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The NRL Integrity Unit’s prime duty is to investigate poor player behaviour. However, any cursory glance at social media will show you that lots of fans think the major integrity issues in the game emanate from those who are running it.
Just the other day this meme appeared on The NRL Roast’s twitter feed:
Help the @sydneyroosters avoid being caught by the Salary Cap Auditors by collecting rewards along like "Under The Table Payments" and "Million Dollar Player Bonuses" as well as the very rare "Unlimited 3rd Party Deals" from Uncle Nick#nrl #rugbyleague pic.twitter.com/PfgQAJ0QEC
— TheNRLRoast (@TheNRLRoast) January 13, 2018
With the exception of Sydney Roosters fans, people found this playful depiction of Boyd Cordner – representing the Roosters as a whole – dodging the auditor, signing multiple million-dollar players, receiving under-the-counter payments and unlimited third-party deals quite amusing.
Of course, being amusing doesn’t make it true.
If you actually look at the comings and goings for the Roosters’ roster, the allegations of salary cap rorting don’t necessarily hold water. Sure, Cooper Cronk and James Tedesco are both $1 million-plus value players.
However, the salary cap has increased to $9.4 million and the Tricolours have released Mitchell Pearce, Kane Evans, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Jayden Nikorima, Aidan Guerra and Connor Watson. Angus Crichton doesn’t come onto their books until 2019.
If you look at their list for this year, they’ve relying on Cronk instilling a Storm-like discipline and work ethic into the team, empowering their skinny depth to great heights, Tedesco doing a passable Billy Slater impression, with Jake Friend playing the role of Cam Smith-lite.
But I digress from my actual point: this video accuses the Roosters of cheating.
Of the multitude of tweets that responded to the meme, there were numerous allegations that the Roosters could get away with such rorting as Todd Greenberg is in the pocket of Nick Politis. A few even said Greenberg was a Roosters fan. Others asserted the NRL hierarchy was too inept to police the clubs.
The big problem for Greenberg and his administration is the power of perception.
That is a very bad thing when the overriding perception is that you are either corrupt, incompetent or both. There is a prevailing attitude among a huge number of fans that third-party agreements have created a chronically uneven playing field, where the have-nots are at the mercy of the haves, and that the CEO is doing nothing about it – and is possibly even okay with it.
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You could forgive a Wests Tigers fan for feeling bitter and bereft of hope having watched the Eels, Bulldogs and Roosters sign Mitchell Moses, Aaron Woods and James Tedesco respectively. You could forgive them for feeling aggrieved with the leadership from Moore Park.
I could understand families in Ingleburn, Minto or Macquarie Fields not renewing their membership in 2018. Fans need to feel like their club is getting a fair go, that they’ve got a chance and that the NRL shares their concerns.
At present, the silence from NRL HQ is deafening in regards to such allegations raised in the above meme. As a result, any sort of fan confidence in a level playing field is at an all-time low.
There are three very possible ramifications of this:
1. Fans will get sick of wasting their emotion on lost causes, stop actively supporting their clubs and be drawn away to other sports
2. Enough clubs will feel disenfranchised and another horrible schism in the league may occur; but most likely
3. The undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the administration will become so large that the most expedient thing to do will be to roll heads to appease the discontent.
Todd Greenberg at the launch of the NRL Bunker. (The Roar)
If Greenberg and his crew want to avoid losing their lucrative positions, there are three things they should do immediately to get the fans back on side.
1. Release the aggregate values of third-party agreements for each club
No specifics, just the overall amounts. Hopefully these figures will dispel the perception that TPAs have created an uneven playing field. If they don’t, then Greenberg needs to fix the system – and to be seen fixing it.
2. Greatly increase the scope and independence of salary cap auditing
Put someone, who is clearly independent and beyond reproach, in charge of auditing clubs’ salary spending. Also, increase the reach of the auditing itself to close more loopholes.
3. Become more transparent and visible
Greenberg needs to engage more with the public about the issues facing the game and what he is doing about them. He needs to be seen as the fans’ representative, working to ensure that they feel they are being treated well.
Whoever orchestrated the handing out of tickets to the 2017 NRL grand final to junior players did an excellent job in heading down that pathway. The reduction in the cost of State of Origin tickets and pre-sale to club members was also a great move.
Ultimately, the NRL will be successful if it puts bums on seats at the ground and in front of the telly. To do that, Greenberg and his posse must have at the forefront of their minds that the most important stakeholders are not the suited men in boardrooms but the fans.
The men in suits are only interested because of the money those fans have to spend. The suits want those fans to spend that money in the places where it most benefits them and their boardrooms. If those fans dwindle, so will the suited men. They’ll be off to wherever those fans and their money have gone.
Fans just love their teams. Often their team, and the feeling of belonging to something bigger that they get from it, is the most important thing in their lives.
Todd Greenberg’s number one job is to keep that at the forefront of his mind and strive to make every fan feel that their club is getting a fair go.
He’d better get busy, because right now there’s a perception that NRL HQ cares little for the everyday fan.
And if the Bastille could be stormed, so can Moore Park.