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There are many things in this world that are inherently confusing. Art-house films, tax returns, the appeal of the Madden brothers, just to name a few.
All of these however seem like Spot Kicks The Ball when compared to getting a handle on the NRL salary cap.
The official NRL site states that the 2012 NRL salary cap stood at $4.4 million dollars. It also states that South Sydney won the 1908 premiership, the Sydney Football Stadium was opened in 1988 and Dally M was able to burp the alphabet.
The point being that none of these facts actually helps us in the year 2013.
To date the salary cap for 2013 and beyond is yet unknown, with general consensus having it at the $5.85 million dollar mark.
Yet, despite trials being just over a month away, nothing is set in stone.
Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes in rugby league it’s great when things get done at the last second, just ask Mark Coyne every year around Origin time.
But stuffing around with how much money clubs can spend on their roster is the butterfly in the Amazon causing the tsunami at Sandon Point.
The blokes in the front office don’t know what they can pay players, so players don’t finalise deals. This in turn leads to fans getting upset because the club can’t tell them exactly who will be playing for them, yet supporters have already started being carpet bombed with membership renewal notices.
Fans blame the players. Players blame the club. The club blames the NRL. The NRL blames Channel Nine. Channel Nine blames Karl Stefanovic (probably).
Eventually this all turns into a spasmodic game of musical chairs two weeks out before the season begins, with everyone watching to see which team will fall flat on their arse and miss out on a centre this year. It’s madness.
Compounding this fear of losing a loyal servant or missing out on a much needed player is the very real threat of NRL clubs misbalancing their books and getting slugged later in the year for it. Under the current confusing circumstances though, can you really blame clubs not getting the correct numbers?
It’s not like they can tell the future, and if the bean counters budget on salary cap increases that don’t eventuate, is it their fault?
Melbourne should have just put their hands up in the air and said “we don’t understand sir” after their salary cap breaches and they’d probably still have their premierships, such is the sense of confusion with these things.
The early months of the year should involve a few wheelings and dealings as teams finalise their first grade squad and players impress in trial matches. Fans understand this.
However, when situations arise like that at the Cowboys where they legitimately don’t know how much they can offer gun player and co-captain Matthew Scott, everyone ends up losing.
So I don’t think we’re asking for too much, just a little bit of clarity with the 2013 salary cap so clubs can do their jobs, so players can do theirs, so we can sit back and enjoy the show.
Because knowing the 2013 salary cap in 2013? There should be nothing confusing about that.
Follow Chris on Twitter @Vic_Arious
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