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Opinion
The salary cap in the National Rugby League (NRL) was implemented for many reasons.
The game desired to keep the payments of players in check, to stop clubs spending themselves broke and hopefully to keep the competition as even as possible.
The NRL hoped that by allowing the clubs the same amount to spend, that every year there would be a new champion.
They wanted to see more stories that involved the likes of the Wests Tigers (2005), the St George Illawarra Dragons (2010), and the 21st title of the South Sydney Rabbitohs (2014).
On top of this, the long-awaited titles for the North Queensland Cowboys (2015) and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (2016) can support the claim by the governing body that the salary cap works.
Yet, these championships are not consistent with one glaring issue. Since 1999, the Sydney Roosters and the Melbourne Storm have played in a combined 16 grand finals. That is a lot of grand finals for two teams.
(Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
Granted, neither team has won all the grand finals that they played in, but it does pose the question: how effective is the salary cap?
Okay, the Storm were caught cheating and lost two titles. The Dogs were denied the chance in 2002 – though they won with almost an identical squad two years later. The New Zealand Warriors were denied a place in the eight back in 2005. Then more recently, the Cronulla Sharks were deemed to have been over the cap. The only reason they were not stripped of the 2016 title is that on the day they were under the cap.
Trust me, I am not saying we should have stripped the Sharks from their title, I am just indicating that there have been inconsistencies with the punishments dished out. This discrepancy is reasonable when it is different people handing out the penalty, but it does make fans wonder: how legit is the salary cap?
In fact, as I have listed below, all but one team has made the grand final. Still, the contrast between the most successful teams and the clubs with less success is evident to see.
So, I ask you, the fan, what are Melbourne and the Roosters doing right that other clubs do not? Do you think the game should persist with the salary cap or go the way of the English Premier League and have an open market? Should Melbourne’s stripped titles be returned? How would you address the issue?
Since the start of the NRL era in the 1998 season, only one team has not participated in the big dance, and that is the Gold Coast Titans.
The records for grand finals stands as follows.
• Melbourne – nine (five wins – 1999, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017 and four losses – 2006, 2008, 2016, 2018)
• Roosters – eight (four wins – 2002, 2013, 2018, 2019 and four losses – 2000, 2003, 2004, 2010)
• Manly-Warringah – four (two wins – 2008, 2011 and two losses – 2007, 2013)
• Canterbury – four (one win – 2004 and three losses – 1998, 2012 and 2014)
• Brisbane – three (two wins – 1998 and 2006 and one loss – 2015)
• North Queensland – three (one win – 2015 and two losses, 2005, 2017)
• St George Illawarra – two (one win – 2010 and one loss – 1999)
• Parramatta – two (both losses – 2001 and 2009)
• Warriors – two (both losses – 2002 and 2011)
• Newcastle – one (win 2001)
• Penrith – one (win 2003)
• Wests Tigers – one (win 2005)
• South Sydney – one (win 2014)
• Cronulla-Sutherland – one (win 2015)
• Canberra – one (loss 2019)
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