Matai's ultimatum?

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Jerry1 link said:
I was glad to see Ox go - I wasn't a fan but we did it to Ox for the last 4 or 5 months of his contract - strung him along hoping he'd sign for a fraction of what he was on. It's all part of the game - the longer you leave it other clubs drop off. That's business mate. Poker - play the cards & get the most you can from the hand.

Different situation to ox's, Matai isn't at the end of his career and I don't think he's asking for mega bucks.
 
swoop link said:
[quote author=Jerry1 link=topic=183987.msg273727#msg273727 date=1278926684]
I was glad to see Ox go - I wasn't a fan but we did it to Ox for the last 4 or 5 months of his contract - strung him along hoping he'd sign for a fraction of what he was on. It's all part of the game - the longer you leave it other clubs drop off. That's business mate. Poker - play the cards & get the most you can from the hand.

Different situation to ox's, Matai isn't at the end of his career and I don't think he's asking for mega bucks.
[/quote]
If the club really wanted Matai they would have signed him by now. Don't get me wrong I have big raps on the guy. But they obviously they don't want to pay him a cent more & other clubs will.

Mark my words he'll go or he'll stay only because other clubs may withdraw their offers as they couldn't wait any longer. Either way it won't make for a good situation for either player or club.
 
Hey guys,

I have recently signed up and have missed the forums. This site is great by the way. Matai has been great for us ever since he debuted. I think it is appalling the way the club has treated him. Gives his all for us.
 
Thanks Bob. I will have to let other Manly fans know about this great site.
 
Or it is another strategic announcement - Manly sign Matai, and everyone forgets the club is turning into curds and way.
 
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/...comes-up-short

Manly's offer to Matai comes up short

Manly have made a last-ditch bid to retain their New Zealand international centre Steve Matai, but the three-year contract offer made by the Sea Eagles yesterday is unlikely to be sufficient to keep him at Brookvale Oval.

Matai, off contract at the end of the season, is due to give an answer to coach Des Hasler today after weighing up the new deal last night. However, the chances of the 25-year-old accepting the offer are minimal, as the salary is considerably less than offers from two rival NRL clubs, including the New Zealand Warriors, and three English Super League sides.

Matai's agent, Gavin Orr, said Hasler would be told Matai's decision today, but conceded Manly's offer was below what the player had hoped for.

''It's something that he's got to consider,'' he said. ''It [the offer] is probably not where he's at at the moment. Whether they want to improve on that is another thing.

''There are other clubs in Europe and in the UK that are offering better deals at this stage. [Manly] have been hamstrung with what they were able to offer but we're just considering everything.''

A frustrated Matai last week gave Manly an ultimatum: give me an offer by Monday or I'm off. The Sea Eagles took the hint and tabled a three-year deal before the deadline expired yesterday but there remains a sense of unease on Matai's side about Manly's priorities.

''I think he's probably been in their top two or three players this year,'' Orr said. ''The frustration is more from Steve's side of things. I think Steve is very unhappy they haven't made him a priority and recognised what he gives the team each and every week.''

The Sea Eagles have faced a challenge to retain some of their leading players after tying up Anthony Watmough, Jamie Lyon and Kieran Foran on long-term contract extensions earlier this season.

They added Glenn Stewart to that list in June but the constraints of the salary cap rendered them far from competitive when Canterbury came sniffing for their rookie halfback Trent Hodkinson, who the Bulldogs eventually lured with $280,000 a year. Representative prop Josh Perry is also on the way out, headed for St Helens.

Meanwhile, Canberra fullback Josh Dugan's new contract with the Raiders will finally be made official today - after his name is mentioned in the ACT Magistrates Court on driving charges.

The 20-year-old was yesterday due to front a news conference with Raiders chief executive Don Furner announcing his one-year extension at Canberra but did not know he was meant to show. The scheduling gaffe was put down to a lack of communication between Dugan's management and Raiders officials.

His deal, struck despite strong interest from the Bulldogs and the Sydney Roosters, keeps him at Canberra until the end of 2012. Dugan faces charges of negligent driving and driving while suspended in June.
 
I think Matai is as good as gone, hopefully there is a strategy behind this or in other words we are using his money to go after someone else
 
I honestly do not understand how Matai is not a priority for us. By the sounds of things he will walk after the way they have treated him. The guy gives his all every week.
 
dowdz link said:
I honestly do not understand how Matai is not a priority for us. By the sounds of things he will walk after the way they have treated him. The guy gives his all every week.

Players come and go, I don't think Manly would have made an unreasonable offer, he just got offered more from other clubs. Whare will be a suitable replacement and if Matai goes we move on.
 
He needs to get the most dollars in his short playing span.  I saw him carry his arm again last game and his injury ridden career will be short.  Good luck to him.   
 
Stay with the club who brought you into the game and gave you a premiership ring?...or move back to NZ to be with the family...may be a tough choice for "Shoulders"...as it should never be "all about money"
 
We obviously dont have the dollars to match others in all this. There are only 2 answers to this either we have been paying way overs for some of these players and the Storm fiasco has us running scared or we simply haven't the financial muscle to compete for top line players anymore. I think it is the latter answer and the situation is far more diabolical financially than anyone is letting on.
 
Stop with the negativity and rumour mongering mick.  It's becoming boring.  Matai will go to where he can get top dollar.  he's 25, physically stuffed, suspension prone and in need of a big paypacket.  At his age it is all about the money.  With his shoulders, he has three years left in the top grade.  He should make the most of his talents and go to England.   
 
If you look around the comp, you can only fit so many rep players into a side these days, Brisbane are the best example, years ago had plenty, now not a lot outside of Hodges, Lockyer and Folau who use a lot of cap space.

Our squad has plenty of current or recent rep players, Both Stewarts, Kite, Watmough, Lyon, and we can add Foran to that as well for next season and possibly count Ballin and King into that group now (have left Perry and Matai out as they won't be around next year most likely)

imo, the club has decided to build itself around a base of B Stewart, Foran, Lyon, G Stewart, Watmough and Ballin for the next few years.  Imo it is a pretty good core to build a squad around, the key to it is filling the gaps with some reasonably cheap talent that you can build on
 

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