The Book of Albert

[KNUCKLES]

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Plays for the bears..John junior

 

[Bring back the.... Biff?]

Hope he does goto Canberra.. i can still cheer for him then in some capacity. I bet parra are one of those other clubs watching the situation closely. Id imagine storm would be having a look as well.

 

[Kalvin]

Good riddance... hope we never see the hopoate name associated with Manly ever again! It's clear the family have no loyalty to the club (proven time and time again)!

 

[StuBoot]

Hope he does goto Canberra.. i can still cheer for him then in some capacity. I bet parra are one of those other clubs watching the situation closely. Id imagine storm would be having a look as well.

At least this article states that he is "looking to secure his future elsewhere" rather than the usual.
Will be interesting to see what figures are quoted when he inevitably signs elsewhere.

 

[DUFFMAN]

I think we shouldn't sign or develop anyone from the family, they aren't loyal. nothing is going to change with any others that have NRL potential.
The old man is nothing but trouble and is only interest in the dollar.

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

Once again, thankyou Bozo for courting the Hopoates of southwestern Sydney all those years ago.

It has worked out so well for Manly.

 

[Darren]

Once again, thankyou Bozo for courting the Hopoates of southwestern Sydney all those years ago.

It has worked out so well for Manly.

Schuster, Guac, Suli, Manase and his amazing brothers, Funa, sadly Keith T and Saab relationship. A load of quality juniors have come here.

 

[Moops]

Schuster, Guac, Suli, Manase and his amazing brothers, Funa, sadly Keith T and Saab relationship. A load of quality juniors have come here.

I think it's a bit too early in the piece to say all these players have/will bring success to the club. The club has been wallowing in mediocrity since 2015. Time will tell, but my gut feel is that none of these players possess any loyalty to the club. I will be happy to be proven wrong...

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

I wasn’t talking about them Darren.

However if we must, it’s a bit like complaining about the junior league being too small, “so let’s bring in some kids from somewhere else!” Then wonder why some of the talented local kids don’t want to hang around.

 

[sheridanstand78]

The Hopoate's time and time again have demonstrated that they are only loyal to themselves. This boy wanting more coin is no surprise and after what Hoppa senion said about our club in recent times its clear the boy was leaving.

Its a shame that apart from William, we never got much quality out of them. Time for Manly to move on from that clan as loyalty is a two way street and they are not interested in that!

 

[Woodsie]

I have absolutely no problem with kids from a family of 11 children from housing commission homes trying to get as much as they can ... it is the lack "good" advice they are getting that is a concern ...

 

[The Who]

It's reported that he'll be offered a "train and trial" with Canberra.
Wow, what a comedown for someone allegedly offered $250,000 per season for a guaranteed NRL top 30 spot.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I think it's a bit too early in the piece to say all these players have/will bring success to the club. The club has been wallowing in mediocrity since 2015. Time will tell, but my gut feel is that none of these players possess any loyalty to the club. I will be happy to be proven wrong...

Honestly apart from the Turbo’s do any of them ??

Loyalty to the club whilst the pay packet is there for sure but apart from probably DCE all the others wouldn’t be a part of the inner circle in 20 years.

 

[AlxFromNthNarra]

Some contrasting comments on this one - and rightly so.

I just feel sad that a player we developed, who was supported by the club over 2 serious ACL injuries, has been somewhat poisoned on the club by external influence.

Don't even know if this is what the kid wanted himself or if he was simply pushed by vested interest - John with his pathetic victim complex, and his player-Manager with the dollar-signs in his eyes.

Strikes me as somewhat short-sighted. If the club persevered with you through that and you still decided to throw that back in their face, it speaks volumes for the loss of club loyalty. That is a noticeable drop in the integrity of the game in my mind, and makes the chances of kids having an idol to follow over a career rather than just a season really low (for me, it was watching Beaver Menzies debut and then go on to become the legend we all admire)

The NRL hierarchy should allow a concession on a long-term service to a club from the Salary cap - I know it would have its pitfalls and need a seriously good system to ensure balance - but it would also allow the club to reward loyalty without it impacting on other signings. Maybe something like a 5-year run results in a 20% deduction of that player's salary from the cap, increasing marginally over time to a cap of 40-50% in the rare case of a 20-year career like Scam.

