Let me take you back to late 2012. Rumours surrounded Israel Folau and his return to the NRL from the AFL. He looked likely to return with NRL wooden spooners Parramatta.
While some say his choice of club was poor it would be good nonetheless to have a talented player back in the NRL.
It was rumoured the Eels had tabled an offer around the $300,000 mark.
Cue salary cap auditor Ian Schubert. He would not register Folau’s contract at that price, as his market value is worth more.
Last time I checked it was the salary cap auditor’s responsibility to monitor the salary cap and advise the NRL of breaches. Any contract negotiations are left to the player and his club.
This move by Schubert saw Folau lost to rugby union. It was a clear abuse of power and obvious prevention of Parramatta signing a player.
Don’t forget St. George signed former NSW and Australian representative Mark Gasnier on the minimum contract for one season but his market value was more then five times that amount.
Krisnan Inu signed with the Dogs for around $100,000 when his market value was more than double that.
Let us not forget the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal, which Schubert failed to uncover. A whistle blower brought the scandal to his attention.
Schubert’s main job for the NRL is to prevent teams from breaking the salary cap. He didn’t do so with the Melbourne Storm.
I have discussed this at length with other supporters and we have all agreed that Schubert has to go.
Schubert’s long and successful career for the Roosters further clouds the issue. His connection with the club indicates a potential conflict of interest. The NRL need to promote the integrity of the salary cap auditor’s position.
Let’s have someone independent, removed from any possible conflicts in the role, and let Schubert tackle the AFL or A-League where he isn’t conflicted.
81paling
Roar Rookie
SuperEel22 when u say business I presume that u mean for profit organisation, is that correct ? if so the reality is that once the only for profit business was removed from the rugby league's peak governing body we saw the largest monetary increases in the salary cap approved in it's history. Therefore the debatable point that rugby league is a business and can never have at its peak a community governing body be run by non paid executives is a nonsense. I agree with u the game has to share whatever money it gets but, as the game makes more money it appears that more administrators and managers make more from in increasing proportions. So yes the game has a lot of money and lets give it to the athlete's that are the best at it but lets remember their agents etc r going to take their cut also. So when it comes to a decision if more kids and families can get to a weekend games to watch their hero's or TV will pay a bit extra to have the game televised on a Monday after bedtime when only a small minority of fans will watch the game lets make sure that the game is played on the weekend but, lets also make sure we lookafter our hero's through organisations like the men of league.
seven dollers worth
Guest
Your looking at the players as salesmen for advertising products.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
I think you're still living 30 years ago. Rugby League is a business today. An NRL career is short and these guys are athletes doing what they do best. The game has a lot of money, it's only fair that the centrepiece, i.e. the players, get their fair share.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
He also wanted to include the money made from Hindy's autobiography in the Eels' cap.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
If the Eels paid Folau his full market value this season then they would be over the cap. However he was offered no more than 300K and I have that confirmed by a number of people.
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
The Storm thing kinda does. Schubert's main role is to help prevent the breaching of the cap which is what the Storm did. Schubert didn't catch them doing it ie he failed his main role as salary cap auditor.
seven dollers worth
Guest
Maybe their getting paid far to much. Imagine a great league again ,running just as it was 30 years ago when players were playing footy for their beloved club ( for the love of the game not for the huge cash).
Gremlin
Guest
Which ever side of the Parra/Falou story you belive is always going to be debatable. The fact that this "dictator" tried to include SBW's (love, hate, or just don't care about him) income from boxing in the salary cap is just ridiculous, we're triying to keep/attract wold class players/athelets in the NRL. Having one man as Judge, Jury and executcioner seems amaturish. How many other world class players have we lost because of this man?
Gareth
Roar Pro
Finch also came back this year on a similar figure after turning down offers from ESL clubs in the $300-$400k vicinity. Granted, he's being paid a reasonable wage for a bloke who is only really expected to play a handful of games during the Origin period but it does kind of fly in the face of the whole Folau/market value thing. And the threat that the Storm wouldn't be able to reassemble their 2009 squad on cut rate pay packets.
Australian Rules
Guest
The lack of detail makes it hard to understand why the Folau deal fell apart...blaming Schubert seems a bit simplistic (though I agree the "market-value" point is strange). One thing's for sure, the other half of the story is Israel himself. Whatever you think about how the NRL handled the situation, Folau clearly wasn't 100% sold on returning to the NRL, even if he was weighing up / entertaining the options around him. The bigger Schubert-story is the Storm scandal. At the time, word on the street was "everyone's doing it"...but beyond the Storm, there were virtually no enquiries, no investigations and no other club was brought under the spotlight. The whole thing had a strange feel to it.
seven dollers worth
Guest
Nobody ever knows the truth behind these closed door deals. Always going to be a dodgy outcome when players cant decide what code they want to be part of. Schubert may not be aware of the same actions of all clubs at the moment. Jim Doyle will try and sort it out in the future.
Renegade
Guest
Your first mistake was believing that Schubert actually stopped the parra deal.....
Nomenclature
Guest
Finch came back in 2009 and signed with the Storm for $ 50K which sent alarm bells as they were already struggling with many superstars salaries. Schubert didn't take action though in 2008-2009 when the Storm had 9 internationals plus 2 other SOO players in a city which is not a holiday destination... He had to await for a whistleblower. BTW surely someone would have written a book about this Storm saga and I assume Waldron is quiet for a reason.. There is a book when someone makes a 100 games or plays an international these days...Is Schuberts job full time? and I guess he knows where all the skeletons are so he might have a job for life...
Matt F
Roar Guru
If money was still Folau's main priority the he'd still be struggling to get a kick for GWS
Matt F
Roar Guru
Good points peeko. If Gasnier had arrived at the start of the season then it would not have been improved. I'm pretty sure that the Warriors were still paying part of Inu's salary for the remainder of last season after he left for the Dogs as well
蜘王
Guest
Was it because of market value? I heard that the Eels were saying that they'd be over the cap for this season to get him, and was hoping that Schuey would ok it. And what about his time at the Roosters? He spent time at other clubs, and coached the Bulldogs in the lower grades. And who do you think would have found the Storm's secret books? Sherlock Holmes wouldn't have discovered it
M1tch
Guest
Jim Doyle is now overlooking the salary cap..Smith has said he wants players to stay and sign players to the NRL. There wont be another Folau/Eels situation again
Dragons Forever
Guest
Good call peeeko, Gaz signed on for 10 games and was paid 150k, not the reported garbage of 50k that people were screaming abt. So at an average of 15k per game that he played, over a season would of been 390k which I believe is more than fair, no rort there people.
eagleJack
Guest
Not only is it apples and oranges but Marldon is implying that there was deceit involved. When in actual fact the Eels were open and honest from the beginning saying that he would be paid his true "market value" ($700k+) from 2014. No I think this was simply a case of Folau reneging on the deal and the ARLC made a collective decision that they wouldn't lambast Foalu in the media so as to harm any chance of getting him back in the future.
AJ
Guest
Sort of with Marldon here. The figures rumoured to have been offered to Falou by Rugby franchises (not to mention the amount he was on in AFL) were significantly greater than $300,000.00. Falou has shown in the past that he will go to the highest bidder regardless of code and yet in this instance he was (at least at some point) prepared to take a far inferior Contract to join a struggling club. I think based on the circumstances the NRL just smelled a rat and thought Falou's new found charity was a little too convenient.