Players Will Always Move On - Sonny Bill The Latest

Sonny Bill has turned his back on the Bulldogs. (Find out more below)

The major dilemma facing the NRL at present revolves around how to keep the top tier players from chasing big money overseas.

Every armchair fan, past player, and local hero weighs in on the topic and puts their two cents about how to solve the problem into the ring. But let’s get real. There is never going to be one magic solution that keeps everyone on home soil. There will always be something somewhere that will draw players to other competitions or codes in the world. The pot is never going to be big enough to accommodate everyone.

Obviously it is disappointing to lose world class players like Mark Gasnier and, a little closer to home, Jonathon Thurston (as he has admitted to being approached about his future when his current Cowboys contract runs out). Their vacancy, however, leaves the door wide open for the next ‘big talent’ in line.

Take, for example the playing career of Jonathan Thurston. The guy could not get a regular start with the Bulldogs, but his move to the Cowboys has allowed him to grow into a player that is widely regarded as the best footballer in the world.

There are future Thurstons and Gasniers out there. They just need their day in the sun to prove it.

I can remember people saying it hurts the NRL when a player like Trent Barrett leaves for England. I personally do not think the game has suffered from Barrett’s departure and little fanfare has taken place about his return to our domestic competition next season.

Football is not the lone sport battling to keep their best players at home. I’ll use basketball as another example. We are losing players to Europe and the NBA at a rapid rate.

So I would say that the best way to combat the problem would be to spend resources developing our sports at grass roots so that we have the talent to fill the vacancies left by the inevitable departure of high level talent. It allows our sport to sustain itself without being so dependent on a small group of individuals.

Promote yourself to the kids the right way and spend money and time on doing so. They, in turn, will want to be involved in the sport. The more players you develop, the more players you have to fill your talent pool. The deeper your talent pool, the more able you are to sustain and survive the loss of players.

I would also like to suggest that I think it is a good sign when other countries are willing to pay our players the big money to join their overseas club. It’s a reflection of a product that has been made in our backyard and has been sought after worldwide. What business would not see that as a good thing?

It does become an emotional issue, when your favourite player decides that it is time to chase the cash away from home, but maybe critics should ask themselves, “What would I have done?”.

I think anyone who is honest with themselves would have to, at the very least, consider answering the question the same way Gasnier did. Playing in France for a million a season sounds pretty easy to handle.

You can read my article every Saturday in the Townsville Bulletin.

In other NRL news Sonny Bill Williams has left the Bulldogs for France.

Cowboys Shooting Stars and Off To China

Ray Cashmere has the touch of a sledgehammer when it comes to hoops!


Early this week, the Cowboys made their annual pilgrimage to the Crocs Club for a training session. Now I know potential for a good story when I see it, so I made sure to grab my seat early so that I could enjoy the show.

Now, I know I enjoy breaking up the monotony of the daily routine at the stage of the season the Cowboys are at. The body language of the Cowboys seemed to demonstrate that they were happy to have a change of scenery, as well.

Under the tutelage of Croc coaches Trevor Gleeson and Rohan Short, the big boys were put through an array of drills that showed off the best (and worst) of their basketball skills.

One spectacle I thoroughly enjoyed was watching Scott Tronic attempting to dribble two basketballs simultaneously. If I didn’t know any better, I might be inclined to think that someone accidentally slipped him a couple of footballs for the drill. I have never seen two perfectly round balls bounce in so many different directions.

The best cheering and jeering, however, was truly saved for last in the form of a ‘winner takes all’ shooting competition.

My personal winners for the day would be:
Sione Faumuina, for the closest thing I saw to textbook shooting form
Jonathon Thurston, for his uncanny ability to talk (yes, talk) his shots into going into the basket.

However, the final two men left standing to battle it out for the right to be named “Best Shooting Cowboy” were Aaron Payne and Ray Cashmere.

You could tell Payne had gone to fellow local legend Kelvin Robertson for some shooting tips while Cashmere brought all the delicate touch of a sledgehammer to the court.

Big Ray showed he had some brain to go with the braun en route to the finals when he discovered a loop hole in the rules and used it to his advantage in preliminary rounds.

The final could have aptly been named “Rumble in the Jungle”. These guys went shot for shot until fatigue got the better of the front rower.

