This is a article written by Steve Mascord about Tyler's transfer request.
Fair point he makes.
Simple thinking: Tyler Dupree’s statements about his transfer request are reasonable - but his comments regarding the difference between the NRL and Super League are clearly the thoughts of a 23-year-old. Dupree says he was given the opportunity to test his market value but when Hull KR (who he does not name) came calling, Salford didn’t want to know. Dupree now knows what he is worth - and admits he wants more. But he is also adamant the affair won’t affect his performances. Fair enough. But insisting officials should just “take a leaf” out of the NRL’s books and make Super League ‘more like’ the Australasian competition? The NRL salary cap is three times Super League’s salary cap because rugby league is a far more popular game in Australia. Look at the attendances (NRL averaging over 20,000 a game this year), TV rights, social media following, ratings and general pop culture relevance. A cross between Einstein, Richard Branson and Crown Prince Bin Salmon would not be able to change that.
DO NOT believe there’s anyone out there who would not change their job for a better paid job.”
So said Salford’s England forward Tyler Dupree as he dramatically broke his silence on a reported request to transfer to Hull KR, rejected by the Red Devils.
Speaking on a new podcast hosted by Wales international Ollie Olds, 23-year-old Dupree commented: “It’s a difficult situation and without saying too much, it’s been handled poorly.”
Handed the floor by Olds to explain the situation, Dupree says: “It’s not a case of me wanting out at all. I’ve said it before, I love Salford as a club, they really took a chance on me.
“But I was given the opportunity to explore other ventures, other routes.
“I was told I could get better. And they pulled me back, Salford, and said ‘nah, it doesn’t matter now’. It sort of left me wanting that … wanting better.
“But I always say I play for Salford, I’m not going to not put the effort in for Salford. I love the club and I love the lads.
“It were just that moment was a bit of a blip, I’d say more miscommunication.”
Olds suggests to Dupree that players are expendable to club, particularly in the event of injury.
Dupree responds: “That’s exactly what my thought process was. I’m getting offered something better now but then next week I could – touch wood – have a career-ending injury.
“The way I see it, you’ve got to think about yourself sometimes.
“The club that I’m at, whether it be Salford or whether it be someone else, they’re not going to have my interests (at heart) if I can’t provide anything for them.
“You see it often. A lot of players get injured and they’re forgotten about by the club because the club’s not bothered about the player, the club’s bothered about the performances.
“You could be playing bad and they could be thinking ‘we could get better than him, we could get rid of him and get someone better’.
“And vice versa.
“It’s a very cut-throat industry. I say that quite loosely but it is very cut-throat. You do something wrong, right, and that’s one strike against your name.
“You do something again and it’s another strike. How many strikes do you get before you’re out. “
Dupree said the speculation about his future, and fans’ reaction to reports of a transfer request, were upsetting to his family.
“At the end of the day, fans are very fickle,” said the man who made his England debut this year.
“If we start doing bad, they’re on our back. If we start doing good, they love us.
“I’ve stopped caring what people think about me.
“I get phone calls off my mum and my sister just checking in. When I were in the thick of it I was getting calls off my mum saying ‘are you alright’?
“Both my mum and my sister have had depression. They think if it’s going to bother them, it’s going to bring me down.”
Dupree was just as strident bout the appeal of the NRL and how it compares to Super League.
“In Super League, anyone wants to play in the NRL because they’re doing it better than what we’re doing it over here,” he said.
“Everything’s better over there. They’re looked after better … them over there are like footballers over here.
“People always said to me ‘why would you want to go to Australia, it’s just a hot country’ but there’s so much more to it.
“If we could take a leaf out of Australia’s book and apply it over here, nobody would want to go over there.
“I feel like people would enjoy rugby more here if it was the same as over there. I feel like we’re way behind.
“I was speaking to one of the boys the other day and it was like ‘would you go over there?’ You’d go over there because it’s better from our perspective but how much pressure are they under over there?
“Like, you think the media’s bad here for us. I’ve been on the receiving end of it. It’s a good thing I’m thick skinned because it could get to somebody else, how fans are jumping on people.
“But you times that by 10 or 20 over in Australia.”
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