Melbourne Storm’s Cameron Smith (centre) and teammates celebrate with the trophy after winning the Gillette World Club Challenge match at Elland Road, Leeds, England, Sunday Feb. 28, 2010, after their defeat of the Leeds Rhinos. (AP Photo/PA, Anna Gowthorpe)
As the on-field action starts to fade into memory for 2010, I’ve been thinking about what 2011 will bring. As the mind runs through various scenarios, you start to factor in different things: injuries, origin, salary cap pressures and wonder where teams will end up at this time next year.
It is a ridiculous thing to do, but for some reason, following a sports team of any football code provides this temptation. The allure to speculate is just too strong.
But as I was thinking, I couldn’t help but be drawn back to the Storm salary cap scandal. What indelible mark will it leave on the game? I’m not talking about the NRL’s push into Melbourne, the club’s playing roster or crowd numbers, but on the NRL and rugby league as a whole.
If there is one thing that the whole scandal has identified is that the auditing process leaves a lot to be desired. The NRL has a duty of care to both fans and the other clubs to ensure that they have water-tight and efficient investigative auditing processes.
Clearly these processes aren’t good enough. Surely the NRL’s auditors should have been concerned about the Storm’s salary cap given not only their list, but the success that said list achieved over a five year period. That it took five years and a clerical oversight by an office worker to uncover is a disgrace.
In the end, only one group suffers; the fans.
As I write, there is only one line that keeps swirling around in my head.
“Why did it take five years?”
So what can we do to prevent another long term blow out?
The most radical change would be to have all NRL players to be contracted to the NRL directly, this way the NRL knows how much each player is earning because they are the one paying them. This would obviously be in lieu of the large handout from the NRL.
This would be the most robust solution, but would probably be met with much resistance, and be difficult to implement.
So failing a centralised contract structure, really, all that needs to be done is that the audit process needs to be made more robust, with carrots and sticks for both the clubs to cooperate and comply as well as the NRL to ensure that they do a thorough job.
At the start of the season, by midnight before the first game, the NRL needs to have completed its audits on clubs. Anything less than full compliance and cooperation results in having your licence pulled for the season ahead. None of this no points rubbish, you fail to cooperate and/or comply, you don’t play – simple. Black and white. You’re over, you’re out.
The possibility of not playing at all – and all the financial pressures that would come with it – will be incentive enough for clubs to bend over backwards to cooperate and comply.
However, should the deadline come and go, a club has been cooperative, and they have found to be compliant, that’s it. Double jeopardy will apply. At first this sounds a bit like an invitation to cheat, but given the previously stated pressure on clubs to comply, the only way that the double jeopardy would become an issue is if the NRL don’t do a good enough job auditing the clubs.
This two sided method holds both sides to account (for want of a better term). Clubs have too much to lose by obstructing audits, and the NRL knows that it only has one chance to do a thorough job. This will prevent fans losing years worth of memories overnight, which was the great tragedy in the Storm scandal.
This system would never see premierships stripped or farcical no points games, all clubs would be rubber stamped to compete and that is the end of it. It looks out for the fans because, let’s face it, without fans there isn’t really much point to any professional sport.
Mushi
Guest
Mate you just don’t understand how involved or expensive such an audit is, this isn’t the standard end of year accounts stuff based on management accounts and representations. Also under the type of system you are suggesting each audit would need to be completed during the window of finalised contracts and the start of the next season. That is a pretty narrow time frame for 16 forensic audits and would require multiple experienced teams of accounts – millions would be a very conservative estimate of costs. This would mean you would need to reduce the cap to afford such a clumsy system.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
The problem is that technically the only thing illigal done by the storm was lying in a stat dec. Payment in Kind is a perfectly acceptable method of paying somebody, provided that the taxes are paid correctly. For companies it actually works out cheaper to give a player a boat than it is to give that player the value of the boat in cash. (it's to do with tax i think...) As for the other side, It is a reasonable idea, but i think it would be difficult, the hard part would be who decides the player values, and if its ex players, then there is going to be biases towards certain clubs and certain positions. It also allows clubs to weigh up non-footballing value as well. I don't think that there is an issue with the current system, other than the lack of high level auditing done by the NRL (or whoever they employ to do it), and clear penalties, known upfront, for breaching the rules. My argument in this regard is that the Storm's breaches grew significantly each year, so if the NRL picks them up with relatively minor breaches in 2006 the punishment would have just been a fine, as precedent suggests. Because the NRL was unable to detect the breaches for a full four years, it allows administrators to get cocky and push the boundaries... resulting in the whole lot coming down spectacularly, again, the only people that truely suffer are the fans...
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
So with all the millions in our game, why cant the NRL carry out the same type of forensic audit carried out at the Storm? Remember that this audit only took place AFTER the scandal was made public, and AFTER the penalties were put in place. My argument is that stripping premierships and playing a full season for no points only actually punishes one group and that is the fans, the players still get paid, the NRL gets its TV dollars, the trophy gets handed back but the players are still premeirship winners. Its a joke. You need carrots and sticks for both the clubs and the NRL to comply. If you pass the audit, then you are free to play, no retrospective action will be taken. The NRL has rubber-stamped you right to play in the season ahead. It means that the NRL has a deadline to complete the audit, and no premiership stripping or playing for no points which only hurts the fans. It also means that the NRL has only got one shot to do it properly, and they have six months to do it, plenty of time. Get the same guys who audited the Storm to do all the clubs... If you (a club) fails the audit, you don't play at all for the following season. This could be catastrophic for a club, and the NRL. Imagine on the eve of the season a team gets booted for the year. No club would risk it, and the NRL cant afford for it to happen, everybody would actually take the process seriously. Got nothing to hide? why worry?
