Magnate admits he made call to Snowden
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday February 22, 2011
NATHAN TINKLER has admitted he approached Kade Snowden just hours before the former Newcastle prop was about to sign a new two-year deal with Cronulla.It had been rumoured for days that the multimillionaire mining tycoon was the mystery third party whose contact with Snowden forced the Sharks to cancel a news conference last Thursday announcing the NSW front-rower's retention 20 minutes after it was due to begin.Tinkler, who yesterday withdrew his takeover bid for the Newcastle club, defended his actions, outraged the Knights had "walked away" from a home-grown potential Test player."I made that call - I don't need anyone's permission to make a phone call," Tinkler said yesterday. "I picked up the phone and rung him and said, 'Do you want to come back to Newcastle - and if you do, you need to wait and let this stuff transpire'."Kade Snowden is going to be the best front-rower in the game. He is a special talent."He could hold off signing a contract until February next year and a club would still take him."All I see is a local player who is about to become an Australian representative and the Knights have walked away. There should be no one more important player for the club to sign than that bloke."Where Snowden stands after yesterday's Knights ownership developments is unclear.He trained with the Sharks but officials indicated the situation had not advanced.Knights chairman Rob Tew was alarmed by reports a third party had directly approached players to entice them to Newcastle."If true, these actions undermine the whole concept of fair play and professional conduct which both the NRL and clubs are strongly committed to," he said.Knights chief executive Steve Burraston described that action and other rumoured approaches to Jamal Idris, Michael Ennis, Darius Boyd and coach Wayne Bennett as "complete arrogance" and "unprofessional" and showed disregard for salary-cap restrictions.Tinkler said the "club has to be upgraded". "Don't think I was coming on board to pay the existing squad to run between ninth and 12th every year," he said. "Forget that. I was coming on board if we could make changes to make the club a top-four threat."
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald
