Here is the article that is apparently inaccessible to othersRabbitohs snare Shane Richardson again thanks to a former coach[/size

[sizeTHE AUSTRALIAN[/size
JANUARY 23, 2016 12Brent Read
Senior sports writer
Sydney

As he pondered his future late last year, the persistence of Russell Crowe and the pull of South Sydney slowly wearing him down, Shane Richardson picked up the phone and called John Lang.

For years the pair were inseparable, forging a bond that yielded success in two states, the Shire and ultimately South Sydney. Richardson had a decision to make and he wanted to hear the thoughts of the straight-shooting Lang.

“He said ‘What do you want to do, what is your passion?’” Richardson said. “I said my passion is at the coal face. It gave me real clarity.”

Richardson took a holiday, gave it some more thought and returned with his mind made up. Having finalised his blueprint for rugby league's future, a master-plan crafted over nearly 12 months as the NRL's head of strategy, Richardson tendered his resignation to ARL Commission chairman John Grant earlier this week.

He will remain at Rugby League Central for the foreseeable future — his contract dictates he must wait another 60 days before taking up his new role as the Rabbitohs' general manager of football — but Redfern is about to undergo a revolution.

“A fair bit of time when I was doing my stuff for the NRL, I had a fair look at structures and the way clubs are run in baseball and the NFL,” Richardson said.

“They put a greater emphasis on separating football and the administration side of things. Russell has had that in his head for a while. He came to me and said what if we broke this up and you had a job where you get all the good things in football.

“I thought it over when I was going away on holidays. If I was going to do it I had to do it now because once I completed the paper, next thing was implementation.

“It was going to be one of those things where once I started to get into the next stage, I couldn't not finish it.”

Publicly at least, the NRL insists it remains committed to that plan, part of which would see a radical overhaul of the NSW Cup and age limits on the signing of players, both by clubs and player agents.

The task of crystallising Richardson's thoughts now resides with head of football Todd Greenberg. Richardson has steered clear of publicly advocating anyone for the NRL chief executive job vacated by Dave Smith — he ruled himself out as a contender early in the process — but it is understood he has told influential figures that Greenberg is the right man for the job.

Meanwhile, he will return to clubland and attempt to reinvigorate a Souths side which looked stale and lacking in inspiration towards the end of last season.

It is understood Richardson is ready to scour the globe for outside backs to strengthen the club's premiership credentials. High on his list will be rugby union superstar George North — it is believed Richardson previously has had conversations with the Welsh centre about the prospects of a code switch.

Richardson also has a high opinion of Leeds centre Kallum Watkins and England winger Ryan Hall, while closer to home he along with many others admire the work of Wests Tigers fullback James Tedesco.

Regardless of who arrives, Richardson is ready to radically alter the way the club recruits players, his conviction only strengthened by the time he spent at the Cleveland Browns, where Paul DePodesta has been appointed as chief strategy officer.

DePodesta was a central figure in the development of ‘Moneyball’ at the Oakland Athletics.

“I spent a bit of time in Cleveland when I was away talking with them about what they are doing with DePodesta. It’s not straight out statistical stuff but it is a way and means.

“I have been working with my son for a while on a system of recruitment based on injury and body size and background. I want to put that into practise.

“I want to do things differently. I want to think out of the box with what we are doing. We thought out of the box a bit with the Burgess brothers and the way we recruited Greg Inglis. There's a few players I want to bring to the club. I don't think it is as major as people are making it out. I think it needs some subtle changes. That's what I do. I deal with players, I deal with agents, I deal with the discipline of the club.

“In a lot of ways it will take a lot of pressure off Madge (Maguire) and allow him to be the coach of the football side. I know that is what he wants.

“My role is to get the recruitment right, get the best players, make sure our salary cap is in line, make sure our discipline and culture is right.

“I don't intend to get in there and tell Madge how to coach. What I will be doing is making sure we set ourselves not only to win the first fixture, but more importantly win for the next five years.”

Inevitably, his appointment has prompted speculation over the tenure of chief executive John Lee — the Souths boss has already been linked with a switch to the NRL.

“John and I have talked this through,” Richardson said.

“It is not something that has just been thrown at him. We have pushed it around. I get on really well with John. I haven't got a challenge with it at all.

“It is the direction the club wants to go.”

Kanye West's latest offspring.

Spoken like a man who has either not got kids, not got a wife or probably both. The Burgess boys mum is not going to be a pull for any woman in her quest to look after and raise her children. The life of a rugby star probably means functions and travel away from the wife and kids. With that means lots of time alone for partners. No support from close family or friends. Support which can not be rectified by Skype or Mrs Burgess. Or a frolic in the sea.

I admit that if I had this kind of opportunity when i was in my 20s I'd have taken it, no questions, but you have to see that it's not as simple as regular blue sky and warmer sea.

I was going to post the same.
Just having good schools is not a reason to move. Your extended family and support of friends is very important and the main reason people don't move away from familiar areas.

For young guys with no ties moving over it's a great opportunity, for those with young families it's a great opportunity with lots of difficult decisions to make.

Probably because George North is Welsh. Just a guess.

To be fair, if he plays in the Premiership, he's as English as, say, Sergio Aguero as far as the media is concerned.