Mushi
Guest
Danny I know it is difficult for the average fan to appreciate but I’m not sure there are any reasonable processes that can be put in place that will stop the outright fraud that occurred in Melbourne. Companies and individuals regrettably engage in these practices around the world whilst regulated by bodies larger and with far greater investigative expertise and in general their deceits are only uncovered when either the house of cards they built collapses or you get an internal whistle blower. It would have been very difficult for anything other than a complete forensic audit to uncover the fraud at the storm, as the lengthy investigation by one of the leading accounting firms showed.
oikee
Guest
I agree entirely with what you are saying. The whole system needs to be looked after by the I.C, not the clubs or the sponsers. Their is to much money under the table going on, i can see this, i am sure others can, a boat here, a P.C their, it happens, but controlling it is hard, i think this is the problem. Its no good having a cap if players are being paid by other means, if you know what i mean, what happened at the Storm. Its happening at other clubs i could surgest. They are not being caught. The easiest way to solve the problem would be player ratings, so you have lets say 100 points, you buy players to make up that 100 points, So Inglis might be worth 10 points, then you buy a cheap hooker, :) 5 points, and then a couple of wingers, lets say turner, he might be worth 4 points, and Vidot might be worth 4 points, his points might go up next year, but at the moment he is worth 4 points, so you balance the team by useing a points system. That way, what the players get paid under the table is no concern, it all goes on points, what the league thinks they are worth in a point system. This system could also apply to under 20's, so you just cant buy all the good players, like the Roosters seem to be doing. Anyhow, i am sure their is a better way, only needs someone with half a brain to come up with.
Danny_Mac
Roar Guru
I've put my views on expansion out there, to rake in the money we need to grow the NRL nationally it needs a bigger footprint. completely agree with the idea that there is no longer a need for the QRL/NSWRL (paraphrasing), and that the game should be run by a central, national body. With this article i was more trying to look at the cap. I feel that in the end, the NRL has failed in its duty of care to NRL fans (and particularly the Storm's fans). I think that it is the NRL's responsiblity to keep the clubs in line, in the same way that toddler given too much freedom will explore the very boundaries of what is possible. Clubs are the same, they will all try and get away with whatever they can. The Storm were not the first, and they won't be the last. And who suffers? The fans, always the fans. By looking at a way to better audit clubs, with carrots and sticks for both the NRL and the clubs, the fans will not suffer, which really is the life blood of the game. In the end, to carry out any reform agenda (like what you've outined above), you need fans. How many people are out there who never came back after Super League?
oikee
Guest
3 of those areas are rugby league heartlands, lets get them back onboard, not leave them dissallusioned. The only area they will have to work with would be Perth. The comp is then a 20 team comp, any team that struggles can be relocated. We can then play a shorter season(20 rounds, with 5 weeks of play-offs), and open up the international game. This is common sense. I have looked into the Crystal Ball. This is the future.
oikee
Guest
To sum it all up, we can no longer be controlled by 2 states, it has not taken the game much further in 100 years. It's time to be run by people who have Australia as their focus, not just 2 states. They have failed to look further afield, now we are playing catch-up. I am looking forward to the next 5 years. The next 2 four nations comps will be good, the real growth will come after 2013 world cup. Australia's main aim is to grow the game through-out Australiaisa, can we at least manage this, i ask for nothing more. :) Last point, anyone with half a brain would include Central QLD and Perth in the next expansion, they also should be allowing the Bears return, so why are we only thinking 2 teams, why not look at either 3-4. If you can acheive a good t/v deal, and you can enter teams that wont be a burden on the game, why wait to enter them next expansion. I know that the central QLD bid will be the strongest bid, they have coraprate support most teams could only dream about. So it makes sense that the Bears, Central QLD, and Perth, are no brainers, So the only other team that might be a good thing would be a Ipswich bid, and they have some big-time business giants they can get on board. Its common sense to grow teams if they have backing from huge business corps. Most of these areas would have this. Hopefully a I.C will see this ptotentail, i can.
oikee
Guest
Yes, had a chance to do somwething about this on-going problem, but Gallop missed the boat again. I am not sure our leader David is really up to the task. Anyhow, moving on, hopefully we get the commish up and running soon enough. Things to be looked at, 1/ The transperacy of players payments. 2/ The outdated rules of the game. 3/ Expansion into areas where the mining boom will help run the costs of teams. EG.,,, Qld ,, W.A. 4/ the push for business types to run the clubs, not ex-footy players. The game needs to become a business like every other code. 5/ Origin rethink, this outdated game is getting more outdated every year, its not going to go away, sticking your head in the sand like Carr has done is harming the International game. Our international game needs to become the priority. I "can't" see Origin surviving long term, but i can see it as a play-off against 2 other teams. We need to stop kidding ourselves this contest can survive the way it is now. Lets hope the guys in charge of the I.C use common sense for growth. With islanders kiwis and every other nationallity entering the game, you need a rethink. 6/ t/v product, no longer can we not explore the best possible outcome for showing the game, not just in Australia, but overseas as well. We have to market the game for every state, get it on t/v at a decent time no matter what, and continue to grow overseas markets. Hopefully all this can be acheived with-in 2 years. Any longer is time wasting, and the people in charge are not doing their jobs. I would make all this list a priority if i had controll. So let them make it their priority. These are nothing more than common sense issues. 6/