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Brenton Higgins gave a good interview, but it still doesn't hide the fact that somebodies pure incompetence caused an 'administrative blunder'. There will never be a scapegoat for all these blunders than continously go on.

In my profession, a blunder like that would normally mean a guilty person walking free, or getting annilated in the box by a Magistrate or Solicitor (on public record in a public forum) for sloppy work with the potential for an internal bashing from the bosses.

Sorry, but administrative blunders are not an excuse in my books.

I just wish that someone, either the 36ers management or even Willy's manager or Willy himself would actually come out and give a true version of events and where things are going so people can either say 'cool, we have Willy on board' or 'let's go shopping, what do we need'. This limbo that is currently going on has gone on way too long.

the be honest im sick of farley.i rekon a new sixer import is needed to bring fans to the game.and basically a whole new team of new faces.

What I want to know is why with all the to-ing and fro-ing over the last few weeks, why ad "administrative blunder" was onyl found today?

Do they really want us to beleive that when Farley rejected the deal initially, that management didnt go back to the contract and look at what they could do....and if they did, why the error wasnt picked up then?

Are they trying to cover up the fact that they have given into to Farley's demands by using the "blunder" or is the person who was handling this (who ever it may be) really that incompetent that they didnt discover the error until today.

If events reported in The Tiser last week are true, and Farley was asking for the slight pay rise, and found the 36ers offer unacceptable, surely people would have been going over figures trying to tweak what they could.

Or was it just a once up "Take it or leave it" offer to him?

Once again...more questions over potentially bungled management handlings, which us, the fans, who pay these peoples wages, will never get answered.

Anyone else feeling a big BIG sense of impending doom?

Hey Yogee,

I think too much is being read into the Farley saga.

There's been no error with the 36ers offer to Farley. My info has been that they have been clear and open with Farley's agent from the very beginning and there really hasn't been too much negotiation on the 36ers part.

They were open with his agent from the beginning and let him know that 7 players had already signed. They let him know that they were not going to horse trade and were willing to miss out on the chance of picking up anyone other than a minimum player for the final 2 spots (ie a $21k player).

The figures were pretty easy. $736k - seven contracted players - $42k = offer to Farley. They made it clear that was best they could offer.

Not only that but they have offered the security of 3 years (which isn't common for import players) with the promise that an even further year or two may be added before the end of next season meaning that Farley could end up playing out his career as a 36er.

All sounds fair enough and we are talking six figure salary for each of those years.

Don't you think it is coincidental the day they revoke contract and mention a name such as Wethers that Farley's agent actually takes his finger out and now it looks like the deal will be accepted?

I see it all the time with legal proceedings where deals are rejected as totally unsatisfactory, only for the same deals to be accepted pre-trial.

I don't think a discussion for heads to roll are fair at a time where it looks like Farley is going to sign for what has been offered all the time.

If there was in fact an administrative bungle then I ask you what that bungle actually was? If you don't know and are going by the Channel 7 report then we should all find out what the 'blunder' actually was before criticising the 36ers.

For all we know the 'administrative bungle' could be polite talk for the agent didn't know we were serious until we started talking about players like Wethers.

At the end of the day if Farley is signed then there is nothing to complain about.

Stephon, what do you think Wethers is doing in the meantime while all this indecisiveness is going on with Farley. Do you think the NBL MVP/highest scorer is just hanging about waiting for Farley to make up his mind?

I agree cheezeburger,yes,no,yes,no,yes Im so sick of the clubs crap!The 36ers should have learned last time when willie split for west sydney.
Farley and Adelaide work well together,thats a fact.
Should have been signed up in the middle of last season!

I don't know what the deal is with Wethers, EC.

All I know is that Farley is the preferred option and in fairness probably deserves to be.

True he has had a long time to make up his mind but I was one of those fans whinging that we should have waited for Farley in 2003 rather than sign Thomas so it would be unfair to backflip now and say that we shouldn't give Farley some extra time.

I just hope the reports on this forum are correct and that Farley has signed.

Wethers is a great player and I am sure there are other great imports out there but I won't be complaining if the 36ers imports are Farley and Rychart for the next 3 years!

I definitely believe they are the best import combo in the league.

So do we actually know if this "administrative blunder" actually does exist? Or is it just Willie's agent trying to come up with an excuse to deflect blame from himself. It looks to me as though he tried to call the Sixers bluff and it didnt work. Resulting in some fast phonecalls and backpedalling on the agents behalf. He has then thrown in some admin blunder talk to the mix to try and cover his arse!

