Conspiracy Theory with ARU Contracts

By all accounts up until a couple days ago, JOC had verbally agreed to the EWF offer and had since been waiting for the ARU side of the deal to come through.....
Do you think theres any chance that an offer from the ARU may have had extra incentives for JOC to switch teams? Thus the change of mind and request for more $$ and other conditions from rugby WA in order to stay? It would be in the ARU's interest for the Rebels to be successful in Melbourne and high profile players like him can be used to raise the profile and market the code in melbourne.
I know im grasping at straws but it seems wierd we've been stung twice with digby agreeing to the force contract verbally and it was during the ARU contract negotiations that all of a sudden he decided to go to the reds, who at that time were still crap while the Force seemed to be on the up.
I could use Berrick Barnes as another example where he requested the Reds management to move mountains for him and when they did and it appeared he was content to stay at the reds, he changed his mind during the ARU side of negotiations and switched to the tahds. Maybe the reds have Barnes to thank for cleaning out the dead wood in management.
By all accounts he had told all suitors last week he was only considering the Force.

You'd think that the ARU would want him to stay in Perth, where the Force would appear to be up-and-coming, giving the ARU at least 3 strong sides.

But, I see the point about Melbourne - bigger market, more dollars. But even adding JOC is not going to make them competitive, and it's only a short-term deal. As we saw when the force were first launched, a few big names isn't enough to make a team competitive.

Unless all they're thinking about is the "pin-up boy" marketing dollars!

Doubt it, probably just cold feet at the last minute
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Originally Posted by TOCC

Doubt it, probably just cold feet at the last minute
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If his feet are cold, Melbourne's climate won't help!

Digby went back to Queensland because he was looking at another season behind Cam Shepherd, Drew Mitchell and Scott Staniforth and wanted game time. An international coach was taking over at Brisbane and, although he'd verbally agreed to re-sign, saw a good opportunity. It just turned out that Eddie Jones didn't work out for Queensland. I don't think you could blame the ARU in that. That move was for good for Australian rugby and I don't regret the fact he left.

I imagine the ARU deal would have been effectively stitched up weeks ago. Maybe the game against the Reds had something to do with it. Not that he should be complaining too loudly about anyone else in that one. O'Connor wanting a one year deal was always going to be a sticking point.

No loyalty
I dare say the RWA offer was nothing to be sneezed at nor was his 3rd party deal. RWA needs to recruit locals. Hire for attitude and train for skill. Many elite sportsmen are grafters that get out of bed before evrybody else and train harder than everybody else. They are usually grateful for an opportunity and when they get one show a little loyalty to those who gave them a go.