The days of a sports club essentially owning a player are thankfully a thing of the past, but sometimes, the past does not die easily or completely, as would seem to be the case in the hissing match taking place between Newcastle and Canberra over the rights to the services of forward Joseph Tabine.
The situation has escalated to the extent that the NRL has been called in to supply mediation.
Tapine and his agent Jim Banaghan secured a four-year deal worth $2 million for Tapine to play for the Canberra Raiders next season on the expectation that the Newcastle Knights would give him an early release from his deal with them. That deal has one year remaining on it.
Newcastle seems to be stalling by saying that it needs to consult their players before making a decision. Tapine’s side claims that he has been relegated from team training and told that he would be prevented from playing NRL this year. The Knight’s side claims that Tapine’s move out of the main training group into their high performance was Tapine’s decision.
With trials underway and the season proper just weeks off, this is the type of brinkmanship that has replaced the system of the past that was more akin to indentured servitude, but this is the modern atmosphere that today pervades professional sports.
