Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy overseeas a training session in Melbourne. AAP Image/Julian Smith
Yes, I know. Another article about the Storm and their salary cap breaches. But with Origin once again looking like a forgone conclusion and club games taking a backseat to it regardless, what else is there to write about?
After witnessing the behaviour of players and fans in the fiery Raiders vs Storm match at Canberra Stadium on Saturday night, it looks as though there’s a groundswell of resentment building toward the Storm on all levels.
When the story first broke, it seemed most people were willing to give the players the benefit of the doubt in something that was clearly masterminded and maintained by administration, but it seems the scales are starting to swing the other way, and the responsibility for it rests on the Storm themselves and the way they’ve responded to this whole saga.
I can understand that in the initial stages the entire Storm club would have felt hurt by the decision and at odds with those who made it, so I can forgive the first reaction of wanting to point the finger elsewhere – but at what point do the Storm players and administration start looking at themselves?
Aside from dumping Matt Hanson and another “senior official”, there’s been precious little introspection from the Storm.
We’ve seen the players criticise the salary cap, the directors launch legal action against the NRL, more than a few fingers pointed at former CEO Brian Waldron and recruitment manager Peter O’Sullivan, and even a contigent of fans sticking it to David Gallop with “FCUK GALLOP” T-Shirts and petitions calling for the NRL head to resign.
There’s a lot of mud being slung from the Storm to anyone outside of the club, and a developing siege mentality that it’s “us vs them”.
For those of us that support other clubs, it’s pretty hard to feel sympathetic toward this sort of behaviour. Especially for those of us that have seen this same attitude throughout the Storm’s short history – like the show of support when Rodney Howe was banned *from the sport* after returning a positive drug test.
To an outsider it all seems indicative of a toxic, win-at-all-costs culture permeating the club at every level, from administrators to players to fans, and in the face of what has been toted as Rugby League’s greatest scandal, the Melbourne Storm need to take a step back and think about what it means to project the same attitude in this dark hour.
The crucial point here is that the Storm have not put forward any kind of public statement that even *entertains* the notion that this might run deeper than the half-dozen names that have been put forward and shamed.
In continuing to present a unified front defending all within their ranks, they’re going to tar the entire club and everyone involved with the same brush as any remaining rats.
Other clubs in the league have set tough precedents with players involved in illegal activity, in most cases adopting the stance that while the individuals in question are innocent until proven guilty, they are stood down, pending investigation as a gesture of goodwill in a sport that is sick of negative publicity. In some cases, such as Danny Wicks and Chris Houston, the players themselves have shown the character to resign for the good of the Newcastle Knights club and their mates.
So why haven’t we even heard rumblings of the Storm doing something similar?
We’ve heard players proclaim they’ll gladly take pay cuts in the hope of competing for the 2010 premiership, fans petitioning the NRL to let the Storm earn points if they sit out enough players each week to bring the team back under the cap, but where are the players showing the moral fibre to put their hand up and say “my contract was identified as one of the contracts in breach, so I’m standing down for the good of the club?”
Where are the offers from the clubs administration to sit out all players under suspicion pending the completion of the investigation in a bid to earn points in 2010, or even just make the club name look like less than mud.
The precedent has been set by nearly all other teams to put the game and the club ahead of player indiscretions, and by failing to do so, the Storm are just looking dirtier and dirtier by the day.
Even if they aren’t willing to make that bold step, there are other ways they could show some humility. If the playing group as a whole, or even just an individual player was to pledge some portion of the difference between their falsified contract and their actual earnings toward Men of League or the NRL’s One Community program they’d earn a lot of respect.
But the club hasn’t even intimated that their intentions are to look internally and appropriately punish anyone revealed to be complicit in these rorts.
The club could show a lot of integrity by making a public statement vowing to hand down severe punishments to all willing participants still within their ranks, but again, they’ve missed the boat. If I were a Melbourne Storm fan, I’d need that reassurance that the club was looking to clean up its act and move beyond this.
As an outsider, it’d give me reason to feel there’s some contrition or remorse from the Storm camp.
So far, I’ve only heard an angry John Hartigan make this promise – I’d like to hear it from the directors and administration that are opposing him and the NRL.
