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Gallop was right, the Salary Cap does work

Roar Guru
16th August, 2010
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Roar Guru
16th August, 2010
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1707 Reads
National Rugby League CEO David Gallop at a press conference at NRL headquarters. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Gallop was right all along: the cap works! Who ever doubted the man? Yes, alright, it was me. But I was in good company, after all, who can forget the ambush inflicted upon Gallop by Phil Gould?

The gist of Gallop’s position was that the cap provided equity between the clubs and franchises as to the financial ability to snare talent, meaning the cellar dwellers were always in the running to employ a star player or two if they managed their budget correctly.

Gould suggested that the cap was denying the players of their true worth and had the effect of thinning the talent by forcing early retirements or sending players overseas to UK Super League or other sports.

Gallop did not agree with this view, presumably because he is of the view that only the old players are flocking to Super League and only a handful have elected to change sports altogether.

Gould suggested that the Storm (circa: 2006-2009) are precisely what a good league team ought to look like. Hence, in order to have that kind of talent in the one team, it logically follows that the clubs and franchises must pay them on the same basis as the Storm has during this timeframe.

Gallop must have been relieved that the process of destroying one of the best glamour teams ever assembled resulted in struggling teams picking up the shed Strom talent. For example, both the Bulldogs and the Broncos have struggled to recruit star talent in the last few years. They only managed to pinch 4 of the run on forwards from the Broncos in 2009.

Thankfully the equity of the cap kicked in and now Dogs have collected Steve Turner, Ryan Tandy and Aiden Tolman from the Storm.

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The poor Broncos have renewed credibility by signing Greg Inglis.

However, in order to prove Gould wrong, one must now assume that the NRL are about to admit their very first UK Super League team into the domestic comp. that team can only be Wigan. After all, they have signed Ryan Hoffman, Jeff Lima and Brett Finch. Hence, the only way Gallop can retain these players in the NRL and prove Gould wrong, is to admit Wigan into the comp.

Assuming the admission of Wigan into the 2011 NRL, Gallop was right all along. I should never have doubted him.

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