Indispensable?

The things, you say,

Your purple prose just gives you away,

The things, you say,

You're unbelievable!

One hit wonder EMF's 1991 song Unbelievable reverberates through my mind as I sit down to contemplate an aspect of rugby league and professional sport in general that, for my mind at least, requires serious consideration. It is an issue that is always prevalent, but seems to rear its head more powerfully at this time of the year than at any other. And with the June 30th anti-tampering deadline having only recently passed us by, this seems as opportune a moment as any to address the question of nothing other than player dispensability.

The things, you say,

Your purple prose just gives you away,

The things, you say,

You're unbelievable!

The lyrics of the background music blur, morphing into my own thoughts surrounding the issue, as I contemplate the so-called "must have" players. These are the individuals who coaches select before anyone else, with reputation taking a higher precedence than form on some occasions. After all, with long term one club performers such as Andrew Johns of the Newcastle Knights and Darren Lockyer of the Brisbane Broncos, does the old adage "no player is bigger than the team" still hold true?

The way, you play,

It really takes my breath away,

The way, you play,

You're incomparable!

As a Warriors fan, I have followed with a keen interest the situation regarding fullback Brent Webb, whose contract expires at the end of the 2006 season. His situation is anything but a simple one: most recently contracted at the height of the previous management's overpriced wage upgrades, in which money was not an issue and the limits Webb has become one of the most consistent performers for both his club and his adopted country. He was heavily involved in the Kiwis' Tri-Nations campaign last year, and is currently the team's top try scorer for his club with nine touchdowns in seventeen matches, including a brace against the South Sydney Rabbitohs on the weekend. His attacking play has also been impressive, ranking second in the NRL for line breaks with nineteen, and sixth for try assists with eleven. He has been one of the essential links in the chain of many of the Warriors' offensive raids, as well as impressively strong on defense. His ability and dependability are both a far cry from when he was first signed by the club as an unknown five-eighth playing in the Queensland Cup - the very same player who was famously told by Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett that he was "not good enough to play first grade".

The way, you play,

It makes me wish that you could stay,

The way, you play,

You're just incredible!

While that has made him a joy to behold for fans of the Warriors and Kiwis alike, it has also meant that his market value has dramatically increased - an unfortunate twist of fate for a club that has already been penalised for breaching the salary cap. I shift uncomfortably in my seat as I ponder the end result: a player whose inspirational form has made him unaffordable to the very club he plays for. Ironically, Brent Webb is, in this regard, effectively an unfortunate victim of his own success.

The club, they say,

They can't afford to pay your way,

The club, they say,

You're not affordable!

But at the end of the day, business is business. The salary cap was designed to level the playing field for each NRL club, and the salaries of all players must fit within that limit, or the team roster needs to be shuffled in order to accommodate the financial restraints that are enforced by the league’s governing body. No club can afford to keep hold of their most expensive players forever. And that can’t be too much to complain about, because this newly created level playing field has resulted in a different Grand Final winner in each of the last six seasons.

With a quietly resigned sigh, I get up from my seat and turn off the radio, the familiar tune echoing inside my head as I leave the room.

You're on, your way,

In the ESL you'll play,

You're on, your way,

You were dispensable!