Salary Cap Witch Hunt. **Appeal unsuccessful**

[eaglebuzz]

It seems obvious to me that I we are guilty of breaches that the thing which has cost all of the clubs who have been caught is TPA’s they make no sense in a salary capped competition and should no be considered anywhere in contract with a club. The idea with tpa’s is fine and correct and something that I have worked into my contract, only in that I may negotiate with non-conflicting interest 3rd party agreements. Now in league the original idea was player endorsement for merch, goods and services however the rules were written poorly and allowed for them to be considered as part of the deal.

It’s just an area of exploitation and always will be. Either have the cap or don’t have it. I’m all for it if it’s a real true and even cap. Players should be allowed to make endorsements for things like subway or whatever but they should be completely and utterly seperate and not tied into employment at any club.
The second someone says “we will
Sign you as our endorser if you play for x” is the second it becomes illegal.

Truly poor form and poorly written rulesets

On top of that I think every player's contract value should be public knowledge, so that every team's cap management is fully transparent.

 

[Ryan]

Nice job Ryan, walking walk not just talking the talk.

ps any relation to club legend Gary?

I used to tease @byso and say I was, but nah - I did know him personally though. He was a good mate with Will Thompson (son of Allan - who played for Manly & Australia). The Thompson's were a family friend. I remember going up to their house and his old man would be out the back bashing a boxing bag senseless for hours.

Gary got himself in a bit of trouble actually. Being young and invinsible, had a cone and the silly boy got in a car and hit someone going down Powderworks Road @ Elanora.

Big mistake. He spent some time (quite a bit of time) in the clink over that one err of judgement.

Message here guys, don't drive while under the influence of ANYYHING. You never know what can happen.

But, he went into jail a boy, and came out a man. People may rip on him for his tenure in the maroon and white, but guys, he made it through hard work and dedication. It's not easy making it through the grades to 1st grade no matter HOW good or bad you end up being.

Regarding the email I sent to The Australian Sporting Association and NISU, my email was sent to be investigated. I'm not implying guilt - just want the comments confirmed as appropriate or inappropriate.

 

[Eagles2nv]

The elephant in the room is the legality of the salary cap itself. The argument that the whole damn thing is unlawful is legally pretty strong.

The NRL probably don't think we will go down that path because we are one of the "poorer" clubs that the salary cap is intended to protect.

But if we are subject to more stringent rules than others while the NRL's darlings get away with murder, what have we got to lose? It's not a level playing field anyway.

I'd be going full bore with that argument. I would also suggest to the NRL that our lawyers want to launch a class action on behalf of the players who have lost millions in income due to the NRL's unlawful conduct.

In short, I think we should go nuclear.

The problem is, should the salary cap be found unlawful, there could be multiple consequences for the NRL.

For a start, every club fined for a breach has a compensation claim against the NRL administration for fines paid, players moved on to be compliant and damage to reputation. The Storm would sue to have all their premierships re-instated and doesn'tmatta, dogs and worriers over their point losses.

Then there is the issue of ending up like European soccer leagues where a handful of teams in each comp effectively dominate almost everything, should a legal and suitable alternative not be found. Do you want to watch a top 4 of souths, brisbane, roosters, storm or dogs every year, probably not. These clubs are probably wealthier then they have ever been.

The end result being a comp that becomes boring, and we don't have a culture of supporting our teams best result avoiding relegation like english soccer fans, expect for the rare fairy tale (i.e. Leicester city).

The issue is not the concept of the salary cap, most sports have caps on spending in an attempt for parity, even glamour sports like F1. The issue is the current salary cap system allows for systematic abuse by wealthy clubs with large TPAs or non-player expenditure to give them a competitive advantage. It needs to change, with the most popular suggestion being player salaries becoming public knowledge (although there is privacy issues there).

Second to this is a comp that spreads revenue and a supporter base across 9 teams within 100kms of each other while other clubs get a whole city/region to themselves. 2 Sydney clubs need to be moved to Perth and Brisbane (to break the monopoly of Brisbane). Letting souths back in hasn't helped either. It is a tough thing to do to fans but it needs to be done. It will hurt in the short term but will improve the remaining clubs in the long run.

Finally, and most importantly, you have an incompetent NRL administration that clearly favour select "pride of the league" clubs. They can see clubs like donkeys, chooks are abusing the cap, but wont dare touch them. They are running the game into the ground while the fans scream at them for changes (e.g. 1 referee).

Anyway that is how I see it.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I guess when the Rorters have won maybe 6-7 Premierships in a row, as well as 6-7 minor Premierships , Membership numbers have fallen to a few thousand at each club, and game attendances are measured in the 1000-2000 per game the No Real Leadership facing an 80% drop in TV revenue might actually do something!

Might!

 

[Ned]

To me one area they could tighten up TPA's is that the NRL could make any TPA payments go to the NRL first and they pass the payment to the player. The NRL could also make a rue that they can audit any players. That way they know the payments each player gets and any payments the players receive outside that could be shown as a breach.

I'm not endorsing the current TPA scheme, just looking for a way it can be better policed because I don't think it's going away.

