Storm continue devil's dance to keep Big Four

Or another News Ltd team !!!!!!!!!. In a news Ltd Competition, No irony at all. it's just what's best for News Ltd, "business is business Sol".

To keep these four players and build a team with a young squad makes good sense for the future, Each of these players has a lot to 'hand down' to the next generation of kids coming through the system, unfortunately in two-three years these kids will be poached from the club also. If the cap IS being reviewed, something must be put in it to help clubs to RETAIN the talent they have nurtured. - What is the joy for supporters seeing the talent come through their systems and then find them in opposing teams because of a restricted salary. I know my kids are sick of seeing their heroes go!.

Does anyone see the irony in the players moving to another News Limited competition?

I admit it, look, you seen the pain on Lockyers face when the Storm knocked us out 2008. Now could you have imagined a Manly Broncos final that year. ? I am sure we would not have been flogged 40 nil. The storm have affected me badly to this very day, with Inglis's signing, some of that pain is deminishing. :) What did Rabbits Warren say the other day, dont tell everyone my story is a lie, you ruin a good story. So yes, no, i really do feel the storm can now rebuild.

Oiks, why do't you just come out and admit it - you could not care less about what happens to the Storm now. Brisbane have seemingly got the no.1 prize (despite that still not being annouced anywhere, as of two minutes ago), and that's all that matters to you...

I am Squealing, Squealing with delight. The storm can now move forward. At least he has moved to a above board club. Squeaky clean.

And any other team in the league would sign the other three. would that be 'justice done' NO - The Storm fans deserve some 'rope' Slater, Cronk and Smith must be allowed to stay. -- If the NRL see these four players as the main cause, they should NOT be allowed to sign for another club and their contracts with Storm declared Null and Void. Oikee is already delighted at getting a 'cheat' on their playing staff, even though there is something a little 'sus' in the deal. maybe Girlfriend getting Great deal with club affiliates. We will never know unless someone 'squeals'.

Potentially, the NRL could have provided a concession for any other club to negotiate with Storm players if they wanted to keep these blokes in the comp, or even encouraged backloading their contracts - but ultimately, these blokes are leaving because they don't want to play for another NRL club, and I'd be very surprised if any NRL clubs offered big contracts to any of these guys. I think the NRL was possibly a bit short-sighted in the lack of specificity (is that a word) in the punishment. I'm sure they'd expected that by disallowing pay cuts and forcing the Storm to get themselves back under the cap that they'd necessitate the breaking up of the "big four". The problem is, they're not worth what the Storm is paying them, and the Storm are understandably reluctant to pay the difference should another club pick them up for something a bit more reasonable. From what I understand, they'd have to pay Greg Inglis something in the vicinity of $250,000 if he signed with Brisbane for a reported $400,000. In a way, it might have been in the Storms favour if the NRL had delisted all of these blokes with dodgy contracts.

The Broncos have just signed the greatest rugby league player in the world. Ripper, Greggy Inglis is now ours. :) hehe

Agree Ken, and both ways, we need to be looking at a few more poms and maybe French players into our comp. The Kiwis and Islanders are now entrenched, the game is better off for this, so the more nations the better. Super league also enjoys Islanders and Kiwis over in their league.

Don't care? That's not the way I read it - I'm actually fairly impressed that they haven't demolished their, mostly, successful structures in a huge knee-jerk reaction. The fact that most of the code-hoppers have come back and the competition is going strong I think justifies this view. That doesn't mean I think the salary cap and it's implementation is all sweetness and light, just that any replacement or change should be carefully considered to prevent a backwards step. Super League is not much of an issue any more, this is really a one-off circumstance. 5-10 years ago there was a fear that the money offered over there was getting too good to keep players here but because of changes in currency values as well as tax and immigration changes in the UK, that problem has mostly passed. I think some migration between the 2 biggest RL comps is healthy as long as it's only trickling both ways and not a flood in 1 direction

