Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy and chief executive Dave Donaghy are among those taking big pay cuts to help keep the club afloat during the NRL shutdown.
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy, chief executive Dave Donaghy and the Storm football department will take 50 per cent pay cuts to help the club through the coronavirus pandemic shutdown which threatens to seriously damage the NRL.
While Storm CEO Donaghy spoke this week of his belief that the club will be able to ride through the competition postponement, they are not immune from the challenges facing the sport.
Donaghy confirmed on Saturday the Melbourne club has been forced to temporarily stand down about 20 members of staff, with a number coming from the football department.
But the bulk of that department, including coach Bellamy, hope to soldier on by giving up half their weekly pay.
“These have not been easy decisions to make but were done to give us the best possible chance of protecting the club from even greater financial stress, to preserve jobs in the long-run and to assist in the bounce-back when we get through this challenge,” Donaghy said.
“While roles have been stood down, their positions will be kept open with a view of them returning to work when normality resumes.
“They are being given as much support as possible to help them through a very difficult time and I’m immensely proud (of) how they have reacted to a situation which is completely out of their control.”
Elsewhere, the Bulldogs this week stood down their entire football department including head coach Dean Pay, while Brisbane announced late on Friday they have closed down their entire administration building and laid off many of their staff.
Wests Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis said the club was waiting on the outcome of Monday’s meeting between the NRL and clubs to make any firm decisions on staffing, while most others are already operating with a skeleton crew.
The rugby league Players’ Association and NRL are still negotiating for wage cuts to keep the game alive through the toughest financial challenge it has ever faced.
TIGER MIKE
Guest
Headline says two pay cuts Article doesn't include amounts Poor journalism The headline is false advertising
Barry O'Donnell
Guest
Good to hear them doing their bit too.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
You are right that they will be working hard, but it would be a good look if they went to a 75% pay cut. What’s Craig on: a million a year? 25% of a million is $250, 000, which is still a decent salary for one difficult year, with the game of rugby league on its knees.
jameswm
Roar Guru
I agree they will be working hard, but in theory the players will also be training hard. Not much else to do.
Walter White
Guest
I reckon these 2 will be working their butts off during the Crisis. Bellamy will be constantly on the video hook up with players to ensure they are keeping fit and well plus trying to ensure they keep morale up. Donaghy will be crunching the numbers / keeping in touch with sponsors as well as looking for opportunities. Melbourne is one club that won't rest on its laurels.
Mark Scarfe
Roar Guru
While I applaud this stance, Craig Bellamy, Wayne Bennett and a few others are multi millionaires who have rightly made a great living out of the game. While they may take a pay cut now they have the ability to be in hot demand for any offer that may come along. The people in society who have lost jobs are not so in demand as the talent pool is much larger. Retail workers have no transferable skills at all and will find gaining work extremely hard.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
I'm a Storm fan, but I reckon 75% would be better. It's not like these guys are struggling financially.
Paul
Roar Guru
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-players-told-they-need-to-take-87pc-pay-cut-to-save-the-game-20200326-p54e63.html
Walter White
Guest
Who said the players were getting an 87% cut ? Last I heard this was a worst case scenario for those at the top end of the pay scale and they were only getting 87% because the players themselves voted for this kind of structure. When the negotiations are finished, we will know the percentages, then it is down to the clubs.
Paul
Roar Guru
So his players are staring at an 87% pay cut and the CEO & coach have given up 50%. I hope the Storm players and supporters are okay with this?