Sport and big business are not identical, but the sooner clubs understand that the NRL is a multi-million dollar industry and they need to run their businesses accordingly, the better our sport will be.
There have been two stories that have emerged out of clubland this week that have been deeply troubling.
The first emerged earlier in the week, before the Newcastle Knights lost to the Sydney Roosters 48-10 on Saturday night.
If reports are to be believed, then the Knights are going to have to make some serious decisions when it comes to their salary cap for 2020.
It started a month ago when Nathan Brown was questioned about the future of Herman Ese’ese. He told the media that Herman was signed to the end of next season and would remain at the club until at least then.
Despite how tight the 2020 cap position is, the club still want to register the contract of Cronulla Sharks hooker Jayden Brailey, but have been told by the NRL that they cannot. The Knights also have no money to retain the services of the likes of Shaun Kenny-Dowall or Hymel Hunt unless another player goes.
For the Knights, it looks like the majority of the cap will be taken up by contract upgrades to players like Kalyn Ponga, Jesse Ramien and Daniel Saifiti, whose deal is due a bump thanks to Origin selection.
The Knights could be OK if they manage to get rid of Tautau Moga and Aidan Guerra, but will be challenged if those two players decide to stay.
My question is how are the Knights in this position?
Newcastle have been selling a rebuild to their fans and members for several years. Their long-suffering supporters have tolerated mediocrity on the field for many years.
This year, the rebuild finally seems to be complete thanks to the exceptional form of players like David Klemmer, Kalyn Ponga and Mitchell Pearce.
Imagine if all this is to be challenged yet again because of poor salary cap management in the year that they are set to play finals football for the first time since 2013.
It’s not a good enough result for fans who have bought into a story of a rebuild for it to come crashing down one year after they’ve got it together.
(Tony Feder/Getty Images)
Newcastle aren’t the only club that are facing some challenges off the field.
The Gold Coast Titans have problems of their own. At least their CEO Dennis Watt spoke honestly last week when he admitted that this is the Titans last chance to get things right.
That’s about more than just the results on the field – it involves the crowd and the coach.
Then there’s the Cronulla Sharks.
What a fascinating season they’ve had.
I remember at Round 8, they had $2 million worth of talent sitting in the sidelines including Wade Graham, Matt Moylan and Aaron Woods.
But then in the next couple of rounds, the Sharks were able to jag some wins and were sitting comfortably inside the eight thanks to some strong performances from young players like Briton Nikora, Jack Williams and Bronson Xerri.
The Sharks are now sitting well outside the top eight and are playing average footy.
But that seems to be the least of the club’s challenges at the moment, following the announcement that a new shopping centre is being built on the western side of the ground. As a result, the Sharks will not be able to play at Shark Park for the next two years and will be playing out of Kogarah, Darwin and the Sunshine Coast.
All this and no stadium redevelopment to look forward to? That’ll be hard for their fans to cop.
At least for Parramatta Eels fans, the challenge of ANZ Stadium was made better because of the promise of a brand new Western Sydney Stadium.
Cronulla have faced plenty of challenges off the field over the last decade and it looks like things will get harder before they get easier.
Season 2019 has seen some great footy played on the field, positive media coverage and more people watching than ever before. But the game continues the be plagued by challenges off the field for the clubs.
And I wonder whether some more professional management of these clubs would have helped at some point along the line.
Sport is not big business, but big business may have some lessons for us in how we run our clubs.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
It's a common war cry from the fans , you see it constantly on the Silvertails forum when things aren't going so well. It sounds great in theory but look at the premiers over the last decade. The title winners just about every year have very few juniors. If any of these clubs did what the Knights tried to do they wouldn't be winning titles. The one club who needs to keep it's best juniors is the Broncos but they can't work out who they are. Manly have kept the two that mattered ( this season anyway, good buy for the Dogs though ) and that's what counts. The Pennies have had much stronger juniors than the Knights and haven't been close to a GF so far if we're honest.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Can you give even one example of a player who Newcastle have let go that should have been kept for further development...or even one player who on being let go has been nurtured into a solid first grader by their new club and walk back into the Knights starting team..the only 2 you could refer to as developed players,let go recently, Meaney and Cogger ...well, do you really rate them ? Brock Lamb had so many chances...when champions like Ponga, Pearce and Klemmer come on the market,you just buy..
John
Guest
Developed as in brought into first grade through their junior system and kept retained whilst in first grade. You've listed at least 2 that were brought back one from Roosters other from Sharks after they went through further development. Of the others listed most are injury covers at best, J Safiti aside. At full strength how many on that list would feature in the 17? Compare that to other clubs and it's plain to see Newcastle and far more reliant on brought in talent that most other clubs. Ignored wouldn't be the term I would use, I would probably say that Newcastle have been too poor in developing their own junior talent to first grade standard which has forced them into using developed players from other clubs.
farkurnell
Guest
Mary I see the Sharks interstate games as a Win/Win -spreading the RL Gospel and The Shireites get to travel and see part of Aus they only dreamed about.With a bit of luck Scomo could organise some cheap flights through his contacts at Qantas and/or the RAAF.
farkurnell
Guest
Tones had trouble organising a dunny down at his local surf club ,I think a new Brookie Stadium was a bridge too far.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Depends what you mean by ‘developed’ but from the squad those who come from or played junior football in the Hunter and it’s hinterland : B Jones C Watson (Erina) both Saffitis J Ramien J King L Fitzgibbon M Barnett Pasami S Phoenix C(Erina)..only Brodie hasn’t played 1st grade this year..it’s a huge misconception to believe the juniors have been ignored..
souvalis
Roar Rookie
If Herman’s on $300k we can stop wondering why he’s been sulking..
