Izzy gone?

[westdog54]

I'm simply questioning the assertion that he was never going to make it. I for one never thought I'd see Mike Pyke play in a premiership side and he never played Aussie Rules as a youngster either. As for how much Folau was paid...that's a different matter.

Mike Pyke played as a lock forward in rugby so he would have needed to be strong and have good hands overhead to contest lineouts, plus his fitness base would have needed to be reasonably high as forwards don't always have the luxury of being subbed in the second half, so he had a bit of a head start in terms of skill set when compared to Israel.

[always right]

Mike Pyke played as a lock forward in rugby so he would have needed to be strong and have good hands overhead to contest lineouts, plus his fitness base would have needed to be reasonably high as forwards don't always have the luxury of being subbed in the second half, so he had a bit of a head start in terms of skill set when compared to Israel.

Did you watch Folau play Rugby League? He was known for his overhead skills when the ball was kicked high to him. Many commentators claimed he had skills that might help him move over to AFL.

As for Pyke...I would have thought his biggest challenge was what many newcomers to Aussie Rules discover....reading the play is difficult.

[westdog54]

Did you watch Folau play Rugby League? He was known for his overhead skills when the ball was kicked high to him. Many commentators claimed he had skills that might help him move over to AFL.

As for Pyke...I would have thought his biggest challenge was what many newcomers to Aussie Rules discover....reading the play is difficult.

The difference is that Folau was so vastly superior in that field that semi-reasonable skills overhead got him through. Pyke was competing in the air against blokes that were probably better than him.

[LostDoggy]

Five Words
What a waste of money!
Do we really believe this was anything but a gimmick.
They're rusted on NRL up there and Falou or not was never going to sway them.

What chance are GWS to be clearing salary cap space for Tippet?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought Izzy was paid with AFL start up money issued to the new club for their marketing and Advertising? I always thought it was clever since they got far more exposure putting it into poaching a high profile NRL player rather than spending it on billboards, news papers an tv commercials.
Also not sure, but being a first year player i thought he doesn't come under salary cap restrictions? Hence this wouldn't be a "cap clearing" exercise?

[GVGjr]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought Izzy was paid with AFL start up money issued to the new club for their marketing and Advertising? I always thought it was clever since they got far more exposure putting it into poaching a high profile NRL player rather than spending it on billboards, news papers an tv commercials.
Also not sure, but being a first year player i thought he doesn't come under salary cap restrictions? Hence this wouldn't be a "cap clearing" exercise?

Some of his money was via the AFL but I still think a decent amount was under the salary cap of GWS.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Some of his money was via the AFL but I still think a decent amount was under the salary cap of GWS.

The GWS CEO said that only Folaus senior games played counted against the cap, so it may not give them much cap relief but its still operating money that they can better use to get on field improvement.

Regardless I think Tippett will end up at GWS and they really are building a powerhouse