ROK - Re signs with swans for 4 years. (Confirmed)

[Darren Thomson]

I for one am pretty happy to have ROK stay a Swan. He is one of our better players and one of the hardest runners at the club. He's no snail iether. Good hands, good overhead, pumps it inside 50 a lot, look at the overall stats from this year, he's right up there. At the end of the day, when he pulls on a red and white jumper, we'll all be cheering for him. I wouldn't even question whether he will give 100%, every playeer wants to win, unless of course we want to start a tanking debate.

[giant]

Good result - painful way to get there.

[hammo]

Agree, apart from the "not handled well". There were aspects that frustrated us, certainly, and probably ROK and the club. But the fact that both parties managed to conduct themselves privately throughout the process such that "reconciliation" has been possible (and relatively painless by the sounds of it) indicates a high degree of professionalism by both the club and ROK himself.

I'm glad he's still with us and if he's committed to be a Swan for life then that is enough for me. But 'professionalism' isn't a word I'd associate with ROK's negotiating tactics, Liz!

[Bas]

Great news. I can put my hand up and say I supported his decision all the way through.

Considering Big Blind Barry could be following his pugilistic dreams, we need all the good forwards we can get.

Jesse White at FF thread?

[reigning premier]

Anyone want to speculate on the $$'s involved?

[573v30]

Anyone want to speculate on the $$'s involved?

Highest paid on the list.

[liz]

I'm glad he's still with us and if he's committed to be a Swan for life then that is enough for me. But 'professionalism' isn't a word I'd associate with ROK's negotiating tactics, Liz!

We don't really know that much about his tactics though. We don't really know whether it was mostly about the money or whether he was suddenly taken over by a desire to move back to Melbourne. We don't know what - if anything - he did to make the club think he was going to re-sign a few weeks ago. Might have been crossed wires for all we know.

His taste in managers seems questionable. (Whatever Petroro was doing on his behalf, you always cringe when a manager seems keen to get his name in print day after day. They should be like small children!)

But to manage to stay on good terms going through such a frustrating process is professional in my eyes, at least.

[Bas]

Anyone want to speculate on the $$'s involved?

You can't plough a ROK.

[swantastic]

Anyone want to speculate on the $$'s involved?

Yep 500k for mine.

[swantastic]

We don't really know that much about his tactics though. We don't really know whether it was mostly about the money or whether he was suddenly taken over by a desire to move back to Melbourne. We don't know what - if anything - he did to make the club think he was going to re-sign a few weeks ago. Might have been crossed wires for all we know.

His taste in managers seems questionable. (Whatever Petroro was doing on his behalf, you always cringe when a manager seems keen to get his name in print day after day. They should be like small children!)

But to manage to stay on good terms going through such a frustrating process is professional in my eyes, at least.

Liz Roos said to day that Rock and himself had a verbal agreement on a contract,but obviously some ones wires were crossed.

[Jeffers1984]

Finally!! THE ROCK HAS COME BACK TO SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDNEEEEEEYYYY YY!

[SimonH]

As we push on towards the 1000-post mark, I can assure all of those feeling embittered and expressing 'I'm going to personally video all of his performances next year and demand the club sue him if he's ever not putting in 100%' sentiments, that come round 1, 2009, 99% of Swans supporters will not give a crap about the media circus and contract negotiations, and will be cheering ROK as enthusiastically as the other 21.

And by the end of 2009, the remaining 1% will have tailed off to a far tinier figure. Maybe only you. So save yourself some time and start getting over it.

[BigBarryRound25]

How long until ROK's on the veterans list?

I'm pretty happy with how this has played out, although I haven't really heard any talk about ROK's salary being eligible for inclusion under our veterans list for the last two years of his contract.

For me that is a good result for the club to retain a champion marquee player and free up some salary cap space to offer big dollars to retain emerging stars like Vesz, Bird and whichever recent draftees make their mark in '09.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

I think I'm definitely missing something here .....how come someone who wants to live in Melbourne, ends up agreeing to live even longer in Sydney?

Job security & loads of $$$$$$$$$

He wouldn't exactly be saying publicly "I want to a club who will pay me $600000 a year who will win something".

I was never as anti him as many of here are, as his contract negotiations were nothing compared to the stuff you see in Europe every week, both in terms of the negotiation period & the coin involved.

He & his manager played the game to see what they could get. The Swans & Stewie Maxfield did too. He took the safe option of staying with the Swans & living in Sydney to taking the risk of being shunted into the draft & ending up at Port or Freo. His preference was heading home, but Sydney and his future salary made staying here all the more easy.

He gets a 4 year contract that I'm sure is good for him. And we get to keep our star half forward. A definite win for the Swans & not much of a loss for O'Keefe (as Sydney are the devil he knows & not much will change).

All I can say is that more will be expected of him now. He will be a senior player on big money. He'll have to perform & show greater leadership as we start our rebuilding process and start seeing the leaders of 2005 retire and wain in significance.

JF

[goswannie14]

As we push on towards the 1000-post mark, I can assure all of those feeling embittered and expressing 'I'm going to personally video all of his performances next year and demand the club sue him if he's ever not putting in 100%' sentiments, that come round 1, 2009, 99% of Swans supporters will not give a crap about the media circus and contract negotiations, and will be cheering ROK as enthusiastically as the other 21.

And by the end of 2009, the remaining 1% will have tailed off to a far tinier figure. Maybe only you. So save yourself some time and start getting over it.

I love the way people allow others to vent their spleen on this site.