The Storm punishment does not fit the crime

I totally agree Scott, it is insane that the Storm are not playing for points? I guess know the NRL will be happy that any Team other than the Storm will win the Comp. If they wanted to even out the Comp, they sure did a good job of doing it by not allowing the Storm to have the points for winning Games. The Dragons have become the darling Team of the NRL now after watching that poor performance from the Ref at the ANZAC Game. They will get all the 50/50 calls and they will be given a free ride to winning the Comp. I guess its up to them now if they choke again? But I expect no less from the NRL, a very poor Admin and shows they haven't a clue on Rugby League. Btw, it was the Roosters vs Cowboys in the Final Round of 2009 that had the betting scandal..

good point Scott... Where does this Rabbit hole end??

The Storm execs can throw the dirty money out of a plane flying over the top of Flinders St to prove they're under salary cap for all I care...trouble is, the team they constructed for this year was put together based on a lie. They were able to retain their talent because they could pay them more than what the other clubs could offer. That team they have at this point is still a team with an unfair advantage, and has the potential to rip my team and your team to shreds (if Bellyache can motivate them to do so). Everyone in NSW and QLD have watched players from their clubs play musical chairs because of the cap - but the Storm have managed to keep their spine intact through lies and deceit. That team still stands today, that's why they shouldn't play another game this year.

The NRL didn't crucify anything the Storm shot themselves in the foot, they knew what they were doing was wrong but continued to do it....and if they don't survive rugby league will be worse off for it.

I know from experience I share financial statuses with my family and friends if the subject arises so why would it be any different with a bunch of football player mates? I don't think that's the case for 100% of the population. I certainly don't know what all my work mates are earning.

I think you will find they will be back under the cap ASAP or otherwise the NRL will cop a lot of flak. In fact their probably under the cap as of this moment becase from now on that money will likely be banked.

Just listened to SEN radio in Melbourne...a caller just posed this question: Why is it ok for other teams to LOSE to the Storm now that we all know that they're cheaters? Up until that point, I agreed with the NRL allowing the Storm to play on in 2010 (but for no competition points). But seriously, why should other clubs have to play against the Storm every week, and try to earn 2 points from a team of cheaters?

NRL still needs a salary cap, it helps spread the talent around the game, not just sending all the talent to those capital and large cities who can afford it. I think people like hearing stories of underdogs and young players who have worked hard to work their way up and up through the league. Think of the young players who could have potentially missed out on an opportunity to play because they werent raised in large areas such as Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. This just would not be possible if all the clubs were driven by big budgets, therefore I think the salary cap is needed. No one wants to watch a one sided game every week. To all those who believe the bulldogs weren’t punished as much as the storm are, wake up, of course they weren’t because there salary cap scandal was hardly as big as this is. They hadn’t been covering it up and lying for 5 years. For those who think it’s about state vs state and the NRL wanting to rid the game of the storm, I think that is just an excuse provided by Melbourne supporters. Why would the NRL care if a team from another state was involved in the game, afterall it is the NATIONAL rugby league. There is no possible way that the players couldn’t have known something was going on, although some people might think that the players wouldn’t know what each was getting, these boys spend so much time together, I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to work out who was earning what, I know from experience I share financial statuses with my family and friends if the subject arises so why would it be any different with a bunch of football player mates? It is not time for us to be feeling sorry for the players because unfortunately when you are part of a “team”, everyone is tarred with the same brush. The reason the storm have been such a good time is only because they have been cheating to keep the players, you will see, once the team is stripped back to who they can really afford, I can confidently say they will never be as good as they were. The team most definitely shouldn’t earn any more points this year because technically they will still be cheating throughout the year, the only way they should earn points for the rest of the season is if they get under their cap within the coming weeks and if that means they have to get rid of some players, then so be it. Sorry Melbourne, but fraud is fraud, your time of rorting the system is now up.

any system is only as good as it's flexibility, the HAL salary cap has been allowing for marquee players which is expanding and other variations, the AFL cap allows for 'veterans' (but, only if served time at the one club...so Cousins can't at Richmond but Black can at Brisbane), the AFL cap allows for non-playing activity outside of the cap.....i.e. promotional work, not sure on the restrictions on this, but, it was my North Melb that pioneered this with Wayne Carey being so much the 'face' of the club and he was doing way more 'promo' work than anyother player. But, then we see Chris Judd and his 'Visy' (inVisyble) 'ambassador' position........and we scratch our heads a bit about that......but, that get's into the whole murkey area of 3rd party arrangements. Thing though - salary caps were supposed to protect clubs from themselves.....i.e. over spending and killing tomorrow for today,.......alas.....all it does it 'limit' the damage. btw - the AFL cap has a 'min spend' of something like 92.5% so ever really crap teams have to pay $X. Sometimes.......that's a real crime!!!!!

yes great idea let the fraudlent club play for a finals spot. Another gem from the mine of scott woodward

