Perhaps the downfall of sports fans from around the world is their short memories.
Don’t believe me? Google your favourite club and have a look at their squad from a few years ago, say 2011. How many of them have already disappeared into the deep recesses of your memory, or have been forgotten all together?
The short collective memory of the rugby league public and media was on full display this week as the crosshairs were aimed at the Sydney Roosters for being salary cap cheats. This week Phil Rothfield brought us the story that there was no possible way that the Roosters were playing on the same level playing field as the other 15 clubs, he even had a list of player ‘values’ to prove it.
Luckily this was followed by a story from a Roosters ‘insider’ who brought some semblance of reason to the debate pointing out – rightly – that it is not the current value of a player that is counted towards the salary cap, but their contract amount.
And this is the crux of any salary cap debate.
Hop back in your time machine to January 2013. What did you think the Roosters chance of winning the premiership was? Yes they had signed Sonny Bill Williams, James Maloney and Michael Jennings, but they also had a rookie coach and were coming off a legless 13th in 2012 and 11th in 2011.
The fact is they were expected to be improvers and place in the lower half of the top eight. Premiership contenders they were not.
But it’s in 2011 that I start to explain how in 2014 the Roosters are not over the salary cap. Get your pen and Casio ready, because this is going to get rough.
Coming off their grand final appearance the year before, 2011 was a disaster for the tri-colours – both on and off the field. As he does so well, Brian Smith got out the broom and started sweeping.
Out went Dally M-winner Todd Carney and Australian representative Nate Myles, both at the peak of both their playing and earning powers. Joining them was promising centre Kane Linnett and former representative player Jason Ryles, among a host of lesser names.
Who did they sign to fill these rather large holes?
Josh Ailaomai, Alofa Alofa, Jack Bosden, Glenn Dumbrell, Adam Henry, Mark Kheirallah, Issac Liu, Ben Loxley, Daniel Mortimer, Curtis Rona, and Peni Tagive. Not exactly a list to get the heart racing is it?
Also on the ‘ins’ list were a couple of no names, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Daniel Tupou, who at the time wouldn’t have raised the slightest eyebrow.
After not replacing their best two players, the Roosters rather predictably finished outside the top eight But it was also no secret that the Roosters were under the cap for 2012.
In fact their signing of James Maloney with a year to run on his contract with the Warriors allowed them to front load his contract with the free space.
The addition of Maloney and the promise of a new dawn under rookie coach Trent Robinson had Roosters fans excited for the 2013 season – especially as a certain Sonny Bill Williams had also signed on the dotted line. Joining Maloney and Williams was a no-name prop called Sam Moa, and Michael Oldfield from Manly
.
But again it’s the outs that paint the real picture. Club captain Braith Anasta departed, as did international winger Sam Perret. Highly talented youngsters Tom Symonds, BJ Leilua and Mose Masoe also departed for a variety of reasons.
So since 2011 the Roosters had lost Todd Carney, Nate Myles, Braith Anasta and Sam Perret, all internationals, to sign James Maloney (who at the time was not a representative player), Sonny Bill Williams, and veteran Luke O’Donnell.
Assuming increases in the salary of other players in the squad during that time this seems pretty spot on to me, if anything they would have a little extra space.
It turns out they did.
When the Panthers cut Michael Jennings free from his long term contract, the Roosters swooped and snagged one of the most exciting talents in the game. And the best part? The Panthers footed some of the bill.
We all know of course that the Roosters would march all the way to grand final glory in 2013. No names like Sam Moa, Daniel Tupou, and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck would become representative players and the likes of Boyd Cordner and Aiden Guerra went to another level. But of course a premiership ring doesn’t add zeros to a current contract.
Leading into 2014, the squad remained largely unchanged. The biggest signing during the off season was a French prop that no reasonable NRL fan would have known existed. Out went O’Donnell and fringe representative prop Martin Kennedy. Also lost mid-season were Daniel Mortimer and former ‘star of the future’ Tautau Moga.
The fact is that the Roosters 2014 salary cap position is easily explainable, and there isn’t the conspiracy at play we seemly are being lead to believe.
But this story isn’t about the Roosters. If Manly had won last year’s premiership it would be asking how they manage to keep their host of stars, or how Brisbane have managed to sign half of the competition’s fullbacks. For whatever reason rugby league fans love to wear tin foil hats.
However there is a simple solution for the NRL to solve this never ending debate, like professional sports in the US, they must simply publish player salaries. That way we all know exactly where a club sits at any moment, and this cloud that forever hangs over the game since the Melbourne Storm affair disappears.
Because the Roosters aren’t cheating, they are just better at playing the game both on and off the field.
And isn’t that what sport is all about?
Gregg
Guest
Great article. Anyone that takes any notice of that Phil Rothfield and his telegraph stories have no idea about rugby League.
The Barry
Guest
I wasn't claiming the 7 players I named were internationals. I should have started a new paragraph.