I dont see a issue with going to England. Besides Macguire, the ex storm conditioner is the coach of Wigan, where these players are headed. Not only that, if i had the chance to go to England, playing rugby league, bye bye. The North of england is amazing, i think i mentioned this once before. I watched 2 fantastic games from super league this week-end. Hullfc verse Hullkr, great game. Berrigan, Clint Newton, Tuarki and others. And then watched Warrington defeat Wigan, Pat Rhichards, Mat King, Amos Roberts and others. The comp is better than most think, plus it is acheiving record crowds this year. You guys need to stop listening to the media, super league is not only a good comp, its making good profits, plus they are doing a good job of expanding, slowly but surely. They need good players to keep this good work up. Now if we lose players to super league, i think that is better than losing them to other codes. The AFL still is about 3 years away from finding out if rugby league players can adapt to their game, hopefully by then our next t/v deal will be in place, and we can keep our best in our game. Yes Brett, Broncos all the way, but remember, we lost Hannet, Stagg, Eastwood, Ennis,Petro, Tate and Clinton,(who also played in the Hull derby) a couple of years back, so rebuilding with Juniors and Inglis to replace Lockyer is not really being greedy, just needs to happen. A weak Brisbane is the last thing the code needs.

The NRL's fault? I have no wish to see the Storm wiped out but these problems are entirely of their making and no one elses. While there's still open questions of exactly where in the organisation the blame ends, it is their lying and cheating that has caused all of these problems. The NRL has done the enough to maintain integrity but, in a black and white sense, could easily have justified harsher penalities and enforced break-up of this team. The trouble with your suggestion is that there is no expanded comp yet - 2 new teams are likely on the horizon but they're at least a couple of years away.

Mate - the NRL dont care about its stars going to the AFL or Union - what makes you think they'll suddenly care about players going to the super league?

The cap is theres to spend as they see fit to keep the big names will help the Storm rebuild in the future and ensure memberships flow thier way. I then agree it is bad for those three players to leave to England but I dont believe that is really the Storms fault more the NRL. These players could sign to any other club but they didnt they chose to go OS. Also the NRL could of enticed them to enter into the expanded comps new teams eg Adelaide, Perth, Central Coast. Storm can spend as they see fit and I think business wise they have done the right thing. Those players chose to go OS. BUT maybe the NRL could of enticed them to stay in the expanded comp or they could opf signed with the sharks, and some other underperforming team. End of the day there more willing to leave.

spoken like a true Broncos supporter Oiks...

I think if the Storm lose greg Inglis, all will be ok for them. They have Billy Slater who is well know in Melbourne, despite what people tell you down there,. "we know nothing about rugby league".. Greg Inglis is better suited to Brisbane, rugby league states understand the brilliance of his talents. He will become as popular as any player ever has been up in Brisbane, he will become the true superstar he is, and be appreitaited by the masses. Melbourne still has along way to go before they understand the quality of players, as i mentioned previously, until they get some cross-over players to other codes, they wont be rated in other states, and i think this is what is holding back AFL as a serious sport in QLD and NSW. The Storm can then rebuild with their juniors, hopefully a few more home grown players. We also need to get a team in Adelaide and Perth, it will create a better rivalry for them. Not that they need any with the amount of teams in the NRL trying to knock them off now. Anyhow, thats my take on the issue.

What's the solution though? Don't get me wrong, I agree with your analysis of the problem - we're going to lose a bunch of good players who, while not superstars, contribute to the overall quality of the competition. Charting the optimum course out of these Storm issues though is difficult, as I see it there are three general strategies: 1. The NRL stay out of it and the Storm try to keep the 'big four' at whatever cost - seemingly the way they are going. The idea being that only their biggest stars come close to being well known in their hometown and it's going to be easier to retain and entice sponsors and fans in the next few years if they hold on to them. The downside of this is the basis of your argument 2. The NRLforce them to drop some big names. The second tier players get to hang around (too late now I guess for some) and Melbourne lose 2-3 of their big names. 1 or 2 may cross codes or oceans which will probably have similar impact on the comp to losing 4-5 lesser name players anyway. Melbourne though will lose more of it's identity and will have a harder time rebuilding over the next few years. 3. The Storm and NRL come to agreements allowing them to renegotiate and fiddle to keep the majority of their players. Obviously this is optimum for keeping players in the comp and keeping Melbourne's identity but would be a huge blow to the integrity of the competition. If they were going to allow this they may as well have just ignored the breaches in the first place. Is there an obvious course of action that I'm missing?