Those bloody player agents. Scum of the Earth, all of them. The important thing to remember is that the players are all totally innocent.
Yep, despite signing two contracts for differing amounts, seeing their bank balance increase from companies they’ve never even heard of, or just flat-out receiving brown paper bags full of cash, no NRL player – ever – has assisted the circumventing of the salary cap.
At least, that’s what we’d have to believe, because no NRL player – ever – has been disciplined for salary cap breaches.
Pretty well every year there’s a fresh salary cap scandal in the NRL. And pretty well every year head office finds a way to say it’s everyone else’s fault but the players who actually get paid.
This week the NRL announced disciplinary proceedings against player agents, with Gavin Orr’s accreditation set to be cancelled, Antoun Zibara’s under probation for the next three years, while Isaac Moses and Mario Tartak have been issued show-cause notices.
Now, I’m not saying that these agents are without blame – and Tartak’s issue is “previously undisclosed bankruptcy proceedings”, so I don’t suppose any third party got a leg-up – but why isn’t the NRL going after the players who ultimately benefit from whatever it is their agents are said to have done wrong?
Let’s look at the allegations levelled at Moses:
“The notice alleges that Mr Moses breached his obligations as an accredited agent by counselling or assisting a person to not co-operate fully with the NRL Integrity and Compliance Unit.”
So…who is the “person” Moses counselled or assisted to not co-operate? And did that person just ignore him and do the right thing?
The Sydney Morning Herald claims the action against Moses has come about after “Tim Mannah provided information about him to the NRL integrity unit”.
“It is understood those matters relate to Mannah, who split with Moses earlier this year, and the 2016 Parramatta salary cap scandal,” Andrew Webster reported.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
As for Orr, his accreditation is in jeopardy “over an alleged breach of the salary cap rules involving Cheyse Blair and his time at Parramatta in 2013”.
I won’t cast aspersions or make assumptions about who did what, but since it’s a salary cap issue – again – then how about the NRL gets real.
Sure, player agents may be the conduits through which breaches occur, but it’s the player who gets rich and the club who benefits on the field.
So we’ve got three parties here – agents, clubs and players.
The NRL has gone after the clubs on innumerable occasions, while agents are now able to be sanctioned due to new rules.
“The reform of the rules relating to player agents at the end of last year has allowed the NRL to hold player agents accountable in the same way as players and club officials,” NRL chief operating officer Nick Weeks said.
Here’s the thing though Nick, you may be allowed “to hold player agents accountable in the same way as players and club officials”, but while there have been thousands of players registered in the NRL over the years that cap breaches have occurred, not one of them has ever received so much as a cent in reprimand, let alone a week on the sidelines.
The common denominator is pretty clear, so why do we keep letting players walk?
As I’ve argued previously, breaching the salary cap is financial doping.
We’ve perpetuated the myth of the dumb footy player for years but if we expect them to keep track of everything that goes into their body, is it really too much that they do the same for their bank account?
And going after players is easily the most effective way to ensure the salary cap isn’t breached and that player agents are squeaky clean. Because the threat of copping a significant fine or spending up to four years on the sidelines – as is the case with performance-enhancing drugs – would mean players insist their agents aren’t doing the dirty.
After going after agents and clubs, the cap continues to be flouted. There’s one group left to target.
It’s time the NRL starts holding the players responsible for salary cap breaches.
WallabyJ
Roar Rookie
This is holding the club to account in my opinion. Sure the players lose the recognition of being in a premiership winning team but this is unquantifiable. If players are to be truly held accountable for being paid and playing contrary to the salary cap rules, then they should be penalised by these measures also - financial and loss of game-time i.e. suspension.
Morshead
Roar Rookie
Agree with your latter point and think this is generally being overlooked. The NRL is a competition and they, as owners of that comp say, if you want to play in this competition, here are the rules. If you don't want to play, that is fine too. Part of those rules are the salary cap (which you don't have to be an economic genius to understand why this is important for general stability and longevity in the game). Clearly some players didn't like them rules and went elsewhere and good luck to them. But those who choose freely to play in the comp know the rules, players, agents and clubs. So they are all responsible for their involvement and actions in accordance with the rules.
