have his deal renewed at the end of the season for similar reasons.
One big question, do you think Rovers massively overspending for 1 succesful SL season and then having the problems associated with fighting off that debt is worth it? (i'm not trolling by the way, just trying to have a genuine debate about the problems, we've been through them too in the past dont forget)
I believe Cooke and Galea are different scenarios to Clinton, Cooke was paid silly money to keep us in SL (which was definitely worth it as relegation would have been a catastrophe) but as we stand today isn't worth the current wage we are paying him.Galea is no spring chicken and is in a position that we can cover very capably and will certainly look to bring in a younger, cheaper replacement (Cook or Taylor).
We will still need to pay players worth their wage a good amount and with sponsorship, backers and crowds we will improve financially. I'd fit Briscoe, Newton, Dobson in to this bracket.
Clinton will come into the club on a wage worthy of his standing and in a position we need to fill to maintain our current squad strength.
I don't believe we have overspent for one good season, I think we have invested in a foundation of a very good and solid superleague side, that with building around the fringes, better young players coming through (attracted by on field performances) and selective and correctly valued players coming in (when available) will develop a sustainable business model in years to come.
I expect a few big earners to be moved on at the end of the year, Cooke, Galea, Walker, Webster, Fisher and possibly Vella will all look to be moved on. I would hope shoots of young players will fill some of these roles, Ratu and Welham in the centres, Hodgeson and Spaven at Hooker, Taylor and Cook in 2nd row and Watts up Front and look to buy in a quality 6 and maybe another position.
It was always going to take financial hardship to get up from NL to SL and I expect none of this is coming as a great shock to the board, the plan will always heve been get to a postion of soliditiy and then consolidate and make it pay for itself. Hopefully that will start to happen.