Christmas Eve. South Sydney lose one of their upcoming centre-three quarters in Beau Champion. Christmas Day, South Sydney get a 120kg turkey named Greg Inglis.
Souths junior Beau Champion has signed a three-year deal with the Melbourne Storm allowing his now former club, South Sydney, to officially sign Australian International Greg Inglis. The NRL has given their approval for the Inglis deal to go through and put an end to the saga which has been ongoing for the last seven weeks.
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The original plan was getting Champion to speak with distant cousin Inglis to contempate a move north to the Rabbitohs. Inglis decided against a stint in Redfern and instead agreed to a deal with the Brisbane Broncos replacing ex-teammate Israel Folau. The Melbourne Storm then refused to sign off on release papers to allow Inglis to join the Broncos, unless Inglis paid back the $113,000 he allegedly owed in legal costs to the Storm. The Broncos, fed up with both Inglis and the Melbourne Storm, decided to pull the pin on the whole deal in early November. This led to Inglis becoming a free agent, leaving him open to new deals from other teams.
As reported in numerous media outlets, Rabbitohs owner Russell Crowe and Ex-rugby League player and current boxing chump Anthony Mundine (yes, I meant chump - who loses to a reality contest winner ?) jumped at the opportunity for a second chance at Inglis and put the wheels in motion to pull off a massive coup and sign Inglis for the Rabbitohs in 2011.
After numerous discussions shortly after being released by Brisbane, the Rabbitohs signed Inglis to a three-year deal. It was reported the Russell Crowe used the help of mining magnate Andrew Forrest to sign Inglis and that in the deal, Forrest offered $100,000 for Inglis to promote employment of Indigenous Australians.
Crowe has been the biggest advocate for Rugby League overseas, especially in North America and was seen on Jay Leno gloating about the signing, calling Inglis 'the Lebron James of Australian Rugby League' and talking about specifics of the contract. Despite Rusty's good intentions, his appearance on American television signalled warning bells back in Australia.
After investigating the deal, The NRL said the third-party agreements in the Rabbitohs deal with Inglis did not comply with the salary cap rules as they were not independent of the club.
Souths had thrown too much into luring Inglis to Redfern and basically needed to do whatever it took to get him. Names of current South Sydney players who had been told by Souths management to find deals at other clubs, started appearing in the media. This would give Souths the space in the salary cap required to sign Inglis and have him available for 2011.
One of the names that surfaced was Beau Champion. Back when Souths initially tried to sign Inglis, they saw that Champion and Inglis would potentially be one of the most potent centre pairings in the NRL. Unfortunately for Champion, an injury late last year gave youngster Dylan Farrell an opportunity to impress and impress he did, scoring 5 tries in their last five games including a hat-trick on debut, the third of these a strong solo effort to win the game in extra-time.
This late form by the 19 year old rookie made Champion expendable if a deal Inglis was to be made. Ironically, the Souths junior has become Inglis' successor in Melbourne. Champion who saw himself as potentially playing for Souths for the entirety of his career, is now getting a fresh start with a team looking to re-build after the salary cap debacle of 2010.
Looking at the whole saga, it is clear that Souths fell in love with Inglis just like the Storm, Queensland and Australian Fans have over the past six years. Inglis, in off-seasons past has been notoriously big, but that doesn't mean he has been trying on a rap career, probably more like a 'wrap' career. Inglis has not been keeping in optimum shape after an operation on his shoulder and not being able to train with any teams. He is reportedly 120 kgs, 12 kgs over his optimum playing weight. At the end of 2010, Inglis finished in last place when put against the fastest runners from across Rugby League, Rugby Union, Football and Australian Rules.
Check out Inglis in the 2010 Footy's Fastest Man 100m sprint competition (in Red)
Weight aside he has been arguably the most feared attacking player in the NRL in recent times and has a try-scoring strike rate to boot. He has scored 78 tries in 118 games since debuting for the Storm in 2005. He has a decent record against Souths, scoring five tries against them in 7 games. It's no wonder that Souths wanted to sign this prolific scorer. Lets hope G.I. can shed the 'pre-Christmas' wrapping and help the Rabbitohs get to the finals. The Rabbitohs have only made the finals once since 1989 (2007). I can't help but think that Rugby League does need South Sydney to succeed. In such an important year for the sport with the introduction of an independent commission, the ideas that Russell Crowe has for not only his team but for Rugby League in general can only help the game progress both here and overseas.
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