Bundy Fan
Guest
Players come and go, but if you throw out the offending agents and scare the clubs into compliance you are more likely to have a longer lasting effect. Also, why not make all salaries public or at least available to the NRL, including all sponsorships. Then give the NRL auditor the right to check bank accounts and assets of players, maybe via the tax return, and then you might have a chance of a less corrupt salary cap.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Agree here. The NRL is concerned that a push to go after players will 1) see players go to court on the Salary Cap and 2) monies now available in union.
Nat
Roar Guru
This is a load of gibberish. Agents only the blame because their role to organise TPAs on behalf on the player and at arms length from the club, which mostly is s joke but that's the risk they take if caught. If the agent comes to the player with $50k TPA should the player be doing the integrity checks? What's he paying the agent for? When a club breaches the cap it can only be A) over the cap and that's the clubs issue. B) Illegal TPA which is 100% the agent If the agent tells the player it's a bogus TPA then the players are compliant. Otherwise they are just signing the best contract their agent could get for them. I'd have a wager the Author has agent mates as to deflect accountability on such a way.
jamesb
Roar Guru
But those senior players don’t have the responsibility of looking after the checks and balances of every player. It’s not their role.
jamesb
Roar Guru
Thats true, but Gray-Hand's post below offers a great point why players don't get directly penalised.
Bobby
Roar Rookie
The buck stops with the Club. They know how much it is and how much they are spending or have spent. The Player Agent and player are trying to get as much of the pie as they can. They are probably not privy to what the Club has spent on others.
KenW
Guest
Indirectly they were affected by the scandal, as were fans and sponsors. But none of the players were held personally held responsible or punished.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Does he hate the Roosters too mushi? :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
Gray-Hand
Roar Rookie
It probably would be a good thing, but it shows that the game doesn’t always get its way over the players.
Edward Kelly
Roar Guru
Times and contracts have changed since 1991. Even Terry Hill has said in 2012 that a draft would be a good thing. "A draft would be exciting for the game. It would even out the teams and stop players signing for other clubs a year or so before they actually join the club," Hill said.
Edward Kelly
Roar Guru
The concept that you can not be a good bloke and also report illegal activity is dumb and usually only ever supported by those that undertake illegal activities as a form of bullying. Good on Tim Mannah, if only other players also reported on player managers the cheats would be exposed real quick.
WarHorse
Roar Rookie
Good point
Gray-Hand
Roar Rookie
Unlikely. Terry Hill had a long and successful career after he took the game all the way to the High Court to challenge the draft system that was in place at that time.
bazza200
Guest
Just saying the first player that trys to destroy the NRL would never play for them again once current contract is over. The NRL doesn't have to register a player to play in the NRL it's not a right to play in the NRL. Otherwise a certain I.F. would be there this next season. Even the NBA and NFL have a CAP just bigger.
bazza200
Guest
I still think it's player managers who if you block them and punish them then it will stop it pretty quickly. Think of it this way. The number of player managers vs the number of players is very different. So if you stop player managers doing illegal things in terms of NRL sallary cap it's the quickest way to stop this problem and even up the competition where everyone has the same amount of sallary cap to spare plus whatever third party deals so not even but closer than before. Good on Mannah for helping start this revolution. The player are the product if the whole team is barred that's not good for the game if you ban people who help facilitate these deals less of them are going to want to loose their income to allow this to happen over and over again.
mushi
Roar Guru
Is it deliberately ironic that this comes from Joe Frost?
mushi
Roar Guru
You do have to use an "approved" lawyer. You can't just say hey my 6 year old nephew is my lawyer. The NRL is the body responsible for accreditation of agents. I think it would be negligent for the NRL to force 20 year olds to also become regulators of advice.
Jordan
Guest
What you forget is it’s not the player's job to manage the club’s budget, the player obviously wants to make the most amount of money they can in what is inevitably a short career and time frame to earn. The club has to manage the dollars and look after the books, it’s highly unlikely that the players factor in or know what the other team members are being paid, and neither would the agents. The club knows what they’re paying and what’s left in the coffers after deals are done. To punish a player for trying to earn money in a short term career is unfair. The agents are the same however they are also playing their part in making a mockery of the contract negotiations pushing players to move clubs mid-way through a contract term. The NRL has to come down on the validity of a contract and enforce them so that clubs and players alike have some form of security.