<p> </p> <p>Well done to Greg Inglis. It's a great choice to sign with the Brisbane Broncos. There's no doubting their professionalism. He'll do very well in their colours. <a href="http://silvertails.net/news/5059-why-brisbane-deal-stinks-phil-gould.html">Read the full article</a>
Gould makes some sound points, and yet he totally avoids the issue of Lockyer officially being paid a total of $250k and Inglis $300k according to their salary cap. Just like Cronk supposedly being signed at the Storm for $250k - blind Freddy can see the Salary cap is a farce when it comes to the two News Ltd owned teams. The whole competition is a joke. NRL = News Ltd Rugby League
I have been on here many times critical of the NRL admin, but Gus going on and on that it was their fault that the Storm rorted the system is just bull****. The Storm management took it on themselves to deliberately cheat the cap. Why they couldn't pick up tips directly from the News Ltd board on how to obtain 'outside' sponsorship (which doesn't count towards the cap) the way the Broncos do defeats me.
MB, the Storm don't have anywhere near the profile of the Broncos in their home city. Being (ludicrously) a monopoly in a large League-mad city, the Broncos have by far the highest profile of any NRL team. Plus, because of NRL policies, they are virtually always on TV giving their sponsors and anyone seen as supporting the Broncos very high exposure and returns. In contrast the Storm are an ugly pimple to many/most AFL-mad Melbournians. Third-party deals are much harder to come by at this stage down south. To presume certain News Ltd executives didn't actively turn a blind eye until Storm were caught out is quite a large assumption.
I don't know whether this statement is an assumption you gleaned from mine (apols if it isn't) but I was only referring to Gould blaming the NRL. I never questioned or implied that News weren't involved. I'm with you on that.
Agree that Gus' logic jumps at times. Knowing how corporate organisations work, to survive and get ahead people know what they need to turn a blind eye to. The culture tells them what the rules are without them even needing to be said. And whilst-ever News Ltd owns the NRL, the NRL officials know what the implied rules are.
