NRL issue Manly with breach notice following salary cap investigation

Shock horror

Manly has copped it (everyone hates Manly) for nearly 50 years regarding “buying premierships”and not “developing their juniors”. And that was for nothing “illegal”. So 8 years is a mere drop in the ocean.

This case would've been interesting if the Sea Eagles had won the comp during their 5 years of cheating. Such a minuscule amount each year, however they were still fielding an illegal squad because of it. I'd say there's a lot of merit to saying if it can be well proven that the actions were intentional it shouldn't matter what the figure is.

Good question...I don’t know. I think it also comes down to intent. Multiple teams go over the cap every year and get fined but rarely lose points. A lot of these are errors and self reported by the clubs. I think there’s a big difference between a financial accounting and a deliberate, systematic attempt to rort the system like the Storm, Bulldogs and Eels did.

At what stage could you keep a premiership after going over the salary cap? 10% over the cap, 5%, 1%, $200?

Well stated TB.

I think the floated idea that they'll be punished by having that 400k added to their cap for next season preventing them from making the half signing they need as well as the substantial fine they'll be paying (probably 400k) is fair play.

Their over achieving in 2017 was in part due to the all out war going on at the club last year, Barrett himself is quoted as saying that he used the siege mentality to rally the players resulting in their sitting in the top four for most of the season. Those folks on the insular peninsula love this stuff, the 'us against the world' feeling, some Manly'most successful periods have been based on it. Remember the sign on the hill at Brookie "everybody hates us, we don't care" So I would say, if anything, this should shorten their odds at making the 8 maybe even the top 4, although they will miss Green...

Apparently it's only $400k in total for Manly over a number of years which makes it even more dumb. Really poor management and now publicity for such a small sum.

Not making excuses for the breach but it would be interesting to see what the total payments to players are by each club including these sort of secretive third party things. Maybe some clubs have some pretty good third party deals going and their legal payments are higher than Manly's illegal total. That has an element of farce about it from where I stand.

In 2002 the Bulldogs were 900K over a 3.45M cap In 2016 the Eels were 500K over a $6.8M cap In 2006 the Storm were 300K over a 3.6M cap In 2007 450K over a 3.9M cap In 2008 950K over a 4M cap In 2009 1M over a 4.1M cap In 2010 1M over a 4.1M cap All three clubs had the seasons they were caught rorting and all titles won while rorting wiped. I really can’t see how the Storm were treated unfairly. Particularly given the scale of their rorting and length of time doing it was worse than anyone else. Which of their ill-gotten premierships should they have been allowed to keep? Some of them? All of them? How is that fair?

Storms punishment wasn’t disproportionate though. The Bulldogs were found to have massively systematically rorted the salary cap and they had the season they were caught rorting wiped. The Eels were caught...they had their seasons wiped. The Storm copped exactly the same punishment. The seasons they were caught rorting were wiped from the records. The only difference was they won more while rorting, unsurprising given they were cheating more and for longer. But hardly disproportionate. Manly’s punishment is yet to be handed down. I really don’t know what’s disproportionate about the penalties. In fact, they seem remarkably consistent to me. I know the internet isn’t the place for moderation, but why don’t we wait and see the scope of the breaches and the punishment before we get frilly about the punishment.

No, just fair play.

The storm had an unfair advantage and won the comp. The eels did not win the comp when they an unfair advantage. The sea eagles are yet to start playing in this years comp and they didn't win last years. What would you like to happen? Maybe a scenario where they play for no points all year? Or maybe just no Sydney NRL teams at all? Thatll stop that evil Sydney centric mafia.

Correct I have said for a while that a performance stats based system is the best way to evaluate a players worth and then all clubs can be measured by their sum total of such worth. Salaries would be a completely separate club/player affair.

They got caught and they copped it but the process was not fair and was not the same as afforded to subsequent transgressors. Also the punishment they received was significantly in excess of that received in recent cases of a similar magnitude. There is a clear case here. The storm (or rather Waldron) committed the crime but the process was neither fair nor was it in line with how other clubs have been treated subsequently. Say what you like but every time the Storm or Smith or Bellamy gets mentioned some smart a.rse mentions boats or salary caps or something despite the fact that this is 8 years old yet the Eels larger transgression of only last year is ancient history all ready. Double standards or what ! I would love to see a court rule on this case case because 1. the true facts will come out and 2. a real comparison and out come would be independently judged and not by a biased Sydney centric mafia.

“I don’t know where this boat came from” Cool story Cam

The salary cap system is flawed. A player's earnings should never be a true reflection of a players ability.

Aah lawyers. Always makes you feel good to hear that word. Melbourne got caught and copped it. Too bad.

I reckon the Storm should sue the NRL for their premierships back. It is clear that every club is rorting the salary cap and there is clear evidence that the punishments dished out to the storm were disproportionate and excessive simply because they won something. The sharks and their players got off extremely lightly for there systematic illegal drug taking and the Eels got off lightly considering their transgressions were greater than those of the Storm and that the entire board clouded in their execution. It is also clear that the due diligence, appeals process and opportunities for mitigation afforded to other clubs were never offered to the Storm. If Manly are afforded every opportunity to mitigate their transgressions as in recent history then any 2 bit lawyer would easily win its case for Melbourne.