Marquee player....

[TigerLad]

Last season we lost more players than we gained, surely this means that we will have freed up a bit of cap space (losing Alex and Agulla helps with this). Why have we not used this to get a marquee player? I know that you can only nominate a player that has been at the club for three years but doesn't this mean we could nominate Castro who I am sure is on a large salary, and then use the cap space freed up by nominating Castro to buy a quality player. Does anyone know why we haven't been able to do this?

[Purebob]

I can think of a dozen good reasons to not publicly announce who is the marquee player and not many reasons for announcing it.

Also as I understand it we had a larger squad than usual last season to accommodate the RWC so more were always going to go than arrive.

[hooking_king]

Because why bother? Where would you like to see a 'big name' signing? We have talent in every position and more importantly Cockers tends to sign quality players that people know little about or haven't been in great form at their previous clubs, and then mould them into the Leicester way (I am thinking of Agulla and Salvi in particular, but also Waldrom and Mafi).

I know a 'big name' attracts the crowds, but I like that Leicester very rarely sign marquee players. I think the club will be juggling the numbers behind the scenes and freeing up space for the moment someone who fits the club culture becomes available. I'd rather the money saved was reinvested in the Academy and we start to bring through a few more English youngsters.

[WhitecapTiger]

Why have we not used this to get a marquee player?

Sum of the parts.....not parts of the sum.

Besides, Goneva looks quality, and he broadly/loosely fits in with what hooking_king said:

more importantly Cockers tends to sign quality players that people know little about or haven't been in great form at their previous clubs, and then mould them into the Leicester way (I am thinking of Agulla and Salvi in particular, but also Waldrom and Mafi).

Let's see how much those teams that have signed a "Marquee" player (I hate the term) have achieved by the end of the season, and how much of it is down to that "Marquee" player. It may work for them, it may not, a big name (big head?) signing may disrupt more than it gels a team.

[Johnnyg]

There is, as I understand it, no obligation to publish or announce who, if anyone, has been nominated as a marquee player. It may well already have happened, and is probably Castro.

[jgriffin]

Not declaring seems the better course - think about Donald at Bath, not a wild success, a good player but no more, and open to criticism such as 'he's the marquee player'. We all suspect Castro is the chosen one but do we care if it frees up cash to pay some emerging good players?
I suspect it was all a Craig ploy to free up the cash for Carter!

[TigerLad]

What I meant was that if we have nominated Castro we will have a bit of money left to spend on players like Mafi or Waldrom. When I said quality player I didn't mean Dan Carter.

[JWM]

I don't play cards, but I do know that it is not a good to show one's hand.

[jgriffin]

What I meant was that if we have nominated Castro we will have a bit of money left to spend on players like Mafi or Waldrom. When I said quality player I didn't mean Dan Carter.

What I meant was the idea was originally Bruce Craig's and his initial target was supposedly Carter - he actually ended up with Donald, no comparison alas.

[gilamonster]

Potential premiership marquee players;

Bath - Donald / Classens / Louw / Hooper / Perinise / Wilson
Exeter - Mumm / Johnson / Hayes / Naqelevuki
Gloucester - Cowan / Morgan / Hamilton / Wood
Harlequins - Evans / Robshaw
Leicester - Castro
London Irish - Corbisiero / O' Leary
London Welsh - Henson
Northampton - Tonga'uiha / Mujati / Hartley / Lawes / Wood
Sale - Gray / Cipriani / Peel / Powell / Fourie / Tuitupou
Saracens - Smit / Ashton / Brits / Joubert
Wasps - Haskell / S. Jones / Palmer / Poff
Worcester - Mullan / Best / Lemi / Matavesi / Taumoepeau

*All manner or extra considerations like; market value when signed, length of contract, perks, etc. Thoughts?

[hugh.st]

Potential premiership marquee players;

Bath - Donald / Classens / Louw / Hooper / Perinise / Wilson
Exeter - Mumm / Johnson / Hayes / Naqelevuki
Gloucester - Cowan / Olly Morgan / Hamilton / Wood
Harlequins - Evans / Robshaw
Leicester - Castro
London Irish - Corbisiero / O' Leary
London Welsh - Henson
Northampton - Tonga'uiha / Mujati / Hartley / Lawes / Wood
Sale - Gray / Cipriani / Peel / Powell / Fourie / Tuitupou
Saracens - Smit / Ashton / Brits / Joubert
Wasps - Haskell / S. Jones / Palmer / Poff
Worcester - Mullan / Best / Lemi / Matavesi / Taumoepeau

Actually the marquee rule can only be applied to players who have been at the club for at least three years so only the bolded players count. Though I am assuming that Palmer and Haskell don't count for Wasps as their three years at the club was ended by them moving to France.

[gilamonster]

Hmmm, I had missed the three year thingummy but I believe it only applies to signings from other English clubs.

http://tinyurl.com/ESPN-scrum

[CitizenSmiff]

The marquee player allowance was brought in to be an olive branch to the clubs to avoid confronting the real issue, which is a salary cap allowance for players away on England duty. We could have Carter and Sonny Bill if we were allowed to spend THAT money!

[sam16111986]

Castro will be designated the marquee signing. New contracts for the likes of Mulipola, Morris, Flood and Cole (as well as several academy graduates) with Salvi actually coming under the salary cap (he was an injury joker last season for Newby) mean that we have spent the difference.

The squad is looking stronger than last seasons so I'd say Cockers et al have done a good job.

As for the three year thingy I think that only applies to English players, as I thought that was to stop the bigger clubs stealing the best English talent from the smaller clubs and using the marquee rule to out bid the club that produced the talent. The idea being that the bigger clubs who have money could supplement their squads with a bigger name to draw attention to the league but at the same time not be allowed to spend substantially more than the less well off teams and hence ruin the competitive nature of the league.