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Chooks, SBW could touch gloves on deal this week
Josh Rakic
February 29, 2012.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...#ixzz1nid8Vh1Y
Sydney Roosters could have pen to paper on a deal with Sonny Bill Williams as early as this week, with chairman Nick Politis set to allow the All Blacks star dispensation to continue his boxing career outside of the NRL season. Team SBW and Roosters officials have been in negotiations for almost three months and after late attempts by South Sydney and former club Canterbury threw a spanner in the works, the parties have all but nutted out the final glitches in an agreement that will see the former Bulldogs prodigy join Brian Smith's side on a likely two-year deal. Gold Coast boss Michael Searle said he couldn't be happier about Williams returning to the game. ''Sonny's an absolute superstar and it's great for the game,'' Searle told The Inside Back. ''If I were Todd Greenberg, I'd be asking the NRL for a round-one match at ANZ [Stadium] in 2013. It'll be an automatic sell-out. The more stars like Sonny in the game the better. He will add at least 3000 to gate figures for the Roosters and get more people to games wherever he goes. I for one will be asking for the Roosters to play us at Skilled Park early next year.''
COOPER DEAL BREWING
Another off-contract Khoder Nasser client, Reds and Wallabies star Quade Cooper, has also been under the attention of the Sydney Roosters. The five-eighth has long said he and Sonny Bill Williams wanted to play together and it seems the Roosters are all too happy to oblige - should the price tag fit. ''He's a quality player,'' Roosters recruitment officer Peter O'Sullivan said yesterday. ''It's something we'd look at but I don't know if we'd be in a position to afford it.'' The Roosters have been in contact with Nasser about Cooper, and with Anthony Minichiello freeing up about $200,000 next season, the early departures of big-dollar recruits Todd Carney and Nate Myles, plus the fact the NRL salary cap will increase to $5 million in 2013, it seems the Roosters could find a way. However, the good oil is Cooper will ink a big-money preliminary deal with NRL expansion bid team the Brisbane Bombers - who hope to enter the competition in 2014 - and seek another one-year extension with the Reds and ARU that will see him take part in the once-in-a-career British Lions tour. Negotiations are continuing after Cooper met with Nasser in Sydney last Wednesday.
Josh Rakic
February 29, 2012.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...#ixzz1nid8Vh1Y
Sydney Roosters could have pen to paper on a deal with Sonny Bill Williams as early as this week, with chairman Nick Politis set to allow the All Blacks star dispensation to continue his boxing career outside of the NRL season. Team SBW and Roosters officials have been in negotiations for almost three months and after late attempts by South Sydney and former club Canterbury threw a spanner in the works, the parties have all but nutted out the final glitches in an agreement that will see the former Bulldogs prodigy join Brian Smith's side on a likely two-year deal. Gold Coast boss Michael Searle said he couldn't be happier about Williams returning to the game. ''Sonny's an absolute superstar and it's great for the game,'' Searle told The Inside Back. ''If I were Todd Greenberg, I'd be asking the NRL for a round-one match at ANZ [Stadium] in 2013. It'll be an automatic sell-out. The more stars like Sonny in the game the better. He will add at least 3000 to gate figures for the Roosters and get more people to games wherever he goes. I for one will be asking for the Roosters to play us at Skilled Park early next year.''
COOPER DEAL BREWING
Another off-contract Khoder Nasser client, Reds and Wallabies star Quade Cooper, has also been under the attention of the Sydney Roosters. The five-eighth has long said he and Sonny Bill Williams wanted to play together and it seems the Roosters are all too happy to oblige - should the price tag fit. ''He's a quality player,'' Roosters recruitment officer Peter O'Sullivan said yesterday. ''It's something we'd look at but I don't know if we'd be in a position to afford it.'' The Roosters have been in contact with Nasser about Cooper, and with Anthony Minichiello freeing up about $200,000 next season, the early departures of big-dollar recruits Todd Carney and Nate Myles, plus the fact the NRL salary cap will increase to $5 million in 2013, it seems the Roosters could find a way. However, the good oil is Cooper will ink a big-money preliminary deal with NRL expansion bid team the Brisbane Bombers - who hope to enter the competition in 2014 - and seek another one-year extension with the Reds and ARU that will see him take part in the once-in-a-career British Lions tour. Negotiations are continuing after Cooper met with Nasser in Sydney last Wednesday.
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