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Salary cap pain is fan's gain in tight competition

17th July, 2011
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Roar Guru
17th July, 2011
100
2276 Reads
William Hopoate makes a break for Manly.

William Hopoate makes a break for Manly. AAP Image/Action Photographics, Renee McKay

The NRL salary cap was once as popular as the carbon tax, but now it’s providing fans with one of the closest competitions in recent memory.

The top five teams are separated by six points with one game left to play in round 19.

Melbourne, Manly, Brisbane and St George Illawarra have established themselves as the form teams of the competition while North Queensland is hanging on in fifth place.

Looking at the ladder it would be easy to assume that the rich have gotten richer while the poor are making up the numbers.

But that’s not the case.

There’s just four points between the sixth placed New Zealand Warriors and the Bulldogs in 12th.

The seventh placed Wests Tigers are also just six points above the Roosters in 15th spot.

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This is where you see the real effect of the salary cap.

It’s designed to ensure an even spread of talent across the league and when you look at the rosters of the Rabbitohs, Bulldogs, Eels and Roosters they’re bulging with players who should be performing better.

These sides aren’t in the top eight, but crucially they’re also not far away despite dismal seasons.

The race for the last three spots in the top eight is going to be intriguing and will more than likely not be decided until the final week of the season.

The salary cap has in the past been credited with ripping great teams to shreds after they’ve been successful.

Fans have expressed annoyance that players who are their idols in 2011 will be the enemy in 2012.

But this is a necessary evil of the competition.

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We’re not quite at the level where any team can beat another on any given weekend, but it’s not far away.

The level of the salary cap does need to lift, but that is on top of the to-do list for the incoming independent commission.

Not only will clubs be able to pay players more money, but for once the dollars won’t be coming out of their own pocket.

The NRL is aiming to ensure that the grant given to the clubs matches the level of the salary cap.

At the moment that isn’t the case.

It won’t be time for CEOs to breathe easy though.

Regenerating squads, like the Wests Tigers are being forced to do this season, will still be the key.

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The Tigers have a promising group of youngsters coming through from the National Youth Competition and have cleared the decks in order to ensure that talent has a pathway into the NRL.

It has caused huge problems within the squad, but their coach Tim Sheens was right when he said his players should’ve been more professional with the way they’ve handled it.

The likes of Bryce Gibbs and Andrew Fifita aren’t being sent out into the sporting wilderness without a penny to their name.

The Tigers will feel their loss, but the Sharks – and the competition – will be stronger for gaining them.

Ricky Stuart said in his newspaper column yesterday that when he was in charge of the Roosters, it was his decision to retain some of the club’s older players and shed the young guns that led to his downfall.

The roster got too old and the pace of the competition was too much for them.

List management wins premierships, and even when the salary cap pie gets bigger than ever before that won’t change.

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