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Statman -- no mention of any "blunder" in The Advertiser's mention of the negotiations today, though they say that the deal could take up to 10 days to finalise.

Could be that the reported blunder came from the agent's end, and not from the club? Either way, it's a convenient excuse to backtrack if that's the case.

Hopefully any bitter feelings are left with Farley's agent and not with Farley himself.

Im thinkink that Wethers will be heading up to Europe or trying for the NBA before he trys for the sixers spot.

He was MVP-Leading scorer! He took a pay cut to make a name in the L, hell go to euro i reckon.

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RG, I think I have been reasonably understanding and supportive of the 36ers position, in that they have to balance player demands with financial constraints and the money pit isn't bottomless. But lets not get carried away with the Farley signing, if it eventually happens. We still haven't signed Maher and we haven't replaced Rees. In Higgins interview he said they expect to recruit a better team than last season. At the moment they still have a fair bit of work to do for that to happen because so far all we've done is retained some of last years team with no evidence that we have seriously attempted to recruit much else.

So it's not a definite yet that Farley has signed? He's just expected to in the next 10 days? Can this deal fall through at all again?

Stephon

Are you saying that Farley is going to be on $42,000 a year or did i read that wrong? There is no way our second best player is going to be on 42k a year.

$42k is the combined value of two minimum-salary players. i.e., the current 6 signins + Farley + Maher = 2 development players or otherwise moving into the ten.

Can confirm that the blunder is at Willie's end and not the fault of the sixers.

I agree with Isaac, this looks more like back pedalling from Willie's agent especially using that "blunder" excuse. The Sixers put their best offer to Willie and his agent and they knocked it back hoping to get more, which happens in negotiations. When the sixers said fine, we'll look at Wethers, he's cheaper anyway, Willie's agent came back and agreed on the same deal that was offered previously. In the Advertiser today they reported that the offer Willie and his agent agreed to was the same one they offered before. That they had given him the best deal possible and they weren't prepared to breach the salary cap. Sounds like they did the right thing for a change and they are going to get rewarded by it with the signing of Farley.
Good business by the Sixers...finally!

The blunder is a discrepancy between Willie's agent and Willie.

From what i understand the agent seems to have upped his fee with out Willie's knowledge this therefore made Willie's take home less.

Willie then thought that the sixers were making him take a pay cut which in actual fact they were not just the agent taking more of his pay

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Administrative blunder - yeah right! IMO it's clearly one of three scenarios:

1) a backflip from Farley's management with Higgins calling it a blunder to save their face

2) The Sixers came to the table with a little under the table payment. This goes on in all salary capped sports.

3) IMO the most likely: The deal was done long ago. This is a clever marketing exercise to increase exposure and awareness for the 36ers. Think about how much this whole deal has been in the press, on the news and radio and how much talk it's created. The Sixers have previously lacked Marketing initiative and I think they've redeemed themselves to some extent. With the Maher and Rees replacement announcements to come let's hope it's all good news.

Any thoughts?

Sawmeinhalf, see Noti Bagy's post (#35638).

Noti Bagy, speculation or fact?

A dose of reality. Sixers sign Farley sign Dusty. Team finished fifth last year, top 4 go to semis Sixers didn't. Where is the improvement coming from assuming the coach is correct and the team "overachieved" then by definition they will not do as well as last season. Can a team over achieve two years in a row? This team would not strike fear into the hearts of contenders. Cooper in the middle? Improvement from Forman? Maher a year older. Hill? This team is bottom half. One of the big three get hurt it's all over. As they say only a fool does the same thing and expects a different result. Same team and we expect to do better! Pre season picks. 1. Sydney 2. Brisbane 3.Woolongong, 4. Townsville, 5. Melbourne 6. Cairns 7 Adelaide etc.

Axel Dench is back from Europe playing in the SEABL, temporarily or permanently?

Is he after a starting centre spot on an NBL team by any chance?

I think it was only rumoured that they were going to spend less than the 100%.

In any event assuming that Farley accepts deal then the entire cap and then some (legal exclusions such as employment on the side) will be spent.

Jay, you are probably right in that we did appear to over achieve last year (well at least in the regular season).

I wouldn't have tipped the 36ers to finish 4th in the regular season.

However, the reality was we had a crazy road record but were very disappointing on the road. Key injuries to Maher and Dusty (as well as our poor road record) probably cost us a top 2 finish and home court advantage in the semi-finals.

