Todd transfer dispute settled

Press, 5 February 1987, Page 34

Todd transfer dispute settled

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney The Kiwi prop, Brent Todd, is set to start his career in the Sydney premiership, after Australian and New Zealand rugby league officials settled a dispute over his transfer fee. Canberra Raiders had balked at paying the sAust46,ooo ($57,040) fee asked by the New Zealand Rugby League for Todd who has signed a three-year contract with the club. Negotiations between the two national bodies brought the asking price down to

sAust4o,ooo, ($49,600) which the Raiders said was still too high, but now a deal has been struck at sAust3o,ooo ($37,200). “It has all been resolved now, many thanks to the Australian Rugby League and (its president) Ken Arthurson,” said Canberra’s secretary, John Mclntyre, yesterday. “He has on our behalf successfully negotiated the fee down to $30,000 — the amount we had sought in our submission to the A.R.L. It is set on the basis that Todd is the same as an Australian

international of the same standard, having played three tests. After three tests the fee goes up to $36,000.” Todd, aged 22, from Christchurch, has been named in the Raiders’ 20man squad for the first trial match of the season against Penrith on Saturday week. Relieved that he would now be cleared by the N.Z.R.L. to’ play in Australia, Todd said yesterday he was happy with the way things had been going since arriving in Canberra last month. Although selected in

the squad that would form the basis for the Raiders’ first grade team in the new season, he said he faced plenty of competition for a team position with four good props in the squad. “We’ve been doing an hour of fitness training and an hour of ball skills every day for the past three weeks,” he said. “Now they’ve picked, the 20-man squad we’re getting into the physical stuff — we’ve been told to wear mouthguards and shoulder pads, so it’s getting pretty serious already.”