I don't feel the club did anything wrong here, other than maybe delay his debut (arguable if this was worth the criticism it garnered) - but they offered him a contract at a decent price after a modest few games with the club where he showed a lot of work was still needed.

Ultimately its good the club is bigger than an individual, as promising as he may seem. However if Albert is guided by the principles that seem to have influenced his decisions here, he will likely end up as a mercenary journeyman contract-chasing for much of his career. And its a shame that this is the state of the modern game, that we have players feeling this is the only way to realise value for themselves.

 

[Woodsie]

Some contrasting comments on this one - and rightly so.

I just feel sad that a player we developed, who was supported by the club over 2 serious ACL injuries, has been somewhat poisoned on the club by external influence.

Don't even know if this is what the kid wanted himself or if he was simply pushed by vested interest - John with his pathetic victim complex, and his player-Manager with the dollar-signs in his eyes.

Strikes me as somewhat short-sighted. If the club persevered with you through that and you still decided to throw that back in their face, it speaks volumes for the loss of club loyalty. That is a noticeable drop in the integrity of the game in my mind, and makes the chances of kids having an idol to follow over a career rather than just a season really low (for me, it was watching Beaver Menzies debut and then go on to become the legend we all admire)

The NRL hierarchy should allow a concession on a long-term service to a club from the Salary cap - I know it would have its pitfalls and need a seriously good system to ensure balance - but it would also allow the club to reward loyalty without it impacting on other signings. Maybe something like a 5-year run results in a 20% deduction of that player's salary from the cap, increasing marginally over time to a cap of 40-50% in the rare case of a 20-year career like Scam.

I don't feel the club did anything wrong here, other than maybe delay his debut (arguable if this was worth the criticism it garnered) - but they offered him a contract at a decent price after a modest few games with the club where he showed a lot of work was still needed.

Ultimately its good the club is bigger than an individual, as promising as he may seem. However if Albert is guided by the principles that seem to have influenced his decisions here, he will likely end up as a mercenary journeyman contract-chasing for much of his career. And its a shame that this is the state of the modern game, that we have players feeling this is the only way to realise value for themselves.

Agree with what you say ... Albert has become somewhat unstuck ... not for any reason other than the fact his camp talked the talk ... but when it came time to walk the walk he was left wanting ...

I have no doubt that if he had showed more promise in those few games .. he would have got all his camp were asking for either at Manly or elsewhere ...

Unfortunately his camp either didn't have the maturity, patience or common sense to adjust to a different reality ... eat some humble pie with a topping of loyalty ... and back themselves with a one year development contract to get back on track ...

As another poster has said previously ... I don't think his size and power when playing in the juniors has progressed to size and power in the NRL ....

 

[sheridanstand78]

Time to put the red pen over the Hoppa clan, they are not interested in showing loyalty to those who show loyalty to them.

It is just scandal after scandal from Hoppa Senior.

We do not need them, they are Manly juniors only in name, team Hoppa is always first!

 

[The Wheel]

Just confirmed joining Raiders on one year deal rumoured to be less than $100k

 

[winnyason]

Such a shame a junior we put time into and lose. His old man a complete cockhead and surely the club has to say no to putting time into any more of them.
The kid was shown up a fair bit but was coming off 2 acl injuries. I don't blame him his old man a piece of ****

 

[Snake]

I don't feel the club did anything wrong here, other than maybe delay his debut

Watching him play, it was clear why his debut was delayed. Not directing this at you, but what a lot of people forget when it comes to the selection table is that these guys earn their spots at training. Just because we as fans have not seen what a player has got because of opportunity, doesn't mean Des hasn't seen it at training.

He would have known that Hoppa was underdone, slow and cumbersome. He would have seen it week in/week out at training, hence the lack of opportunities he got until we were desperate due to injury.

It is the same argument when people bagged Barrett for not selecting Tom Wright to give him an opportunity and they bang on about how he was gonna be a superstar...they forget that he was playing opposed sessions at training and showed nothing.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Just confirmed joining Raiders on one year deal rumoured to be less than $100k

Well that worked out well for him didn’t it!!!