The severities of the sanctions mirrored the deceitful infection of the crime. The pitiless penalty of them all - the club was stripped of its 2007 and 2009 Premierships. Two asterisks now don the NRL record books, defining to future sporting generations the futility of fraud.
The supplementary penalties pale in comparison: a $500,000 fine; an order to pay back $1.1 million in prize money; all 2010 competition points voided and prevented from accumulating further points until 2011.
Since the NRL’s decision there has been rigorous debate. Player retention and the future of the current salary cap model have been at the forefront. As has the future of the Storm franchise; how to address News Limited’s conflicting interest in ownership; the sanctioning powers of the NRL administration and indeed the viability of the sport.
Today, it seems that the debate has slowed. I worry that an 'it’ll be right mate' attitude has crept in and that the month-and-a-half spectacle that is State of Origin will mask the salary cap issue like spilt fuel lying dormant only to ignite without warning.
Definitive answers have been hard to come by and so the questions, that until last week had been so dire, have been set aside and with them the solutions or maverick models that might offer up a resolution.
Disgruntled stars have side-stepped their own Players Association to voice concern; attention has been given to an exclusive television rights agreement, an agreement that doesn’t commence for another two years; while talk of restrictions of trade seem frivolous – the NRL administers a salary cap – it’s a free market and players are free to explore alternate options.
The players are unhappy; the fans are struggling to reconcile that the game they love could be victimised by such deception and so the discussion has bogged.
What was melancholy is slowly turning to spite.
It reminds me of the Paul Kelly penned ode to Sir Donald Bradman. In the five minute tune Kelly both extols Bradman’s graceful once-in-a-generation domination of his chosen sport while also voicing his disillusionment at cricket administrators for introducing the One-Day form of the game.
They always came for Bradman ‘cause fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand
More than just one man, he was half the bloody side
Now the players all wear colours, the circus is in town
I no longer can go down there, down to that sacred ground
Bradman, Paul Kelly
The NRL needs to modify the salary cap model before another polarised artist immortalises it in song.
My salary cap solution: look to precedent. Major American sports operate under salary caps with a luxury tax principle. Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association use unique models developed to cater to the individual quirks of each game.
My three pronged NRL salary cap solution:
Introduce a luxury tax
Under a luxury tax policy a club willing to spend over a salary cap tax threshold will be entitled to do so. The concession is straightforward. For every dollar a club chooses to exceed the threshold – it pays the equivalent in tax to the National Rugby League or to the Independent body that will be running the sport post 2010.
The consolidated takings are fed back into the NRL’s revenue streams or ‘pie’ and distributed as is currently the case.
Reward clubs
Introduce two cap concessions, one to reward clubs who identify and develop talent and another for clubs who hold onto that talent.
If a club identifies and signs a player at the age of 15 and that player goes on to play first grade for the club, then a percentage of that player’s salary should be exempt from the cap.
Similarly, if a player is contracted to the same club for five years, then a percentage of the tenured player’s salary is exempt from the cap. The percentage exemption could increase for every year the player is contracted after the fifth year.
Match general inflation
Increase the salary cap every second year to reflect general inflation figures.
While offering up an alternative salary cap model is far from the utopian solution (I’m sure the administrators at NRL Headquarters are diligently devising models of their own), it is, if not a vain attempt, to progress the conversation.
You’ll catch me once, maybe twice but never a third. Salary cap rorts haven’t crept up on an unsuspecting NRL administration, the 2002 Bulldogs and 2004-05 Warriors clued them in. The Storm rorts caught the NRL out a third time.
The perpetrators have been identified now it’s time the NRL resolved its salary cap mess.
If you think it’s worthy and can spare the ink please email your thoughts, opinions to litresofink@gmail.com
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