Not double standards - Searle
By James Hooper
December 14, 2006 12:00
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
WALLABY Mat Rogers will today be released from his $500,000 Australian Rugby Union contract on 'compassionate grounds', paving the way for a return to rugby league. Yet the NRL club to benefit, Gold Coast, is refusing to allow disgruntled winger Steve Turner to back out of his Titans deal on the same basis. JAMES HOOPER grilled Titans chief executive Michael Searle about the apparent hypocrisy.
Q: Will you allow Steve Turner to stay in Melbourne once you've officially announced Mat Rogers is joining the Titans?
A: No.
Q: Why not?
A: Because they are completely unrelated issues. One has compassionate grounds and one has cold feet so at the end of the day Melbourne Storm have an obligation to come to a commercial settlement with us.
Q: Rogers was released on compassionate grounds. Isn't it hypocritical of you to refuse to release Turner for the same reason?
A: No. We agreed with Melbourne more than two weeks ago on a suitable outcome to resolve the issue, a player exchange, but since then they've refused to come to the party.
Q: So you've got a player or players you're willing to exchange but the Storm have rejected the proposal?
A: Yes.
Q: Why?
A: Because Brian Waldron says they've got contracts with the Storm for the next two years. Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't that what we've said all along about Steve Turner.
Q: Doesn't it smack of double standards for you to release Frank Puletua on compassionate grounds, sign Rogers after his release from rugby on compassionate grounds but not allow Turner a release?
A: In the meeting I had with Steve face-to-face I told him to give me everything he had, look me in the eye and be emphatic about why he didn't want to come to the Gold Coast. He came back with, 'There's no one dying in my family, no one's got cancer, I just want to stay in Melbourne, I love Melbourne, they know how to treat my injury, I've changed my mind'. I told him he needed to do better than that. He couldn't. Steve Turner's is an emotional issue. It's not a compassionate issue.
Q: Did you try and persuade Rogers into joining the Gold Coast a year early after the Turner drama erupted though?
A: No. We didn't sign Mat Rogers while he was under contract with the ARU. We signed him for 2008.
Q: But you attended his golf day and then he attended the Bezzina function last week, surely that wasn't just coincidence.
A: The only thing that was said at the Bezzina function was, 'Mate, if you get a release then we'll sit down and have a chat'.
Q: Well surely that's an approach while he's under contract?
A: No. We were merely clarifying our position if Mat was released from rugby, which he'd publicly expressed an intention to pursue.
Q: What about the golf day then?
A: We were always attending Mat's golf day. We agreed to go to the golf day when he signed for 2008 in September.
Q: Surely you can't afford Turner and Rogers and remain under the salary cap?
A: Ian Schubert's aware of our salary cap position and knows we can afford them both.
Q: Does that leave Turner sitting out the season?
A: Well there's got to be some form of compensation for Steve not coming to the Titans. But there's been no effort from Melbourne to try and source replacement players. None at all.
Q: So does Turner have to sit out next season?
A: I want Steve Turner to play next year so we've been negotiating in earnest. I would've preferred him play with the Titans, but he's not. I'm ready to do the deal. If Melbourne release two junior players then Steve Turner can be back at training on Monday. But they won't.
Q: Will you make Turner sit out the season?
A: That's not my choice it's Steve's.
Q: He's clearly not coming.
A: It's not my choice, it's his. He can always play football on the Gold Coast.
Q: Morally, don't you feel responsible for a promising player's career?
A: Steve, Brian and I and our clubs are all responsible. But the solution is simple. Melbourne release two juniors and Steve Turner's at training.