0
![Not allowed!](images/buttons/down_dis.png)
![Not allowed!](images/buttons/up_dis.png)
NSW may release Hewat early
Sunday, April 22, 2007
The Waratahs may consider granting Peter Hewat a release from the final year of his contract should the champion point scorer wish to pursue a big-money move overseas.
Hewat's forgettable Super 14 season continued on Saturday night when he missed with a conversion attempt that, had it been successful, would have given the Waratahs a morale-boosting comeback victory over the Highlanders at Aussie Stadium.
Alas, for the second time in a month, Hewat hooked his shot at glory, leaving the Waratahs second-from-bottom in a wooden-spoon battle with Queensland after falling 26-25 to the visiting New Zealanders.
It was an unfortunate finish for Hewat, whose two late tries and 20-point haul on the night had actually put the Waratahs in a winning position after they trailed 26-6 with 13 minutes remaining.
Hewat, the competition's leading point scorer in 2005 and second on NSW's all-time point scorers' list behind only Matthew Burke, missed a sitter against the Crusaders four weeks ago and probably can't wait for the Waratahs' campaign to be over.
But coach Ewen McKenzie refused to blame the misfiring fullback for NSW's latest heartbreak in a season laced with disappointments.
"Goalkicking's like lineout throwing, there's no joy or love in it. Everyone just expects you to do it really well," McKenzie said today.
"He's kicked a heap of goals from the sideline for us this year and he's kicked a lot of goals from further out than he's ever kicked them before, so he's actually kicked a lot of tougher kicks than I ever thought he would this year.
"But he's missed some of the easier ones, which has been ironic. I wouldn't say that was an easy kick [against the Highlanders], so I wasn't sitting there thinking this is a gimme."
Having been continually overlooked for Wallabies selection since bursting onto the Super rugby scene in 2004, Hewat's fading hopes of breaking into the Test arena have all but evaporated this season, prompting speculation he may look to end his career in Europe.
In France, the 29-year-old could earn three to four times as much as the $150,000 a season he makes at the Waratahs.
At 34, George Gregan will pocket €400,000 ($653,000) for a six-month stint with Toulon after completing his Wallabies commitments at this year's World Cup and Hewat's goalkicking makes him an equally valuable commodity.
While McKenzie indicated he would prefer Hewat to stay and honour his contract, he said the Waratahs also needed to be fair to the player.
"There's a human element in all this," McKenzie said. "I don't think you want to be too bloody-minded about it.
"We've always had a philosophy to try to develop players for the national team and if it becomes clear that someone's never going to play for the national team ... and we're not talking about a 20-year-old here.
"We're talking about a guy that's [almost] 30-plus and there's some big opportunities for him.
"He's had really serious offers thrown at him from overseas and he's spurned those over the last couple of years - and rightly so because we've had him on contract.
"We'll just see what the lie of the land is come Wallabies selection time."
While Hewat's future remains uncertain, the Waratahs were thrilled today to have re-signed young Test prop Benn Robinson for another three seasons.
Robinson's signing comes hot on the heels of the retention of fellow Wallabies Lote Tuqiri, David Lyons and Brett Sheehan.
NSW's priorities now are to retain Morgan Turinui, Al Baxter
, Matt Dunning
and Dean Mumm (fair enough
).
AAP
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
It's all relevtive. He also scored the try that gave us a chance at winning a game we had no right winning.Originally Posted by Burgs
He certainly will be remembered as a prolific scorer and intercept machine with the Tahs and dispite his misses in the crusaders and highlanders game, one of the best goalkickers in this country at the moment.
Has Stapleton re-signed with the Force yet?![]()
They may as well let him go. It's not like the Tahs are going to be like the Force and turn around in a year. If he feels that he has been held back then it's time to move on. Just like a few other players who moved last year and are now having a major impact in Super 14.
I picked the tahs, so close...Let him go Tahs, looks like he can earn a decent crust overseas and at thirty, he hasn't got too many years left to earn the real moolah...
Proudly bought to you by a brewery somewhere....
Yah, let him go earn some bucks. I can't think who would replace him though, we're a tad short of fullbacks in this country at the moment.
Burkies possibly coming back, well on holidays at least...ARU are gonna try to convince him to don the green and gold again...At least, that is what Sunrise are telling us...Thanks kochie
Proudly bought to you by a brewery somewhere....
Oh, yeah that's for the Wallabies June tests. Which he's already rejected but apparently no means yes hehe.
Hell would freeze over twice (at least) before Burke came back to the Tahs. Too much bad blood.
IMHO they should look to molding Turner into a #15.
He has the skills and has played there before at Rep level.
The bigger plus is there isn't really any other of his generation (yet) sticking their hands up at Fullback while we do have some really good other Wing prospects of around the same age.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
In terms of Wallabies selection, Burgs? Yeah definitely, there are a few more wing options for the future, especially at U21 level, it's an exciting prospect.
Turner would get a bit more space to work his magic from fullback, he's been getting the ball way too late and too flat to do much with it in recent weeks.
In terms of the Waratahs, it once again leaves a whole at 14, Siale or Jacobs might be a possibility... But I wouldn't put the house on that.
In terms of both really, there is a better chance of finding a Wing, within NSW or from another Squad, than finding a Fullback.
There really is only a handful of true experienced Fullbacks in Australian S14 Squads.
Never seen Siale or Jacobs do anything to suggest them being worth a go but stranger things have happened.
From outside of S14 I think Nigel Stanniforth deserves a really good look at, his performances for Sydney Uni in the last couple of seasons have been excellent.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Yeah little spanner is on the fringe, same as Siale and Jacobs were. He's been on the End of Season tour a couple of times I believe and has performed well. He would be worth a look-in for the wing.![]()
Hasn't big spanner done a bit of fullbacking? Was he any good?
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.
Moreso when he was overseas than for the Tahs but I heard he was pretty useful there.
Scored another hat-trick for the students on the weekend. I reckon he'll be one of the players to really gain from the ARC.Originally Posted by Burgs
Does he need help packing his bags? I'd shove Turinui and Baxter in his bags too but it'd be well too far over the weight limit. You'd need a frigging cargo carrier to haul that much dead weight.
This is my signature.