To: Kelly
cc: Silvertails
I still delude myself that you and independent third parties will get Cherry to sign before round 13 on an offer superior to the Titans. Still don't want to lose the kid even though he had some ordinary moments last night.
Sure, this is another keep Cherry thread for us Silvertails but wanting all the long timers on this site to hear my hurt and rant; in an effort to stimulate some discussion on the opportunities we have to exploit third party arrangements.
Yeah, the kid had some moments he may regret but it's far from all his doing. Cut him some slack! During his recent interview, he mentioned that "Manly fans have high expectations and they can be brutal". Yes, I do believe that some of our sentiments on this site have filtered back to him. I don't blame the kid for signing with the Titans, given the circumstances that were out of his control, including fans on this site that jumped very quickly to wanting to wash away his existence.
He is a precious talent and let's not forget how much we have celebrated his rise and growth as a special player and respected husband, father and person.
I just don't get it. Why have we given up on wanting to keep him? Why arent you and Penn doing everything legally possible to get him to renege on the Titans deal?
Let's be frank here, third party deals, in their current format are misunderstood, inconstently applied and open to all sorts of rorting; but they are the current rules that we may operate within. Unlimited deals apply to third party deals as long as they are negotiated without the club and approved by the NRL. What does negotiation mean? Surely we are permitted to 'introduce' third parties to Cherry.
Why aren't you coming out with a statement claiming that you haven't given up on retaining Cherry. If you dont, then I have made my mind up on you; a man without care or wisdom, willing to give up on Cherry without a fight. If you do, well then, you will match the super feats of Arko, doing everything he can to keep the talent. He didn't always win, but he did put a fight .... And I know the Bozo story.
The salary cap is a joke. Buts lets at least make an effort to play within the rules. Lockyer was on the salary cap books for 250K pa which was supplemented by rich third party deals. Johns was on the books for 500K pa and the NRL kicked in the rest. For the love of God, if there is one, why on earth aren't we moving mountains right now to keep Cherry. I don't buy the excuse that we want to keep him but we don't want to use up 1.2 to 1.4m per year of our cap to keep him. We should be offering him a 750 a year contract and he should be getting an additional 750 from third party arrangements.
Pull your finger out Kelly and take a stand. Do what you have to do to have oversight of a deal that gives him 7.5m over the next 5 years. Put that sort of an offer to him and I'm sure he will stay. Come out now with a public statement to state your intent. Follow that up with sealing the deal. For the love of God, I want Cherry to stay.
