Quote: Egg Banjo "1. There are a ridiculous amount of RU players that are valued at over 200k, and thats not even factoring in several years of player development costs
2. 400k is expensive for a league player but rather cheap for an international class union player
3. Cas buckled, they weren't convinced they would win so took the money and ran instead of defending the sport in court
4. The club may have lost more in legal fees, but had they won it would have created a legal precedent which stops it happening again
5. Sale have money to burn and would have set a target of probably around 500k before they were worried, they defended the claim in the hope that Cas would back down under the worry of not guaranteeing a win in court which is exactly what happened. It's quite a regular thing to happen, even car insurance companies play the same trick.
Castleford have done exactly the right thing in the short term interests of the club, but they have done the absolute wrong thing in the long term interests on the game. What happens if a RU comes and does the same thing to a championship club who aren't fortunate enough to have 100k to spend on legal fees? There's no legal precedent set, so that player would be able to walk away from the league club knowing he won't be chased'"
1. Can you name any? How many players have transferred for a fee of 200k+?
2. As above. How many 'international class' union players have transferred for 400k+?
3. Cas clearly thought they would win, or wouldn't have spent 100k on legal fees to fight the case. They have made sure they have received a fee they feel they are entitled to.
4. Maybe. But the precedents are there already with players who have crossed codes whilst under contract. It wouldn't have created a new precedent, it would have maintained the status quo that a fee has to be paid for a player under contract.
5. If the set a target of 500k they are stupid.
As above, if the same thing happens again the precedent is already set. Fees have to be paid for players under contract. It wouldn't be Cas' fault if a club does not have the money to enforce it.