Quote: NickyKiss "Of course the ‘sign up for two years and we’ll let you go for a fee in the third year’ deals are better then players just walking out the door for free but I can’t help but wonder why we can’t get players to just sign up on deals for 4 or 5 years with no pre built stipulations?
Saints have tied Makinson, Walmsley and Lomax to deals with no in built stipulations, as have Warrington with Hill, Clark, Currie and Ratchford, Leeds with Watkins, Hull with Taylor and so on, so we can’t sit here and prentend it’s fantastic business that we manage to get our lads on these deals. Ultimately the best deals are that your best players stay at your club and ours do not.'"
Liam Farrell
Oliver gildart
Tom Davies
Liam Marshall
Ryan sutton
Zak hardaker
Joe Burgess
Ben flower
Sean o'loughlin x 3 or 4
Dan sarginson
Etc.
Etc.
All signed contracts in the last 2/3 or 4 years that didn't have get out clauses
We've had Sam tomkins in 2011
John bateman signed one in 2015
Both Top properties that had expressed desire to go to the NRL, having deals with those clauses in IMO helped secure their services for the first 2/3 years of their contracts.
Not sure if there were any more? But not an avalanche.
And those clubs you mention have lost players they didnt want to, to the nrl in that time, they didnt get any teenager fees for them though.