NRL needs to solve salary cap problems

the cap is $5.85 million this year and it will rise to $6.3 million next year.

Matt, it is NOT good for the game to bring kids through the ranks, turn the into top grade players and ten disband part of the team because the club cannot get UNDER THE CAP. Kids everywhere are running around paddocks with their fave teams colours on and their fave players name on the shirt, Imagine how this affects these kids when suddenly they finds out that is hero is now a Roosters player!, I wonder how many turn off the club and the sport.

How can a team afford to pay 1,2 or 3 players almost a million per season whilst their grounds are empty because a LOT of potential supporters cannot afford to go to a game. Until the money starts coming in from the fans the players should be on a capped salary, --- not the team, The PLAYERS. Do you think that if the public weren't fronting up to watch/buy Johnny Depp movies- the film industry would keep paying him billions, NO, but NRL teams are doing just that!. We cannot afford the type of salaries that fringe players are now asking once they get into a successful team..-- the destructive outcome ist the increased salaries will slowly strangle the sport and TV will not be able to save it if interest drops from the fans..

Hey Will, nothing will ever stop a good young player from accepting above his worth to leave the club that has invesrted time and money into him!. that is human nature. so the salary cap isn't doing what the NRL would like us to think. it is creating a false marketplace where mediocrity is being rewarded by clubs trying to buy success by signing anyone that shows promise at a figure that his 'Employer cannot match!, if a transfer fee similar to what I have already suggested was put in place, maybe the buyers would be more reluctant to offer 'over the top salaries'.. Oikee hit it in one, the cap doesn't work, bring in transfer fees and try to keep the players salaries at a level were clubs CAN survive. The transfer figure that I mentioned is the first move towards sanity!.

The nrl does not need a salary cap, there is more than enough talent in the game to host a 2 tier relegation/promotion competition. Ladder position should also determine NRL grants with the higher placed teams receiving more of the incentive. Transfer fees will be key to reward smaller clubs for developing players so they can reinvest to make their own club bigger. To keep consumer interest the season should be shortened so that teams play each other once and to make up for the lost games, an FA cup(knockout) style of competition which includes the 2nd tier teams (maybe non-league teams later) can be played to provide weak 1st tier teams and 2nd tier teams the chance to earn some additional funding as they progress to latter stages. I do believe this knockout style will benefit these weaker teams because strong clubs may field "2nd string teams" so they don't risk injuries. By having an elitist system I do think that weak clubs will become innovators of new tactics, strengthen scouting and development programs and go through a process where a club is built from the ground up which will receive strong passionate supporter base.

Clubs should be rewarded for investing time and money into local junior football. Clubs should also be rewarded if they have players that stay "loyal" to them for say, 10 yrs. Both of these category of players should not be part of the salary cap.Keep it simple.

The cap is $4.4m for a first grade squad of 25 players. Firstly: - most clubs would be nearing that already this year, is 25 the right number? - The TV rights deal equals roughly $12.5m per club per year as a %. That means players are getting around 1/3 of the pie, exclusive of revenue from gate takings, merchandise sales, memberships etc. Is that really enough? Where is the rest of the money going? - I would argue that $12.5m per club per year means that the clubs aren't going to be under the same pressure each year as there is plenty of tv revenue comiing in to increase the cap. Either increase the cap 2 ways... have a tier cap system, or give discounts to players salaries as a percentage of the cap. Like long service leave, a players salary count less and less toward the salary cap for each year of service to a club. It would encourage loyalty and create stronger club spirit. I would encourage a transfer system too for players under contract. Can't stand seeing players sign mid season.

Policing the cap is a joke. For example: Young Illawarra gun Jackson Hastings, son of Easts legend Kevin, has secretly signed for the Roosters (for 3 years at a total of $250,000) but its all hush hush. He is 16 years old. How many other examples of this is happening?! -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.

scrapping the salary cap would be terrible for the NRL. It works for English football because firstly, the sporting market in England is way less congested than in Australia, with soccer being the number one sport with daylight filling spots 2-10, and secondly, England has 2 and a half times the population Australia has. If you scrap the cap then you will have the Broncos and the Roosters fighting it out for the premiership every year (you can add the Knights to that if Nathan Tinkler gets his act together - imagine the dough he'd pour into the Knights if there was no cap), and you will have the Sharks, Raiders and Panthers (and others) having cricket scores put on them every week. You bag out Manly for "poaching" New Zealanders (typical Oikee garbage), yet your solution to the salary cap problem would have Brisbane buying the premiership every single year. And all the while, clubs like St George Illawarra, Penrith and Parramatta will be producing premiership winning teams for the Broncos and the Roosters. If you want a competition in which 2-3 teams contest the premiership each year then go watch English Premier League.

+1

Season-ending injuries are crippling (no pun intended) too many clubs. Clubs should be able to recruit a replacement player of equal value for the duration of any season-ending injured players' time out without incurring any salary-cap penalty.

Andrew, That's a crap excuse....they purchased 17 players for this year to cover those injuries. Dean Whare and Wes Naqaima are 2 of those individuals who can both play fullback. If they decided to put faith in Moylan to begin with rather than throwing money at those 2 blokes then we're not even having this conversation.

Sorry mate how is this Penrith's fault you can only include so many players in the first grade cap how were they meant to know that half their team would get injured and Lachlan Coote would get a season ending injury. This didn't only happen to one club (tigers) so it obviously isn't just one clubs fault. The nrl needs to pull it's act together and take away all that power that rooster loving shubert has. He has stuffed up enough times ( Melbourne cap, izzy falou etc )

Is every player at the Warriors from Auckland? No. Is every player at the Broncos from Brisbane? No. No doubt both clubs do well at developing youth. One has the benefit of having an entire country as their catchment area. The other has always used an entire state. But to single out Manly, who you are obsessed with, as the only club exploiting the system is ridiculous.

Spot on mate....it's not the NRL's fault. It's outrageous to feel sorry for the panthers because they decided to spend money luring average players instead of having faith in their youth....didn't they buy something like 17 new players for 2013??

Never get tired of relaying the truth. Brisbane brings through its own juniors, same as the warriors. Brisbane just spent 6-7 million on a development academy in Logan, as well as bringing Ipswich on board this year plus Redcliffe and Wynnum/Manly as feeder teams. I will not get bored, not when i know i am right. p.s, that means your wrong as i just proved, and the Warriors dont import juniors. Sorry your wrong again.

Quite happy actually!! Manlys going good, brisvagas ain't !!! And to top things off QLD are looking like the cows ,brisvagas combined !! Busted ,,,, I'm very happy !!!! What about you oik !!!

Hilarious!! Cause every other club only has players on their books from their local catchment area........ You must even bore yourself writing the same stuff day after day.

I cant see the problem here.If Penrith knew these guys were so good why wer nt they in their 25.Penrith mistake not the NRL

Not only in NZ, they get them from Queensland and Parra juniors. Why do you keep calling me a jibber, i am only telling the truth that everyone knows. They aslo have Sao plus numerous juniors that they get from around the 2 countries. I will say it again, why keep kicking these bigger areas to keep little Manly afloat. While the game continues to rape and pillage junior powerhouse areas and clubs, Manly is allowed to survive and drag the growth down. This does not make sense in any business, it does not make sense in any sport anywhere, yet our code allows it to stunt the games growth. Madness.