Dear Irish Quin,
You have to remember that players have a 'market value' that will be established when they
both have the opportunity to negotiate and
ideally for them at the high point in their career and it is unlikely that they move for a big decrease.
To give context, players like Sean Long in his prime at St Helens and Matt King were on over £200k per annum. Look now at St Helens players outside the top 15 it is all youngsters, no senior reserve squad members at all!
Let's imagine that our junior players, whom mainly share houses to save money, generally numbered 18-25 are on a mix of salaries between the £25k minimum and and £30k, this would be no more than £200k for these players.
This would give about £1.2 million to be shared amongst the 17 first team players, so simple maths gives you £65k-£70k as an average.
Now let's look at the situations of each of the players and where they have previously negotiated.
Karl Temata - over £80k - signed as a world cup player from New Zealand Warriors - has had at least two contract extensions, so at least three career negotiations, in his prime a tremendous defender, would have been able to move which would have increased his salary
Danny Ward - between £80k & £100k - a former GB international and Leeds/Hull KR regular, he would easily be on a salary that exceeds £80k
Rob Purdham - over £100k - a former England international and world cup player who has re-signed for Quins when out of contract and a current world cup international, he'd be justifiably the highest earner
David Howell - over £100k - a former St George and Canberra Raiders first choice player under contract when signed (which pushes up the price) and when he was scoring close to a try a game and there were rumours Wigan wanted him, he was re-signed at his peak value
Karl Pryce - over £100k - a former Bradford, Wigan and Rugby Union player - has already had at least two very lucrative renegotiations in his career, not sure how much we pay him, but lucky for Wigan they got Charnley and Goulding through and we were desperate
Luke Dorn - over £100k - one of the highest scorers in Super League with over 100 tries since 2005, would have had many contract negotiations with his standard one year deals, he would easily earn this
Chris Bailey - over £100k - a former Manly Sea Eagles and Newcastle Knights first choice player under contract when signed, he would not have left an NRL contract on the cheap
Chad Randall - over £100k - a former Northern Eagles and Manly player, whom woulaid have been highly sought after in 2008 and again renegotiated at his maximum value
Luke Gale - high wages - a player on the fringes of the England set-up, released whilst under contract
Now if you are telling me that it is ludicrous that these mainly NRL first choice players and internationals are on below average salaries? I'm not sure it is ludicrous, facts are people get higher wages in most occupations until they become unaffordable in sport.
If you look at the other players, mainly loanees, these will be on rock-bottom or subsidised wages in the main.
It's like when Newcastle signed John Barnes, Stuart Pearce and Ian Rush on free transfers... they were still worth a fee but not the wages they once commanded, like Sean Long!
The only ones contentious as being over what is claimed, from a source close to David and one of the regulars, are Gale, due to a humble start, Temata (a fringe NRL player) and Dorn (played mainly for lower-tier clubs).
Cheers
Mark
PS Glad you enjoy (some of) the posts
PPS That's why we are paying for in my view little value, we pay on historical basis/past achievement and not what they will do in 2012
