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#Post#: 109896--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Asked ChatGPT How to evade the salary cap
DIR By: Marsile
Date: June 8, 2023, 5:33 am
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--- Quote from: JammyGit link ---
>
>
> McFarland - just a fantastic bit of scouting work and
foresight to sign him. Anyone who did see him apparently thought
he was destined for great things and he did get capped before he
joined, but there's not a club in the land who wouldn't have
considered him a gamble. Given how he hit the ground running I'm
not sure the coaching can take credit for his ridiculous
athletic talents. Despite his international status he would not
have been expensive and I don't think there was any sort of
bidding war for him either. Now, if he stays fit and becomes an
ever-present in that side, his ceiling is such that his
commercial value would skyrocket despite his T2 international
status, because some players are just that good (e.g. Radradra).
>
--- End Quote ---
According to Tim Cocker on the Eggchaser podcast, you couldn't
be more wrong. Saracens identified McFarland as having huge
potential but he needed extensive amounts of specialist
one-on-one coaching to get him anywhere near the standard
required to play Premiership rugby. Their efforts paid off. He
was capped by Samoa to help facilitate his working visa to play
in the UK.
#Post#: 109897--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Asked ChatGPT How to evade the salary cap
DIR By: raedarius
Date: June 8, 2023, 6:02 am
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--- Quote from: Marsile link ---
>
>
> He was capped by Samoa to help facilitate his working visa to
play in the UK.
>
--- End Quote ---
Never use the word 'facilitate' in the context of entry to the
UK...
#Post#: 109898--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Asked ChatGPT How to evade the salary cap
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: June 8, 2023, 6:31 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Marsile link ---
>
>
> According to Tim Cocker on the Eggchaser podcast, you couldn't
be more wrong. Saracens identified McFarland as having huge
potential but he needed extensive amounts of specialist
one-on-one coaching to get him anywhere near the standard
required to play Premiership rugby. Their efforts paid off. He
was capped by Samoa to help facilitate his working visa to play
in the UK.
>
--- End Quote ---
Yes, I've heard your comical attempts to claim that Samoa gave
McFarland a cap to help him sign for Saracens before. Presumably
that's why they played him in a few non-cap games before getting
capped, and why he continued to play for them after signing for
Saracens.
The extensive amounts of coaching required didn't prevent
Saracens from playing him in 27 matches the season he arrived -
17 as a starter. He made his first Premiership start in Round 9.
Gosh. Truly impossible to call the guy who played 27 matches in
his debut season and started 17, starring in many of those, as
hitting the ground running, eh
#Post#: 109902--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Asked ChatGPT How to evade the salary cap
DIR By: Marsile
Date: June 8, 2023, 6:49 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: JammyGit link ---
>
> Yes, I've heard your comical attempts to claim that Samoa gave
McFarland a cap to help him sign for Saracens before. Presumably
that's why they played him in a few non-cap games before getting
capped, and why he continued to play for them after signing for
Saracens.
>
> The extensive amounts of coaching required didn't prevent
Saracens from playing him in 27 matches the season he arrived -
17 as a starter. He made his first Premiership start in Round 9.
Gosh. Truly impossible to call the guy who played 27 matches in
his debut season and started 17, starring in many of those, as
hitting the ground running, eh
>
--- End Quote ---
It's not me saying it, it is Tim Cocker. He does the on pitch
mic interviews for BT Sport as well as his podcast. In short, he
gets to talk directly to people like Ian Peel, Mark McCall and
Theo McFarland directly and in person. It was also Cocker who
revealed about the full caps required as well so Samoa capped
him against Tonga in the 68th minute when they were leading by
22 points which allowed Saracens to bring him into the
Premiership.
HTH
p.s McFarland made his debut in the Premiership for Saracens as
a starter in round 12. He made his debut as a substitute for
Saracens in the Premiership in round 7 in the 65th minute
against Harlequins away in 22-28 win for the men in black.
HTH again.
#Post#: 109913--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Asked ChatGPT How to evade the salary cap
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: June 8, 2023, 10:23 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Marsile link ---
>
> It's not me saying it, it is Tim Cocker. He does the on pitch
mic interviews for BT Sport as well as his podcast. In short, he
gets to talk directly to people like Ian Peel, Mark McCall and
Theo McFarland directly and in person. It was also Cocker who
revealed about the full caps required as well so Samoa capped
him against Tonga in the 68th minute when they were leading by
22 points which allowed Saracens to bring him into the
Premiership.
>
> HTH
--- End Quote ---
You've forgotten that I've already been through this with you.