We don't have to be twice as good next season to contend. The improvement that will come from Holmes, Forman and Hill will hopefully be enough to keep us in the top 4. Having Nash instead of Gower is a huge positive if he stays healthy.

Maher, Dusty and Farley are consistent performers (all 3 are arguably all NBL quality).

Definitely not a chump team.

Sydney and Brisbane look very good at this stage but are definitely beatable (ie is Brisbane more talented than the Melbourne Tigers of last year).

The rest of the league looks pretty even at this early stage and import signings will determine where teams like Perth rate compared to us.

You guys seem to be forgetting that Cairns will be starting Burgess (most dominant centre in the league alongside Bradtke), Cattalini (Olympic level player), Mee (premier PG in the competition) and then backing that up with Stewart (streaky, but can score 20-30 every couple of games), Thomas (no weaker, can still drop those shots), Grabau (underrated), Crosswell (great back-up PG and decent starting SG).

Pairing Mee with Burgess and Cat should be very effective.

Sixers are one reasonable big man short of a competitive line-up IMO. Unless Rees or someone else signs for minimum, I think things might be difficult.

Stephon mate, I really don't think we're going to get that much more out of Jacob and Oscar. Oscar may pull a couple more boards down extra per game but that would be about it.
A lot of teams are making changes and when you compare the Sixers list to other teams I think they will struggle come playoff time. They are definately not the worst team out there but they won't be able to compete with Brisbane, Sydney and Townsville.
What if one of the big three get injured or are closed down, we don't really have anyone else to step up.
I like the way Jay put it..."As they say only a fool does the same thing and expects a different result. "

I think all QLD teams in Brisbane, Cairns and Townsville will be tough.

Even some of the other teams like New Zealand, Perth, etc won't be easy beats.

Will be a very even league but Adelaide will be up there.

Hopefully, we will be able to get a wide body such as Rees or Truslove to back-up Cooper if they are prepared to play for bugger all and don't have any better options.

The one thing that is more important than Basketball Talent is Basketball Chemistry...and the sixers ooozzed it last year. Cairns could turn out to be another Melbourne Tigers outfit (10 deep) but may not gel as well as we will

That will be the test Panther.

I don't think we can get much more out of Maher, Dusty or Farley.

What we got out of the supporting cast of Holmes, Forman, Ng and Cooper was almost enough to pull off a top 2 finish.

Forman had a better than expected year but I think we all expected more from Holmes scoring wise.

If Hill, Holmes and Forman step up (and by this I don't mean step up to 20ppg players or anything but just gradual improvement as per previous years) then I think we will be competitive...well as competitive as you can be without rorting the cap and having all-stars on the bench.

Nash could be a bonus as well if he stays injury free. Cooper got better the longer the season progressed and hopefully he will maintain his end of season form.

As per an injury to the big three you are 100% correct. That was highlighted last year. However, I guess with a $736k cap most teams are in the same boat. Ie if Saville goes down for Wollongong or Smith for Sydney, Burston for Perth, etc, then that could be the difference between top 4 or not making the finals.

I'm not saying we have a star-studded line-up like the Titans of years past that all teams will fear but we have a line-up that is capable of winning its fair share of games.

I still think for a team that is complying with the cap that we have done alright if we can keep Farley.

i think the key is regardless of the team we put on the field and this goes for a couple other side we will be keeping to the nbl salary cap rules...

we would all like a groves as and owner who will spend $$$$ out side the cap in dubios ways but we are not going to do that and the financial fine if caught is extremely sever so credit for the club for doing that it may not buy as a premiership but if we do beat lets say a brisbane how much more satisfying is it knowing we played by the rules to acheive it

Cheers

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Geez Thomo, let's hope that Sweeney isn't the treasurer for Brisbane, other wise your in the shit! ;)
(It's a joke Michael)

FACT!!!

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Awesome - not trying to rush you just interested

should make interesting reading :)

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on Boti's behalf, I don't think you can really say he ran a fabricated story. I think he just ran a story that Elfus provided but didn't actually make comments re admin, it lacked his personal opinion. Correct me if I am wrong but by memory I think Boti just put up the story and let Elfus say what he wanted to say. The story may come across as biased but it was Elfus who made the statements, not Boti.

I don't know if he did or not, but Boti should have approached management to refute the claims, not wait for them to see the story then be actioned to run their own to down play comments made.

boti was given details of the deal and about these claims before he printed the story he choose to go with the negative one, as they say

good news is no news but bad news sells

I don't reckon we shouldn't have farly back on we should trade him for brian weatathers