 

[Tragic Eagle]

The Commission are not stupid people but they can't see how stupid they look right now because they are blinded by their egos. IMO the Salary Cap is a waste of time with the TPA rorts prevalent throughout the clubs. IMO they are rorts if the only thing they do is undermine the objective of creating a level playing field amongst the clubs. The TPA rules that are sought to be policed are quite frankly inept and ridiculous. The manner in which the NRL spent so much time and money in looking for a needle in a haystack with Manly, whilst the anointed clubs failed to attract their interest is disgraceful. The business with Hayne, Brenton Lawrence's medical retirement, Maloney opening his big mouth re his TPA, the Pierce tip off and the Rorters Salary Cap Sombrero is disgraceful, and in my opinion a breach of fiduciary duty. IMO the Commission have done nothing for our game whilst managing to spend the money received from the Broadcasting deal ( a **** load of money). I have had enough of this circus. I will not attend any NRL games except at Brookie, and I won't be watching games on free to air or Fox. I'm not going to read Fox Sports online nor watch any NRL shows on free to air or on cable. These Jokers have destroyed my game and I don't want to see their stupid smirking faces on my television ever again. Shame Shame Shame!

 

[Lord Eagleton]

The NRL could also make a rue that they can audit any players. That way they know the payments each player gets and any payments the players receive outside that could be shown as a breach

If it was any other organisation id probably agree with you. However with Greenturd and this NRL management, i have zero faith in them using this rule fairly and with integrity. No confidence in them whatsoever... they would hammer Manly with audits and turn a blind eye to the clean skins, like Brisbane, Easts etc

 

[Ned]

If it was any other organisation id probably agree with you. However with Greenturd and this NRL management, i have zero faith in them using this rule fairly and with integrity. No confidence in them whatsoever... they would hammer Manly with audits and turn a blind eye to the clean skins, like Brisbane, Easts etc

Well yeah, hoping for equitable transparent treatment from the NRL isn't too likely in the current environment, I was just thinking in an ideal world what might be the best way to approach this TPA stuff.

 

[tookey]

This article makes a mockery of any charges the NRL wants to put on us

They are known as "the money men" and they are rugby league's dirty secret.

Every club has them, said one businessman, and he should know because over the years he has both collected "the folding stuff" and put in his own money to try to buy an advantage for his team.

The money men are club diehards whose loyalty to their team is being exploited by club officials who are organising for cash payments to be made directly to players or their managers.

https://amp.smh.com.au/rugby-league...essions-of-an-nrl-bagman-20160508-gop7ys.html

 

[pjayz]

I was told today that Joel Thompson is back on and will be announced this week. Another this week announcement

I’ll be the first to put my hand up - I couldn’t see this one happening after the NRL breach notices and the fact we pulled out of signing him previously. Your mail was spot on - well done.

 

[HoldenV8]

I'm with you on that one @pjayz . I didn't think it would happen either (other than the word I was hearing was that Thompson would remain at St Merge). Happy to admit I was wrong there and well done to the club for getting it done despite all the BS with the salary cap.

 

[manly al]

I had the impression that a $ 850 - 900 k offer may have been Manly"s final pitch to Pearce and then maybe just a little bit more of cap money still unused but again only a rough calculated assumption on my part . On that premise however , that would account for Thompson"s contract plus any worst case cap penalty imposition by the N R L [ and still some reasonable prospect that this may be successfully challenged by Manly ] A back ended deal for Thompson could be the case but with still some speculation on another back up half [ although it seems not Carney now ], and more cap money required , maybe a back ended arrangement has not been considered or implemented for Thompson . Just one of those cases that will be better clarified and apparent down the track , and ideally with everything or most things eventually in Manly"s favor .

 

[Bearfax]

..and what about Hodkinson?

 

[Ryan]

..and what about Hodkinson?

I'm of the opinion mate if Newly would cover most of his salary, take him on now. Also kick goals doesn't he?

 

[Andrew..]

Most of the contract figures are media driven so who really knows how much Thompson is being paid.

 

[manly al]

..and what about Hodkinson?

Just reminds me also that Cullen"s cap allocation [ no doubt it was just the base rate ] is now also available . If the reports that he can not adequately even train at present are accurate , had to imagine that Manly or their medical team would be still seriously considering Hodko . If no Carney also , then maybe no additional half to be recruited unless a Smokey comes onto the scene unexpectedly .

 

[Shoe1]

If we get a fine that is meant to come off the cap, can we arrange tpas to pay the fine, therefore leaving the cap intact?

 

[manly al]

If we get a fine that is meant to come off the cap, can we arrange tpas to pay the fine, therefore leaving the cap intact?

Sounds O K and plausible in theory and if T P A 's can be accessed or available within reason for the club . Would still like to think that Manly can still challenge and beat the alleged indiscretions , Manly managed O K with the cap handicap last season and i know that every thing is relative but it would certainly be so much better to have the full cap available especially with the now available increase for Manly

 

[The Royal Soup]

This whole thing is just one big joke and witch hunt from Toad Greenturd and there NRL

I expect we will be cleared of any wrong doing

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

This whole thing is just one big joke and witch hunt from Toad Greenturd and there NRL

I expect we will be cleared of any wrong doing

I agree with the 1st part about it being a joke, but sadly I can't see the bottom part coming to fruition

Mainly because it won't matter what we come up with, there is no way on earth than Greenberg and co will overturn anything and embarrass themselves regardless of what we present, I doubt the appeal process will go through neutral channels