Even better, if the club were to pre-empt the NRL’s eventual conclusion in its forensic investigation and make its own decisions based on their own internal investigation of the records and actually weed out any remaining “rats in their ranks” I’d applaud that as a great way for the club to move forward.
These are the sort of things that many other clubs would do in the same situation.
The Melbourne Storm’s apparent refusal to take any responsibility is just making things worse – for themselves, as they’re just feeding an increasing resentment from the rugby league community as a whole – for the players who are going to meet increasingly more hostile fans and opposition, as well as see their reputations blackened by the actions of a minority – for the fans, who by supporting their club tacticly support the behaviour and activities the club is so reluctant to renounce – and for the game in general.
It can’t be good thing for the NRL’s toughest point of expansion to breed so much resentment from the rest of the game – not to mention biting the hand that feeds them in their opposition of News Limited and the NRL.
It’s time for the Melbourne Storm to show some character or face a very difficult future.
mushi
Roar Guru
You can’t argue with certainty both that it happens it every club and that no one knew about it. If it happens at every club then every Melbourne player must of known it was happening at their club.
Dan
Guest
I'm sorry but you guys have to look at what you’re saying... it’s stupid and embarrassing... Melbourne, Canberra, Parramatta, Brisbane and Penrith Tell me what is wrong with this picture? PARRA ARE THE ONLY SYDNEY CLUB! Frankly, if you have five clubs producing (lets say) 85% of the high end talent, surely you have to look at the sustainability of the competition as a whole. If you were a storm fan, which clearly you're not, you would look at the players that we've LOST over the last five years, to both other clubs and England/RU, and sit back and wonder, if we're STILL over the cap then how the hell do other clubs manage to retain their talent? The salary cap should be set up to allow for the strongest clubs to maintain their list. Let me explain Lets contend that the Storm are the best RL side, and it costs 6 million a season to have that side go around each week. Then lets set the cap at 6 million, and allow clubs like Canberra and the Sharks who might not have the full amount in cash to pay the cap (according to gallop anyway) source 3rd party deals to the cows come home to pay their players. This not only puts everybody on an equal footing, but on the HIGHEST footing. If we have a lowest common denominator salary cap, RL is just going to turn into a development league for talent to go to Europe or RU. Now if clubs get super league stupid with money again with a higher cap, that’s fine. But if the storm is a team with say 6 $500k players, well surely they are going to have a better spread of talent than a club that has 3 $1m players. It is all about list management. The thing that gets fans to come each week is watching their heroes turn out each week in the club colours. No single player is bigger than the club, and no player is irreplaceable, but you need players that fans can identify with and can be role models for young kinds watching the game.
MattRusty
Roar Pro
Gareth you have illustrated that you have a low level of understanding of the issues at hand here. Not once have you mentioned the player managers. You really have no idea of how the footy world works. To think that a player is going to risk his ability to earn big money in a limited time frame just so you can think "that guy has integrity"...pull your head in mate. You think SOO is a foregone conclusion, club games are boring so would rather spend your time bagging out the Melbourne Storm - seriously mate, take a good hard look in the mirror and ask yourself why you even bother to watch rugby league. I seriously think for your own mental health, you need to do something else with your time.
Timbo
Guest
I think the Storm players have every right to take the NRL over this it was the fault of one person and not the clubs fault. No one else knew. It happens in every other club anyway. So let stop picking on the Storm because they are successful . The hate from the northern states to the Storm is so bad. Get over it an accept the Storm are a superior team, coaching staff, managment and fan base. As soon as the golden child of the NRL ( Broncos) fails a scapegoat must be found. As far as damaging the game, what rubbish more and more people are watching the NRL than every. The Storm are the sole reason why the NRL is considering expansion.
Finno
Guest
Ok I accept that there has been little evidence that I personally have seen to condem the Storm I really have just been going on what the reaction from the NRL has been. Your right it way over the top the poor Storm they made a few errors place a few zeros in the wrong column. opps silly me. Its pretty bloody obvious that the action taken by the NRL, it in direct relation to the scale of the crime.
Greg
Guest
good call, I guess we will leave it the the lawyer and the fraud squad.
Paul J
Guest
..the full force of the law thrown at who? Those we know were guilty (Brian Waldron) or those we think might be, but have no proof (the four directors, players and coach).
