Afternoon All,
I will not comment on the compliance and assurance activities of those within the NRL tasked with enforcing, administering and developing the code, standards and regulations that form the salary cap, however, as a fan and a professional involved in a specialised area within accounting, there is a way to appease fans who continually ridicule the salary cap and clubs who are allegedly, manipulating it for their own gain.
The problem is the RLPA are the greatest impediment to a solution along with the players themselves and whilst I would like to elaborate further, doing so could place this site at risk of potential litigation as an inference could be drawn from my proposal and thus, implying that players or associates thereof, are partaking in activities which would be outside the gambit of the salary cap.
Various statutory bodies, State and Commonwealth, utilise strategies requiring people and their partners, associates, related parties to be able to demonstrate their earning capacity, asset accumulation and discretionary spending pattern.
In turn, the disclosure of same allows a professional to map/chart the source, use and flow of funds and investigations may arise from this information; the argument from players that they were not aware of receiving remuneration $X when their contract stipulates $Y, the "head in the sand" theory is constrained as the remuneration package they have received must match the contract lodged with the NRL and their payroll reporting statement lodged by their Employer, any difference would raise eyebrows again along with a whole lot of other "problems" between the NRL and other bodies.
The use of A.I systems can assist in benchmarking player, club and agent spending and this is an area being used in greater numbers in our professional field as not all items are transacted using money, some are in-kind benefits/transactions amongst other "forms" of transactions completed in "this day and age".
The final piece of the puzzle is to enforce spot-based, unannounced compliance reviews, again something the NRL clubs would not welcome nor would the players.
I believe this is the only way we can quell the curiosity of the NRL fan as to the effectiveness of the salary cap.
Thank you and I trust you are still awake after reading this post