Nunnsy
Guest
Correct with ash Taylor. Way off the mark with ponga there would not be a club in the nrl who wouldn't sign ponga for what he is on.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
I hope it's true this time but why not fix the thing up properly and get fair dinkum? Rampant Manly fan and local prime minister Tony Abbott wasn't able to wave the magic wand so having liberals in power doesn't help much.
Nunnsy
Guest
It was reported that Watson was around the $500,000 mark. Herman was reported at $475,000 would be strange for them to move him on if was only on $300,000.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
Really shows the risks with recruitment. The Knights took a big gamble on Ponga - paid for potential. The Titans did the same with Ash Taylor. Neither has really lived up to their price tag yet (yet!). Sharks on the other hand, paid for experience and not potential. Whilst the salary cap is an off-field issue, I think there are other off field issues that have derailed these teams - throw the Dragons in there as well.
Doug Graves
Guest
"I haven’t understood how zero dollars goes to the whole northern region of Sydney but billions go elsewhere." Must be a leftist/Cultural Marxist conspiracy to deprive the liberal heartland of decent facilities even though the far right "liberals" are in power at both state and national levels..... Jokes aside I did find this: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/brookvale-oval-to-get-36-1m-facelift which indicates Manly will get a 3000 seat grandstand and a center of excellence which I think is long overdue if Manly are going to remain in the NRL.
Nat
Roar Guru
Ponga is still on his $450k (?) from his original contract. That might double come contract time but for the moment Pearce and Klemm would be the big ticket players. I believe Guerra is approx $600k and Glasby not even that but above the others. I'd be very surprised if those other 4 are above $400k - even SKD given the manner in which he left the chooks. Esse'sse is a quality forward but I have it on good authority (his family) it's no more than $300k (ex any TPA) - he was on near min wage at Brisbane so his choice was easy - their words. I think Guerra must be one of the last 'overs' players of past years with Heighington and Lilyman gone and Buhrer and Griffin in their last year.
Paul
Roar Guru
I take your point about the numbers Emcie, but again, isn't this straight forward maths? Perhaps not to us, but I assume a certified accountant wouldn't have too many problems keeping on top if this and obviously all Clubs would have their own bean counters. I get the impression ALL Clubs get greedy, but those who now know how to manage their players/salary cap wisely, don't overreach, which is what appears to have happened at the Knights. When they were buying so many players, it obviously begged the question; how are they going to pay them under the cap in the future? I guess we're getting the answers.
john
Guest
Local players tend to be cheaper than brought in talent which usually gives the club a bit more salary cap breathing space. The Knights are in that situation because they have failed to truly develop a core of local players from the rebuild that started 5 years ago and have instead been forced to bring in the talent from elsewhere. How many locally developed junior players are in the 17? Daniel Safiti... who else?
Emcie
Roar Guru
Sorry, you're right, it was for 2017, they just had until june 30 last year to fix it. Perhaps that's part of the trouble, having around $2mill (reportedly) extra for last years cap that's not there moving forward could complicate matters
Don
Roar Rookie
Surely the NRL not allowing the Knights to register a future contract until they show how they will remain cap compliant is a positive? And I’ve no doubt that the Knights already have plans regarding moving some existing players on. But often you also don’t want to show your cards too early in the player market. Just about every club seems to be about $500k over before the start of each season when you add existing players on contract to new players signed and upgrades announced. Then they look at moving on a $500k player by contributing $100k to another club to take him. With the spare $400k they can upgrade someone by $200k and sign a good young guy at $200 to bolster the roster.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
There would be quite a few handsomely paid Knights starting with Pearce,Ponga,Klemmer,Glasby, Watson and Ramien of late and those on overs due to plight of circumstance SKD, Guerra, Sione M....Fitzy, Saffiti and even Barnett warrant upgrades...be very, very surprised if they’re paying Herman E. ‘ a couple of hundred ‘ thousand...last year close to the clubs most consistent forward performer..he’s more than probably gone, coach conflict happens..with rumors of more Sharks coming there’ll be a cleanout..it’s happening at the Broncos, the Eels and most certainly sooner than later at the Dragons and Titans..just for starters..
Beastie
Roar Rookie
Knights having to forward pay players' salaries to get up to the minimum spend of the cap was 2 years ago, not last year. That was before they had Ponga, Klemmer, Pearce, etc. on the books.
Emcie
Roar Guru
To be fair there's a fair amount of variable amounts that come under the salary cap like appearance fees and bonuses as well. So if you have a year where injuries force you to use your reserve guys a lot more then expected or a number of your players debut for origin unexpectedly your cap usage can jump by a fair bit. Plus you've got things like manager fees and provided accomodation and those sort of benifits that aren't set in stone and can jump around a fair bit. That said, when you've got teams like the Knights that were reportedly having to massively overpay players last year just to reach the minimum spend for the cap facing struggles then things have probably gone wrong...