There is delicious irony about the fate of the Melbourne Storm. That they are a News Ltd owned team is even better. Look at the history of the whole joke!!! They were a bastard child of three clubs (Reds, Mariners and the Rams) that sold out to SuperLeague and they were given every advantage possible, despite the Ribot/Crowley crow prior to that farce that Manly and other NSW clubs were given special favours. It was the out of Sydney clubs and the endangered metropolitan clubs (with few scruple0 that bought it. St G, Illawarra, Wests, Balmain and Manly/Norths lost their individual identity as a result of the compromise between the ARL and News with the Gold Coast and the Bunnies getting the axe. Norths died, Manly nearly did and the unethical and maverick raid on the game nearly killed League dead in this country. Country League has never recovered, Rugby and AFL got a leg in and many supporters have never returned to the game. Rupert did get his Pay TV but the World Wide Vision of Asians running around supporting the greatest game of all was a joke! The Vision of Ribot was so large that he killed off Perth, Adelaide, the second Brisbane team and the Gold Coast just to get a News team in Melbourne, and appease the Broncos. The conflict in interests was huge and the Broncos are still the beneficiaries of decision making poor for the game but useful to them. The reemergence of the Gold Coast is evidence of this. That the News owned team in the News owned comp has been 'outed' as gross cheats is delicious especially as the man that announced the penalty was the lawyer for News Limited in the SuperLeague court challenge against the Australian Rugby League. What they started in the inflated salary war has come home to roost for them and they are paying the consequence of this. IT IS TIME FOR THEM TO GET OUT OF THE GAME - GALLOP included - and to leave the game to be run by sports administrators rather than a MEDIA COMPANY who answer to shareholders rather than the stake-holders in a great game.
