2021 NRL Season

I said it last year and I reckon it’s probably even more true this year but there seems to be much less movement in the transfer market these days. Especially around big players, no one’s heading overseas or to Union and it’s rare to see star players looking for a move. May just be a coincidence of a quiet transfer year followed by a covid impacted one.

 

Depends what the cause is.

I don’t believe the volatile and cyclical nature of the competition was particularly healthy either, it rewarded a lot of short term thinking and on the run planning where we saw a lot of clubs get into a lot of trouble by back ending contracts, making rushed signings on the back of form or flashes of brilliance, clubs rarely building a squad with more than an eye to the next 2-3years & a lot of panic buying where lesser clubs felt pressured to sign ‘marquee’ players to keep up with the rest of the competition.

I wonder if players these days don’t care about money as much as the previous generation, the money is already at such a good level these days that outside competitions are no threat and their salary to cost of living is already so much greater than previous generations it surely has to be less of a motivating factor in their decisions. Top players seem to aggravate moves for legacy reasons; the desire to win a comp, improve their game or get a chance in a more highly regarded position.

The new salary cap on football department spending is a big equaliser so if it forces clubs to put long term strategic plans in place around talent development, pathways & squad building I think it could be a good thing but undoubtedly it will result in a competition with less change year on year.

 

Shame there’s so many notable outs in tomorrow nights game, would’ve been good to see Penrith and Storm go at it without Smith playing a part.

 

A hampered Penrith and Melbourne both missing two key spine players.

 

Very hard to find a bet on this game, just so up in the air with the misses. Going To’o or Chrichton to score a try.