Rebels Get Geniaed

[GAFFA]

Melbourne Rebels angry after Bernard Foley backflipped on agreement to join them an re-signed with Waratahs

MELBOURNE have been left seething after star Waratahs five-eighth Bernard Foley backflipped on an agreement to join the Rebels in 2014 and re-signed with NSW this week.
Despite signing a letter of intent last week after coming to terms with the Rebels, Foley had a change of heart and informed Melbourne he would not go through with the deal.

It is understood Foley has since nailed down a new contract with the Tahs - news that will please Waratahs fans who were last week shattered by the prospect of losing the gifted playmaker.

But the Rebels are a long way from pleased, after believing they'd snapped up the promising Foley with an "overs" offer.

Foley was sufficiently swayed by the sales pitch of Rebels recruitment boss Sam Cordingley to put pen to paper after a meeting in Sydney.

One source close to the negotiation process said Foley's backflip is the first time in at least a decade a player has backtracked on a signed letter of intent to join another Australian club.

Read More : http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/...-1226657298708

[jargan83]

@ Melbourne

You never have your man until a signature is on a contract

[The InnFORCEr]

TSS (Team Song Syndrome)

[maelkann]

What's the legal standing of a 'letter of intent'?

[shasta]

A letter of intent is a non-legally binding written gesture and agreement between candidate and prospective employer........................................mo st candidates with any scruples will not sign a letter of intent, lest they truly, truly intend to take the position.

- http://www.franklinjoseph.com/letter-of-intent.html

[Herbasimplex]

letter of intent - pfft - completely pointless except for journos wanting easy copy. Has no legal basis or effect. A signature on a contract is everything as the force well know.

[GIGS20]

Sorry guys, but the joy at seeing the Rebels shafted in this way is exactly why tic and TOCC think our reaction to Genia was a beat up based upon our one-eyed force-ism.

Bernard Foley has proven to have exactly as little honour (actually in truth a bit less honour) as Digby, Genia and all the other backstabbing bastards who have pulled this shit on the Force.

The Tahs have also proven why the whole country detest them. This shit doesn't look good for rugby and makes the Tahs look even more dirty.

Just like Genia, does anybody honestly think Foley has signed for the tarts based upon the number on the page? I don't! If this has occurred, it is purely because the tahs have found a way to hide a massive payment which has blown the Rebels' offer and Foley's integrity out of the water.

It seems the powerbrokers of australian rugby are just as dirty as they ever were and the Rebels will need to learn the hard lesson that the Force have.....grow your own, or be eternally poor performers.

[maelkann]

What joy, GIGS20? I think it would suck to be a Rebels supporter right now, and wouldn't wish the same thing on them after it happened to us.

[Herbasimplex]

Swings and roundabouts. Don't think Melbourne have done anything wrong but it's a bit rich of them to be complaining about the actions of the tahs. They are perfectly entitled to continue to talk to Foley until he puts pen to paper on a legally binding contract. If fingers should be pointed here it should be at Foley. It seems like he gave the nod to the Rebels after negotiations and then signed an improved contact with the tahs. He used the process to extract a few more $$ from the tahs. Foley and his manager are probably high-fiving themselves right now. That's business but not terribly gentlemanly.

The thing that sticks in the craw with the Genia thing is the actions of the QRU, where they publicly leaked details of confidential negotiations that the force had with Genia in order pressure Genia into reneging on the deal that he had agreed to in principle with the force. This generated a lot of negative comment for the force in the context of a mid season slump with the loss or our coach and difficulty in obtaining results on the field.

The QRU threw the force and Genia into the sh1te and walked away with his contract smelling like roses and the ARU did zip about it, while we get slapped with a fine for whispering into a player’s ear.

[jargan83]

Sorry guys, but the joy at seeing the Rebels shafted in this way is exactly why tic and TOCC think our reaction to Genia was a beat up based upon our one-eyed force-ism.

It was wasn't it though?

Genia hadn't penned a contract so was still available for anyone to swoop in and sign him and the QRU did just that

[GIGS20]

It wasnt one eyed from me (and I have a habit of becoming one eyed) If Foley decides in a couple of years to sign for the Force, I would now react in the same way as I would for Genia, Ioane or JOC, regardless of the fact that he's not done a bloody thing to harm the Force, he doesn't deserve any favours from me and would have to prove himself worthy of respect before I would give an inch.

Others have had an automatic inclusion into the club just by pulling on the ocean blue. (MMM, Hodgeo, Rory Walton, Shep......long list really) others have had to suffer various levels of 'I'm skeptical about this one' (Dunning, Maafu) with varying levels of success. Some have looked the goods only to prove themselves either useless or completely self involved dicks (Giteau, JOC, Digby)

In the long run, The ocean blue doesn't place you automatically into the GIGS20 rugby hall of fame, but it can give the benefit of the doubt to an unknown quantity until he proves himself.

Foley is as up himself as the worst in this whole contracting game.......would probably fit in pretty well at the Tahs, but is more suited to the Reds contracting protocols where it's stab your grandmother for a buck!