Lets sort the hype from the actual truth of the matter.
When he left Rugby League, Matt Rogers was just a winger. He wasn’t a center, not up to fullback and defiantly not a half of any sort. He was a winger, plain and simple.
On top of that, he was injury prone.
So he went over to union and of course the union PR machine kicked into gear. All of a sudden he was one of the best players in the world. In fact just the other day a union writer said before his switch Rogers was a modern day great in Rugby League!
In union, Rogers did what ever League players seems to do, he cared them up. He was playing in the halves before to long and was their golden boy. The problem was, Rogers injury problems got worse and worse to the point where he has hardly played any football at all this year.
So why on Earth have the Gold Coast Titans paid him a reported $300,000 to join the club from 2008?
An aging, injury prone winger that hasn’t played a League game for seven years. Why pay him good money that should be spend on more important areas of the field?
I have been a big supporter of what the Gold Coast has done and think their team building efforts so far have been amazing. But in my opinion this is a terrible move by the young club.
Of course, this move stirred up other news. Its now being reported that Lote Tuqiri wouldn’t mind coming back to play League after the 2007 rugby union world cup.
In return union journos are now writing articles that the australian rugby union wants to target League players like Greg Inglis of the Melbourne Storm. I wouldn’t worry to much about this though as its just PR spin by union types.
All of this because the Titans signed an old, injury prone union player!
Meanwhile rumors suggest that Karl Pryce of the Bradford Bulls has all but signed on the dotted line to switch codes from 2007 onwards.
Pryce is a great talent and his loss would be a big blow to the British game. Its these type of talented youngsters that Rugby League can not afford to lose.
