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The Roar

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Manly to fight alleged cap breaches

The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles NRL club headquarters. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
11th December, 2017
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Manly have vowed to defend themselves against allegations they cheated the NRL salary cap over the last five years.

The Sea Eagles are facing a hefty punishment after they were on Monday issued with a breach notice by the NRL over alleged payments to players outside the salary cap.

The club has five days to respond to the NRL integrity unit’s findings but says it disagrees with Rugby League Central’s allegations contained within the breach notice.

“Based on our legal team’s preliminary review, there is disagreement with several of the NRL findings,” CEO Lyall Gorman said in a club statement.

“And consistent with our rights under the NRL rules and regulations, have commenced a path of legal review and response.

“As we have consistently stated, if there are historical compliance issues, we will work both internally and with the NRL to identify those issues and remedy them.

“There is a significant amount of material to work through, based on the documentation handed to us today and the club will be defending those matters through the appropriate channels.”

The club has five days to respond but said it was planning to ask for an extension.

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If the allegations are proven, the Sea Eagles are facing a “significant fine”.

Two current club officials have been handed show-cause notices and are facing being deregistered.

They will also be forced to operate under an adjusted salary cap in 2018.

According to the breach notice, the Sea Eagles promised player payments outside the salary cap and the club could be forced to include those payments in next year’s salary cap.

They were in the running to sign halves Trent Hodkinson and Todd Carney but any salary cap penalty would rule them out of pursuing the players.

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