A lot has been said recently about Brisbane Roar reaching an agreement with Colorado Rapids over Lucas Herrington’s sell-on fee. Much of it has been told without the full picture. We want to set out exactly what happened, and why it matters for this football club.
The conversation started with Colorado Rapids approaching the Roar with a proposal to buy out the sell-on percentage the club held on Lucas at an increased valuation. As with any decision of this size, the matter was taken to the club’s ownership group, as our governance requires. After reviewing the proposal, ownership directed the club to negotiate and reach an agreement. That is the process that was followed, properly and in full.
What has been missing from the coverage is the part that matters most. How did the Roar come to hold a sell-on stake worth this much in the first place?
Lucas Herrington was not bought. He was identified in the Football Queensland pathway, developed and backed into professional football by this club. We supported him through our pathway, gave Lucas his opportunity in the professional game, and built his value to the point where clubs overseas were interested, after Lucas had played less than 15 professional matches. The transfer itself was a record for the club and the hard work to ensure a sell-on fee was added to the deal further protected the time put into Lucas by numerous coaches and support staff. In total, Lucas Herrington’s transfer has now returned more than AUD$1.5 million to Brisbane Roar.
He is not the exception. He is the latest in a run of talented young Queenslanders to progress. Over the past three years alone, the players this club has developed and sold have brought in more than AUD$3 million in transfer fees. To put that figure in context, across the entire history of Brisbane Roar before this period, the club had earned circa AUD$500,000. Furthermore, sell-on fees were not present in any deal transacted by the club prior to this period.
That is not luck. It is a deliberate strategy. Identify Queensland talent early, develop them properly, give it a genuine professional platform, and structure deals so the club shares in a player’s future. The same pathway that produced Lucas is producing the next group behind him, and every dollar it earns goes back into the football club. This model, one shared by clubs around the A-League is often forgotten and not covered in totality by wider media who would rather push a certain narrative and headlines that return clicks.
We understand supporters want to see the Roar hold and build its best young players. So do we. We started on the path of heavily backing young, Queensland talent three years ago and the fruits of that path are already be produced. It is path that we will continue for many years to come.
We could not be prouder of Lucas and everything he has gone on to achieve. He carried this badge, he earned his move, and Brisbane Roar will share in his journey for a long time to come. In the immediate future, we wish both him and the CommBank Socceroos the very best in their upcoming World Cup Round of 32 clash against Egypt this weekend.
