Captain Smith pleads innocence in Storm scandal
By Ben Horne, 21 Jul 2010 Ben Horne is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Cameron Smith, Melbourne Storm, NRL, Rugby League, salary cap scandal
Melbourne NRL captain Cameron Smith has again pleaded his innocence in the Storm’s salary cap scandal and said the two contracts he signed were identical.
Smith said on Tuesday that the salary on both contracts was identical, and that he was under the impression the contract he signed was going to be under the salary cap.
The Queensland and Test star was adamant he had no idea what was done with the contracts after he signed them.
“The two contracts they talk about, the first one was an agreement that I was going to stay at the Storm, the second one was my NRL contract,” he told Sky Sports Radio.
“They were both the same. I was always of the understanding the contract I signed was always going to be under the salary cap.
“Not at any stage was I told there were going to be payments outside the cap, obviously because we all know that’s illegal.
“I’m not too sure what was done with the contracts that were signed.
“Obviously my job is to sign the contract under the instructions of my manager and then once I do that I walk out of the room and I’ve signed with the Storm and my job’s to play football.
“Whatever happens in the administration office is clearly not up to the players.”
Smith said his manager Isaac Moses has told him they are innocent of any knowledge of the cheating, and expressed his relief at being exonerated by the Deloitte investigation.
“He (Moses) said we can be confident we’ve done nothing wrong,” Smith added.
“That’s why it’s disappointing. All the players are very disappointed that people think we had knowledge of the things that went on and we were very pleased and relieved when the report was finalised and obviously the boss of News Limited John Hartigan, came out and said that no players or the officials had any knowledge of what was going on.”
News Limited expressed disappointment that no players were willing to speak as part of the investigation, but Smith said they were always hoping for a time when they could talk.
“I think all of us were given less than 24 hours notice going in and we were a little bit unsure of how the interview was going to go, who was going to be there,” Smith explained.
“So obviously we got onto the managers straight away and they advised us not to go into that meeting the following day and then after that it came into the rep period and it was fairly busy.
“I don’t think there was another time set for another interview at that stage. We had nothing to hide clearly, we all spoke to our managers and said that we’d like to set a time with some representation there for us, be it a lawyer or our manager but that never eventuated.
“Obviously with the report being finalised it must not have been so important at the end.”
© AAP 2012Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.
The Crowd Says (11) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
Do you have what it takes to become a sports writer? Write for the roar
Rugby League articles
- An open letter to Channel Nine (107)
- Gallop and some of his precious Sydney NRL clubs must go (101)
- The NRL is back baby! (65)
- The NRL’s scariest players (56)
- The NRL needs a vision (52)
- Federal Court has it wrong on sports broadcast copyright (48)
- Bulldogs setting benchmark for Sydney’s NRL clubs (46)
- New league chief coy on TV deal
- RL Commission was never in doubt, says Searle RL Commission was never in doubt: Searle
- Chalk predicts bright rugby league future
- Clubs must stop knifing Gallop, if commission is to succeed
- Rugby league’s new era: where to now? (23)
- New dawn for rugby league gets underway (11)
- Rugby league commission ushers in new era (3)
- Rugby league’s new era: where to now? (23)
- Federal Court has it wrong on sports broadcast copyright (49)
- An open letter to Channel Nine (108)
- The NRL’s scariest players (56)
- Is the All Stars match increasing the divide? (25)
- Channel Nine needs NRL-cricket ODI compromise (36)
- The NRL needs a vision (52)
- Explore:
- Cameron Smith, Melbourne Storm, NRL, Rugby League, salary cap scandal
ptovey01 said | July 21st 2010 @ 9:04am | Report comment
I used to give Cameron Smith credit.
Is he saying that they paid him twice as much as they should have then? Is he saying that he did not sign a 3rd party agreement?
Let the ATO have a go at his books. What do his group certificates say? He’ll be singing another tune when they have finished with him and audit his bank accounts etc. Probably more like “I’ve been working on the chain gang…..”
Maybe he’ll just claim ignorance for being a cheating B#$^%$#@. “I’m sorry sir I didn’t know that I was only suppossed to be paid ‘X’ amount each month, and I didn’t know that getting money from a dodgey charity was not in the rules of the NRL.
Give us some credit Cameron, you look like a tool. If you had nothing to hide you should have gone to the interview with the auditors then I would give you credit for being up-front. It will catch up with him very quickly.
Brett McKay said | July 21st 2010 @ 10:11am | Report comment
ptoves, I don’t disagree with you, but I’d be putting the managers under the spotlight before the players. I can’t help but wonder at which point in time the managers told a Storm player “don’t you worry about that, that’s just a little something we’ve got going…”
Rabbitz said | July 21st 2010 @ 12:28pm | Report comment
Brett,
While this subject is beginning to bore me senseless, I have to say that even if the agent said “don’t you worry about that, that’s just a little something we’ve got going…” or “here is a few extra buck I managed to get…” the player is ultimately responsible as he makes the contract with the Club/NRL. Just the same as when you get a tax agent to do your tax, when you sign it, you take responsibility for the content.
Brett McKay said | July 21st 2010 @ 12:37pm | Report comment
yep, again Rabbitz, I don’t disagree with any of that. My point is just that the managers would know which clubs are paying which player and for how long – it’s how they know which club to pitch their players at.
And I’m with you in the boredom stakes too, just let the ATO and ASIC deal with it now, and just manage the fallout…
Rabbitz said | July 21st 2010 @ 1:26pm | Report comment
No worries Brett, I think I infered something that wasn’t there on a second reading – My bad.
ptovey01 said | July 21st 2010 @ 12:45pm | Report comment
The big four are all gone……………….. from an ATO perspective.
Redback said | July 21st 2010 @ 1:07pm | Report comment
LIAR
Rabbitz said | July 21st 2010 @ 1:25pm | Report comment
Who?
Hugh Jarse said | July 21st 2010 @ 2:00pm | Report comment
And Cameron Smith takes out today’s Matt Burke Award with five ‘obviously’s in the one interview.
BTW, Cameron old mate, guess what I think is really obvious……
jus de couchon said | July 21st 2010 @ 9:30pm | Report comment
The Wally is about to disscover whos ultimately responsible , and it wont be his manager.
Andrew Sutherland said | July 21st 2010 @ 11:49pm | Report comment
Since the salary cap was introduced has any player from any club (and we know of a few rorting ones so far)announced: “Hey I think ‘m getting paid too much!”?