Michael C I think they will be by the end of the season, a lot of people felt sorry for the Bulldogs and the Bulldogs had more baggage at the time (some other off field problems). Because their supporters have been hit with such a cross I think people will be applauding those that stand by their team sooner rather than later. I can see no faster way to redemption than the Storm players playing their heart out in front of their own fans and being embraced after the game with “nothing” to play for. It’s so visable and real. Of course they have to get back under the cap ASAP (send a player or two to Cronulla or public salary sacrifices) but the fact that once their clean they will still be getting punished will stop a lot of negative feeling towards them. If in round 23 their under the cap and playing at the SFS I think plenty of opposition fans would applaud any Storm fans in the away area . ... perhaps not at Parramatta Stadium or Brookvale though. For mine that is the problem with the Carlton is that it was invisible (and at the time the power of the draft was underestimated) so people feel they didn’t get their just deserts until they got those spoons. In regards to the salary cap it has some merit in that the two teams under the spotlight (Gold Coast and Melbourne) both shouldn’t be spending more money on players given their financial position. But their also both expansion teams so they probably should have had some exemptions anyway like the AFL give. The only way to reduce the impact of the cap is either make it higher so only some of the teams can afford it and it’s a cap not a miniumum spend like in the A league or come up with some other system to impact on movement of players to keep the competition somewhat even. The new rules in the A league might be a good road test for this is there is going to be a difference in what teams are spending, but the advantage will be limited to a couple of players. I think that will be fine that some teams are better than others but not enough to make the league too predictable. 2 or 3 players over a 30 game season is no guarantee. Perhaps for the NRL a rule like you can only sign one player with NRL/ESL/International RU experience at another team per season might be worth investigating (and perhaps remove the Aussies in the ESL from that list so clubs bring them home). Would mean big clubs will go after one star per year. Star players salaries will go up but I think that’s fine as their the targets for AFL and RU. The marginal guys (say 4th choice winger at the Bulldogs) will be worse off but then they don’t put bums on seats. That’s harsh but true and clubs like the Knights and Raiders would suddenly have a very good bargaining position with these kinds of players.

I think we have to wait and see how the season pans out for Melbourne games. I think they will run hot and cold. Certainly, the players won't let themselves just be bashed and they still have rep spots and new contracts to play for. And those new contracts will probably be with new clubs. They're not going to be playing for a premiership but for their pride and careers.

Spencer/Justin, Sorry for brief reply before. No doubt much energy will be spent & many words wasted on this fiasco. Re the players, while they might not know how the extra money was coming in, they must surely have noticed extra money coming their way. This doesn't happen by magic. If I suddenly found an extra 10 or 20 thousand in my bank account, & no way to explain how it got there, I wouldn't be thinking the fairy godmother put it there. I would be onto the bank straightaway for a "please explain". Would the players declare extra income to the ATO? I probably wouldn't if I knew it was "kit" money! Ignorance is not an excuse here.....

Justin - I think you're right. Like I said: News Ltd don't want them. The new setup won't want them. It's a shame a sport has become a business. Personally, I won't miss them. They're not really a Melbourne team, just like the Swans are not really a Sydney team.

The thing for the supporters - - who are innocent in all this - is for them to be able to hold their heads high. No Storm fan would dare head up to Sydney and wear their jumper around town for the rest of this season......I reckon not until next year, when, the club is deemed to be behaving 'fairly'. AndyRoo - thing about Carlton is they couldn't lose a GF for the timeframe - - however, they got hit with massive financial penalties that left them on their knees. They also got hit with something the NRL doesn't have - - and that was massive draft penalties. Don't ever underestimate that impact - - Carlton 'lost' a generation. Okay - it was made worse because they had an ageing list and back ended contracts and were going to have to clean out......well.....they cleaned out and then couldn't bring anything in!!! This is part of the problem for the NRL.....I'm not so sure that their salary cap model is right for their game. The AFL model seems to work a bit better......but, the labour market is much more stable and less vulnerable to A. other codes and B. other prof leagues - - unlike the NRL. The NRL is a free agency free market effectively.....other than the Cap. And, after all, the AFL now heads into expansion clubs in 'hostile' territory with a 20-50 year vision and a massive financial commitment and concessions around caps and drafting etc. What did the NRL give the Storm???

I'm with Michael C. I agreed with Gould. And Michael makes some very good points on the subject. The Storm need the healing process to start ASAP, the NRL has made it's bed now, and needs to work out how they can reconnect with the fans. Half price tickets and the like will go a long way to helping that out this season. Give people the opportunity to sample the product, even if it is tainted in Melbourne.

I totally disagreed with Gould. The fact the punishment is so severe means that they can start calwing back respect now. Every game they play between now and the end of the season is a chance for them to repair their reputation. I am sure tickets for some games will be very low cost and if the players keep putting in then by the end of this season people will be writing positive articles about them. A team with nothing to play for but each other etc etc. Whereas a fine and such doesn’t feel tough enough the bad smell would have lingered…. Like Carlton.

I don't think any of the players will get bans, the NRL doesn't want to push them in any way out of the game and towards the other codes or overseas