To the crowd’s delight, Payne won the chocolates and will now be looking for a piece of his mentor Robertson.

After the Cowboys session finished up, Thurston was hanging around like a bad smell and wanted to measure himself up against one of the best shooters in the country, yours truly.

Now some of you may recall a charity sporting challenge JT and I were supposed to have last year that involved me kicking some goals and JT shooting hoops. That head to head match up didn’t eventuate. And maybe I should have taken it easier on him the other day because I don’t see him fronting up for another challenge after our most recent session of hoops and trash talk.

I’m hoping his ego has recovered in time for Wednesday’s clash against the Cockroaches.

Unfortunately, I won’t be around to see whether he has recovered or not. I have been asked to assist Andrew Gaze in coaching a touring team to China.

The team will be made up of some of our younger NBL talent. Some names you might be familiar who will be amongst the team include former Crocs Peter Crawford, Cameron Tragardh and Greg Vanderjadt.

The tour will be a fantastic opportunity for these players, as they will be matching up against the Chinese National team that may feature NBA All Star Yao Ming, provided he has recovered from injury.

The two games played will be broadcast live throughout China and will be shown in various other countries throughout Asia. This is the type of exposure most of these guys dream of.

I am looking forward to an opportunity to work side by side with one of the country’s all time best basketball players in Gaze. I’ll have more to report upon my return.

You can find my article in Saturday's Townsville Bulletin.

Murray Deserves Some Credit

No happy ending for Murray!

The events of this week ended any and all speculation about an early departure of Cowboys coach Graeme Murray as he decided to leave on his own terms. Only a select few will ever have had the luxury of experiencing what truly went on as the entire picture unfolded and I am not one of those few.

However, I would like to talk about is the difference I feel Murray has made to the Cowboys franchise since he took over from Murray Hurst.

Before Murray’s arrival in 2002, the Cowboys had never been considered a finals participant, let alone a genuine championship threat. Murray has consistently raised the level of expectation each and every year to a point where simply making the finals is no longer good enough. Winning your way through a few games of the finals is the new bar.

In Murray’s case, did making that Grand Final in 2005 and falling one game shy of repeating this feat in 2007 lead to the formation unrealistic expectations? I think we have to consider that possibility.

Look at the rosters Murray has successfully made his way to the finals with. Let’s face it, he was able to find some way to bring out the best in some of these guys. Take someone like Ray Cashmere for example. This guy could not get a run anywhere 18 months ago. Under Murray, he has developed into one of the Cowboys most consistent performers.

Luke O’Donnell has raised his level of play to a point where his name is regularly thrown out for an Origin or Australian jumper, assuming he is healthy. Before he made the move North, he struggled to find a spot week in and week out with the West Tigers.

Last but not least, we have to consider Jonathon Thurston, the Bulldog castaway now considered the world’s best player.

Don’t get me wrong, a player has to have talent to succeed at the level we are talking about. It just appears to me that many of the current Cowboy players have come to the club in hopes of becoming a regular first grade player. Murray seems to have a knack for taking these types of guys and getting them to, what many would consider, ‘over-achieve’ as a team.

Whether you look back at Graeme Murray’s track record with Illawarra, Sydney Roosters or now the Cowboys, Murray has always left the place in better shape then when he arrived. And you have to look beyond one year’s win-loss record to get my point.

As a fierce competitor myself, I fully comprehend the concept that championships are a professional organization’s bottom line. But trust me, I also know that the odds of achieving our ultimate goal are tough. In fourteen years I have been on top of the world only once and been a bride’s maid twice, and I would be considered on of the lucky ones.

If you can’t win titles for your club year after year, the very least you can hope for as a coach is that you keep the momentum moving in a forward direction,…keep making progress. Murray succeeded at this for the Cowboys until recent times and, as I mentioned earlier, only few are privy to what occurred in these times of which so many of us have speculated on.

It is a shame to see this partnership end the way it has. It feels to me like Murray went out without getting the recognition he deserved for the good times. I am hopeful that when the dust settles Graeme Murray will find his place in Cowboys history where he will be appreciated fittingly for his time as coach of the Cowboys.

You can find my article in the Townsville Bulletin every Saturday.