{"id":115578,"date":"2021-08-13T06:28:07","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T06:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=115578"},"modified":"2021-08-13T10:59:04","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T10:59:04","slug":"fittler-claims-burton-undercut-on-bulldogs-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=115578","title":{"rendered":"Fittler claims Burton 'undercut' on Bulldogs deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby league great Brad Fittler<\/a> has called for the NRL to overhaul its current signing system, labelling it "utterly ridiculous".<\/p>\n

Current NRL rules allow players to sign with rival teams a year out from their contracts coming to an end.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>MORE: <\/strong>Phil Gould's big Bulldogs admission over Matt Burton deal<\/a><\/p>\n

Penrith's Matt Burton<\/a> and Melbourne's Josh Addo-Carr are two players to have done this, both agreeing to deals with the Canterbury Bulldogs from 2022 onwards, but remaining with their current clubs for the 2021 season.<\/p>\n

Fittler said Burton had "undercut himself" by agreeing to a two-year deal with the Bulldogs last year<\/a>, prior to a stellar 2021 season which could've seen him command a more lucrative deal.<\/p>\n

"I enjoy the mid-year swaps and there's a period for that. Players signing a year out, I find utterly ridiculous," Fittler told Wide World of Sports' Freddy and the Eighth<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

"Other than serving a manager well, I think it's ridiculous. I just can't see any benefit for anyone. It doesn't help fans, it doesn't help clubs, it might help managers, it doesn't really help players that much. <\/p>\n

"This is a great example where he's halved his money. [Gus] will look after him because he's going to be the marquee player. <\/p>\n

"He's undercut himself. I think the whole system needs to be shook up. It's ridiculous you can sign a year out and play, I just can't see it benefitting anyone. Give me any excuse you want to say that it works, and it's not going to wear."<\/p>\n

When questioned about Burton's Bulldogs deal, newly-installed Canterbury football boss, Phil Gould, suggested the 21-year-old would be looked after.<\/p>\n

"What I will say is that I've never ever, ever in my life had a player underpaid at any club I've been that. They've never been underpaid, whether they're on contract or not," he told Nine's 100% Footy <\/em>this week.<\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/p>\n

Burton has gone from strength to strength this season for Penrith, particularly in the absence of skipper Nathan Cleary, impressing both Fittler and fellow league great Andrew Johns.<\/p>\n

"He's shown again, not only did he bring a performance like that with the Roosters, he also did it against Melbourne without Nathan, he's done it a couple of times without some of the big-name players there," Fittler said.<\/p>\n

"He's shown that not only can he complement the team and play center and score tries, [he can star]."<\/p>\n

"I didn't know he was this good a player," Johns added.<\/p>\n

"I watched him in lower grades and I thought he was a really good game-manager, he had a really good kicking game, but I didn't see this speed and evasion and attack. He is just truly elite."<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby league great Brad Fittler has called for the NRL to overhaul its current signing system, labelling it "utterly ridiculous". Current NRL rules allow players […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115578"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115580,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115578\/revisions\/115580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}