It'll be a big week in the NRL for...

You should still it together Emcie. You've written some pretty good pieces before.

"I’d also like to know which outside organisations are offering funds to players. Is that also unreasonable?" Yes. Compared to how the rest of society is treated definitely. You know those rich list things are, really rough, estimates because it's impossible to legally get a hold of the exact figure of all sources of income for those "public figures" "so I used other private enterprise people instead. I could just have easily used a mid level bureaucrat at a health company but that would have probably been meaningless to you" Well not really because you wouldn't be able to get full details of every source of income for said mid level employee at a private health company if you're just a random punter in the street wondering which clinic to go to. Most will actually have a two way confidentiality clause. Also you incorrectly used the CEO example. That example would be for publishing the figures payable under the cap, not TPA's.

You’ve also said this isn’t about rorting but when I asked if you wanted to know other sports star earnings you said it was about league because “of the various scandals that have occurred over the years about player payments, bearing in mind it goes back to at least the ’70’s“ But never mind, if you only need to know players third party deals to work out how much to support the team surely that extends to every sportsman and athlete in the world? So are you posting articles demanding to know Smith, Cahill, Perry, Kyrgios’ sponsorships to work out how much you should support each of them and their teams. It’s an interesting idea “I think Kyrgios is a tool, but I really like his sponsors so I’m going to cheer for him. Except at Davis Cup. I really don’t like how much Tomic’s sponsors are paying him so I’m not going to cheer for Australia”

Maybe Hollywood can assign a movie star supporter to every club to make it fair...

I don’t think that’s the case Lovey. I read an article the other day that the Tigers (and I hate to keep singling them out but they’re a great example) are one of the highest supported teams in the NRL because they effectively merged two clubs fan bases into one. It’s why they get a lot of FTA games even when they’re consistently battling. Yet they’re a club that struggles to attract TPAs and whose fans often lead the calls for changes. I’m not saying the TPA system is perfect - although when you sit down to do it, it’s difficult to come up with a better system that allows players to earn income outside the game while maintaining the salary caps integrity. I’m not saying there are no rorts going or dodgy deals going on. It’s just public disclosure doesn’t do anything to fix that. I think we need far more compelling reasons to publicly disclose players financial information.

Just because players are representing a third party doesn’t mean we should know the financial details of that arrangement. When you call Telstra and you’re speaking to someone representing their company, do you demand to know their salary before you proceed? It’s irrelevant. All we need to know is that the deals comply with the rules...and as much as we’d like it to be or as bad a job as we might think the NRL is doing, that’s not our role. Public disclosure doesn’t make rorts any less likely or ensure the deals are legal. Transparency is a good thing. So is privacy.

Sorry...I really don’t get this idea of supporting a club based on how much their players get in TPAs. I don’t know who you go for but say you’ve got a soft spot for the Cowboys. You’ve admired Thurston for a while, like their young players coming through, bought into the emotion around their grand final win, think Paul Green is a good operator and respected how they battled to the grand final in 2017 through all their injuries. Taumalolo suddenly gets a 500k deal with Nike, are you going to drop the Cowboys. I get it’s a personal thing but TPAs seem the worst thing in the world to base your support for a club on.

I’m really not following now Paul. Are you saying that you need to know how much each player receives in TPAs to ‘work out’ how much you support each club? I don’t understand what that’s got to do with it. For example why would the amount of Cameron Smith’s contract with Fox influence how much you support Melbourne? You’re asking for players privacy to be breached so you can work out how much support to give each footy team in the comp. Fair enough I guess but I’ve never heard anyone wanting to know TPA details for that reason before. But you can’t say this isn’t about public curiousity and then state the only reasons for wanting to know is so you can work out how much to support a team. That’s the definition of public curiousity. It’s also a tenuous reason to breach an individual’s privacy. Why do you think you can find out the remuneration of 80% of Australia’s workforce?

I dunno if you've misread my comments but I'm not talking about people in the spotlight. You said my early comment, using the PM was "ridiculous" so I used other private enterprise people instead. I could just have easily used a mid level bureaucrat at a health company but that would have probably been meaningless to you. I'm also not talking about rorting the salary cap and have no idea where that came from. I'm simply wanting to know how much a person receives so I can decide, for example, what level of support I may or may not offer that Club. I'd also like to know which outside organisations are offering funds to players. Is that also unreasonable?

I understand what you're saying Nat, but I'm not confusing anything. I'm not talking about illegal or legal payments, I'm simply asking to know what payments a player for a Club I support receives. I truly do not understand why this is such an issue when I'm sure I could find out the renummeration for at least 80% of the working population of Australia with little effort, but I can't find out what players get form TPA and, more to the point, from whom.

Emile I guess we’ll see. These are the declared ones. Either way, clubs with a large fan/customer footprint have a huge advantage. Privacy for players should not be an issue. Employers can have rules about outside earnings.

I'd prefer you keep that to yourself mate as I'm pretty protective of my privacy. But yeah, I agree completely. And at the end of the day the NRL has to approve any deal anyway and theres reports going around that the NRL has been denying a hell of a lot of TPAs over the last couple seasons

Not being public knowledge doesn't make something a scam, there's no way in the world I want people to know what I earn. And the Broncos main sponsor is the Sydney based NRMA and the majority of their major sponsors are national or international brands, which is easy enough to discover by simply googling "broncos" and "sponsors".

But why the secrecy? TPA sponsors are paying the players to represent them in some way. You would think they would have no problem with this being public. Unless they are shams, just a way round the cap. Transparency is a good thing. And, it will be interesting to see how localised TPAs are. I would think for example the Broncos sponsors to be largely Brisbane based.

Maybe...but that’s not what he’s written. Even if that is what he’s saying, publicly disclosing players earnings does nothing to prevent that happening. I also don’t think that’s anywhere near as rife as cynics suggest. You can be organised and proactive and easily arrange TPA deals within the rules or back door the rules and run the risk of getting busted. By the way I watched Any Given Sunday on the weekend with John C McGinley. Whenever he was on screen I was thinking “there’s Emcie”

I think he may be refering to clubs guaranteeing TPAs

Of course that happens...but it’s perfectly legal. Clubs can introduce sponsors to players, they just can’t guarantee amounts or be part of the negotiations. Every club should have a list of potential sponsors, proposed amounts and the type of players the sponsors want to be aligned with. When they’re trying to sign players, introduce them to the appropriate sponsor. They should have staff dedicated to sourcing and cultivating these relationships. Anyone who doesn’t understand that doesn’t know what they’re talking about and shouldn’t be passing comment. Period.

I'd just started writing an article on this but I don't think there's much point now, things have pretty much been covered now

No one's saying they don't, but there's a big difference between saying that the system is fundamentally flawed and saying that people are cheating the system.

Anyone who doesn't think there are clubs who say to a player 'you're worth 500k but we'll pay you 300k and organize the rest through TPP' is naive. Period.