Turner hopes Gold Coast doesn't hold titanic grudge
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Turner hopes the Gold Coast hold no grudges
Source: Canberra Times
Melbourne Storm winger Steve Turner says he learned a lesson from the NRL tug-of-war over his services and hopes Gold Coast bears him no grudges.
Turner had no problem training in searing conditions yesterday because it meant being united with his Melbourne teammates after two months of training by himself while the Storm and Titans fought for his services.
The 22-year-old last year verbally agreed to play for the Titans in 2007 but reneged on that pledge and resigned with the Storm amid a fine 2006 season.
After months of bickering, the Titans on Monday struck an agreement with the 2006 grand finalist by letting Turner continue his career in Melbourne.
Now a Storm player until the end of the 2009 season, Turner admitted he had made a mistake by agreeing to play for a rival before the 2006 season was over, and had learned plenty from the five-month saga.
"Young blokes do make mistakes," he said.
"I just hope I don t make this mistake again in my football career.
"In saying that, I hope all parties don t make that mistake again and we can learn from this and prevent this from happening in the future."
Turner will get an early indication of what Gold Coast's players and fans think of his refusal to head north, as the two clubs play a trial match in mid-February.
"I just hope everyone understands why I wanted to stay here and it wasn't anything against the Gold Coast Titans," he said.
"It's just that I wanted to be here, at Melbourne. I found my feet here, it's home for me and my partner Kate and we're really enjoying Melbourne.
"I wish the Titans the best of luck this year and I hope there's no grudges held against me in the future."
As part of a compensation deal, Melbourne will trade Smith Samau and Daniel Isaac to the NRL newcomer, while Turner will chip in part of an $85,000 sweetener deal.