The Barry
Guest
The salary cap increases are offered up for everything. We signed SBW for a mill a season because the cap went up. We signed Jennings and Maloney because the cap went up. We can pay rep bonuses because the cap went up. That's rubbish that kiwi players are paid less. Is SBW paid less because he's a kiwi? Is JWH? Kieran Foran? Shaun Johnson? Pearce isn't an international. He's one of NSWs most capped origin halfbacks and he's only 25. His last contract was signed for big money.
The Barry
Guest
Which is the whole point of the article.
The Barry
Guest
Mushi the point is you can't say we're not over the cap in 2014 because we've let x number of players go since 2011. The storm were in exactly the same boat that they let player after player go but were still massively breaching the cap.
The Barry
Guest
Mushi maybe you should check your facts. The roosters had 18 players involved in last years World Cup. That makes 18 CURRENT internationals. Ok a lot of those guys would have been playing for second tier nations but it was still the highest representation of any NRL club and doesn't take into account SKD who didn't play for the kiwis or guys like Maloney or Pearce who have played origin. I'm not saying the roosters are over the cap but when a roster of that depth and quality is put together questions should be asked. It's simple.
Muzz
Guest
TB - Gyngell isn't on the Roosters board.
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
I guess we can be thankful at least it wasn't in "txt speak" :)
Benny
Guest
They may well have bonus clauses in their contracts. But that's without taking into account the fact that the roosters would have been able to take advantage of the salary cap increases through giving these bonuses. The salary cap has increased by roughly 1 mil over the past year and that leaves room for increases. Also, most of the internationals are kiwis, who would be on much lesser money than aussie internationals. And since when does Pearce qualify as an international, I thought he was the worst half in the comp....
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
off coarse ewe r write bout that spellin mstook :)
Benny
Guest
Couldn't agree more. Most average halves in the comp, SBW, SKD all overrated. Then all of a sudden theyre superstars on 500k a year
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
Dear Mr Editor, I would suggest, most respectfully, that the NRL fans would dust OFF their tin foil hats. Despite many lazy speakers confusing the two, "of" and "off" are not interchangeable...
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
"Also little known fact to be called an “international” doesn’t mean you’ve traveled to Bali you need to play for your national side" Damn! i've been calling myself an international for years and you've blown it for me with this new interpretation of an international. Does it help if i've been to Bali 5 times? how about Tonga? :)
MJB
Guest
I find it endlessly amusing how people spend 90% of the season rubbishing Pearce, Maloney and SBW, and then when they're minor premiers suddenly the talk turns to 'how can the roosters be under the cap?'.
mushi
Guest
Rugby league is played with 13 on the field and 4 on the bench - you are a little short for a FULL TEAM of internationals. Also little known fact to be called an "international" doesn't mean you've traveled to Bali you need to play for your national side. Now given you only name 7 guys surely you could have checked if they were actually internationals right? Even mini is a stretch given it was 2005, it's like quoting a share price from 2005 when discussing cap values.
MJB
Guest
I don't understand how anyone could get excited about a guy convicted of indecent assault who thinks a suspended 1 year sentence was too harsh a punishment joining their team. And he's firmly in The Mouth's camp to boot. Goes to show that you've learned nothing from Carney.
mushi
Guest
There is no way someone could read that entire article and think the underlying concept is that refreshing your roster every 3 years means you can't possibly break the cap.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Their 2011 roster is completely irrelevant to whether they are over or under the salary cap in 2014. As you said yourself every teams roster completely changes every 3 years or so, so by your rationale no team would ever be over the salary cap because their roster looks different to how it did 3 years ago. The Storm could say the same things. How could we be over the salary cap? We've released Matt King, Ben Cross, Clint Newton, Orford, Geyer, Kearns, Folau, Kidwell, Johnson, Kaufusi, Chambers, Tagatese, Crocker, Turner, Jeremy Smith over the last couple of years...how could we be over the cap our roster is completely different. I don't necessarily think that they are over the cap but any time a team is able to assemble an entire squad of representative players there should be a very close look at it. I don't know why a roosters fan would object. The Roosters have done well to assemble their squad, they've bought a few players and developed / identified a lot. But so did the Storm. Roosters players appearing on the footy show is completely relevant. Third party deals are limited and are part of the cap. Gyngell runs 9 and is on the board at the roosters so I'm not even sure how it's considered a "third party" deal. It is very, very, very relevant. Again, there may not be anything wrong but it should be looked at to remove the appearance of any impropriety.
The Barry
Roar Guru
that was two years ago and he hasn't said anything funny since.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Benny - I haven't missed the point at all. Jake Friend just re-signed this year. Do you think he's still on chicken feed? I never mentioned RTS, Tupou Guerra and Moa - I know they're not on big contracts. All of them will have rep bonuses that will have been activated this year though. A young player signs a contract. All of a sudden they are a rep player and a star within a season (Tupou, Cordner, RTS, Moa, Guerra, etc). Do you think the club leaves them on a minimum contract for four years and then re-signs them for big money? Rubbish. They get upgrades through the course of a contract. That still doesn't address the fact that they have a FULL TEAM of internationals. Jennings, Pearce, SBW, Maloney, Minichello, SKD, JWH were all signed or re-signed for big money respective of their positions.