People actually at Saracens like Nick Kennedy saying outright
that how it worked was Mapusua told Kennedy about McFarland,
Saracens decided he'd be worth a punt, got in touch with him to
say him being capped would make it easier, and McFarland then
switched from 7s to facilitate that. Samoa didn't give him a
pity cap on Saracens' behalf. They capped him - twice, in your
mind presumably because Saracens wanted to be extra-specially
sure??? - before he joined Saracens and continued to play him
after that. This was a guy recommended to Saracens by the person
in charge of Samoa. It is very strange to believe he was only
capped because of Saracens wanting to sign him, rather than
because the head coach of Samoa recommending him to one of the
best clubs in the world thought he was good enough to play for
Samoa.
But I am nothing if not eager for more information, so if you
can link me to the podcast where he interviews McFarland or a
Saracens employee or a Samoan RU employee who says that Samoa
capped him almost an entire year before he came to the UK in
order to allow Saracens to sign him, I'd be more than happy to
listen to it. It would be quite a story!
--- Quote ---
> p.s McFarland made his debut in the Premiership for Saracens
as a starter in round 12. He made his debut as a substitute for
Saracens in the Premiership in round 7 in the 65th minute
against Harlequins away in 22-28 win for the men in black.
>
> HTH again.
>
--- End Quote ---
Doh, apparently I can't read the difference between 6 and 19 in
a table. Mea culpa! You got me.
So, to recap, he made his first Premiership appearance in Round
7, and his first full Premiership start in Round 12, having
played a few full Premiership Cup games and played off the bench
in the Prem in 4 matches already.
He's hardly Sam Burgess is he? He joined in August and was a
regular starter in January having been in matchday squads from
the end of November onwards, playing 27 matches in his first
season. That's pretty good going for any relatively
inexperienced player making their first forays into the
Premiership. Certainly doesn't contradict the idea that people
who watched McFarland before he joined Saracens thought he had a
huge future - people like, uh, Mapusua (Samoa head coach), Nick
Kennedy, the Saracens management, etc. And it doesn't suggest
that he needed that much extra work to get up to standard.
#Post#: 109915--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Asked ChatGPT How to evade the salary cap
DIR By: Marsile
Date: June 8, 2023, 10:52 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: JammyGit link ---
>
>
> He's hardly Sam Burgess is he? He joined in August and was a
regular starter in January having been in matchday squads from
the end of November onwards, playing 27 matches in his first
season. That's pretty good going for any relatively
inexperienced player making their first forays into the
Premiership. Certainly doesn't contradict the idea that people
who watched McFarland before he joined Saracens thought he had a
huge future - people like, uh, Mapusua (Samoa head coach), Nick
Kennedy, the Saracens management, etc. And it doesn't suggest
that he needed that much extra work to get up to standard.
>
--- End Quote ---
It does punch a rather large hole for somebody who is of the
opinion that Saracens have a swathe of test veterans available
to step in and play when their senior test players are away
playing in the 6Ns or AIs.
p.s McFarland's first cap for Samoa was in July 2021. He signed
for Saracens in August 2021. He played 78 minutes as a
substitute over 4 months before starting a Premiership match.
HTH (again)
#Post#: 109917--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Asked ChatGPT How to evade the salary cap
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: June 8, 2023, 11:10 am
---------------------------------------------------------
'kin 'ell I should definitely stop trying to read tables when
I'm this tired [emoji23] [emoji15] Not my finest hour!
However, him playing in several matches before starting one - in
THAT Saracens team - a few months after joining is absolutely
not the sign of a player who didn't have extraordinary athletic
talents before joining. This is not a guy who needed a year of
adjustment.
--- Quote ---
> It does punch a rather large hole for somebody who is of the
opinion that Saracens have a swathe of test veterans available
to step in and play when their senior test players are away
playing in the 6Ns or AIs.
--- End Quote ---
You should definitely bring that up with the people who used
McFarland as an example of Saracens' swathe of test veterans.
Seems like a slam dunk to me.
#Post#: 109918--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Asked ChatGPT How to evade the salary cap
DIR By: Marsile
Date: June 8, 2023, 11:49 am
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McFarland needed intensive extra coaching to get up to the
standard required to play in the Premiership. That's straight
from somebody who spoke to the Saracens coaches. That's good
enough for me. Clearly good enough for McFarland as well. He's a
fast learner, specifically about 4 months.
#Post#: 109919--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Asked ChatGPT How to evade the salary cap
DIR By: Sussex Phil
Date: June 8, 2023, 11:55 am
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Ah. So a bloke in the pub told you. Was it his cousin's uncle?
If you're that sure it's correct name your source.
#Post#: 109920--------------------------------------------------
Re: I Asked ChatGPT How to evade the salary cap
DIR By: Marsile
Date: June 8, 2023, 12:23 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Sussex Phil link ---
>
> Ah. So a bloke in the pub told you. Was it his cousin's uncle?
If you're that sure it's correct name your source.
>
--- End Quote ---
Not the pub no, the bloke who interviews the coaches and players
for BT sport told me.
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