Stormybill
Guest
A few possibly's and probably's in there Finno hence my point Facts First.
BennO
Guest
Me neither.
berra boy
Guest
couldn't have put it better myself - great stuff
Andrew Sutherland
Roar Guru
Gareth, thank you for the reply. I have been thinking that perhaps Sydney clubs did have some cause to draw a line when they realised that the two teams to the south of them were to be dressed in avocado green and purple!
ilikedahoodoogurusingha
Guest
I wonder how many of the other 15 teams are assembling their lawyers, just in case the Storm is successful in its legal challenge......or will they just lie down and be steam rolled for the good of the game.
soapit
Guest
i can't believe how storm fans are managing to blur multiple issues into one. 1. ok maybe the salary cap/player payments needs tweaking, and i think alot of people agree that some work on this is warranted. 2. the storm cheated by the rules as they currently are (not what they seem to think they should be - note that they didnt let everyone else know that they should also compete by these rules). the two issues have no real link but unfortunately it has been effectively spun that way to shift the blame away from the storm and make it the systems fault. just like a common thief arguing in front of a judge. yes the storm are being selfish and it will damage the game. imagine if clubs started taking the nrl to court to award them points if they felt a dodgy decision cost them an important game (or even the gf). you broke the rules and have been punished for it. get on with it, show some character and stop trying to shift blame.
Kim Hart
Guest
Of course he isn't going to answer for 'legal reasons' there is after all an investigation ongoing into this matter. Please post a link for the article referred to as I would be interested to read it (not being a smartarse I really would) The people administering the club now are not the same people who rorted the cap, so I think they can be trusted to do the right thing. I doubt the 'fans' however will ever have faith in the Storm as they are the ultimate whipping boys in this competition. There wouldn't be anywhere near this level of outrage had this been a Sydney club. In other words I think most of the anti-Storm sentiment stems from a feverish hope that every single player, coach and official is guilty so as to justify a pre-existing irrational hatred of the team.
Gareth
Guest
Az - How many teams have bought a premiership in recent times? How successful were the Roosters having poached big names from other clubs? Of the teams that have been consistently successful over the last few years, how many have done so on the back of development as opposed to big purchases? - Melbourne have been (arguably) the biggest success in the last 5 years, and they've only really bought discards and fringe players. - Manly have been competitive nearly every year, and haven't exactly cast the net wide looking for big signings. - Brisbane are only looking shaky for the first time this year and the only big signings I can think of are Joel Clinton and Israel Folau - St George have picked up a few players here and there, like Darius Boyd, Jeremy Smith, Michael Weyman, but again they're mostly one club players and discards like Soward who have come good. To me it looks like clubs already have an advantage by developing their own juniors and sticking to their guns than poaching talent. It suits me as a Raiders fan, because we've got a lot of young stars coming through the ranks, but I just don't see the point in railing against teams who don't breed their own. It's frustrating as hell to lose that talent, but it's arguably worse for the guys forking out big bucks for star players and having nothing to show from it.
damoinaus
Roar Pro
I don't think anyone at the club is remorseful...the players honestly believe that they are entitled to those premierships and that they are the victims of bullying. FACT: the world hasn't turned against the Storm because they don't like them - many people used to have great respect for that club. The sporting world has turned on them because of the foul play and the coverups. Unless the Storm can provide evidence that they weren't cheating, then they should just accept what has been dealt out to them...and show a little dignity in the process, PLEASE!
Springs
Roar Guru
Well, if that's what you get, than you must be ridiculous.
damoinaus
Roar Pro
There's a small group of very narrow minded Storm supporters that are starting to get right under my skin. No admission of wrongdoing, and constant blame-shifting. "precedent this and precedent that"- fact is, nobody has cheated the game to this magnitude. There's another group of passionate Storm supporters that are willing to stick with their club through the adversity, but recognise that there is trouble in the club and it could take years to rebuild. Two distinct groups, I'd just like to make it clear that I'm ticked off with the former.
Albie
Guest
...about the second paragraph. I'm not as convinced about the first.
Albie
Guest
Lol - you are ridiculous. All I get from you is that you think the behaviour of others excuses behaviour from the Storm. I also get that you think the Storm have done nothing wrong. Good on you for your 'passion'.