Melbourne Storm Salary Cap Breach. What would it do to the Swans.

[goswannie14]

I hope its the end of the Storm, pack that crap up and send it back to Sydney. Its not wanted here.

Just because you don't want it doesn't mean that is the general consensus. On the other hand, there are many people who say the same thing about Aussie Rules in Sydney. That being the case, the Swans should pack up and come back to Melbourne? Or does the argument you have put only work when it fits your parameters?

[mocaholic]

Good comments generally - although esp kudos to the "richmond" comment. Quality.

My thoughts immediately went to the impact on Sydney, given in a lot of ways they mirror the Storm. Think about it - sustained success, great and well-stated emphasis to remain successful without bottoming out, single team in a code-unfriendly state, keeping their players, 'remote' salary cap adjustments, additional rookies, etc.

I was also thinking that I couldn't believe that in all that time there wasn't a whistle-blower, however i hear that in the end it was somebody who left the organisation tipped off the auditors. (Sheesh - imagine getting found out by auditors. That'd be a first...)

I know I'd be gutted. Devastated. Not only to lose the flag(s), but at the cold-bloodedness and the systemic approach. Dunno what I'd do, but ditching everything Sydney Swans would be certainly on the cards. Mark Fine last night said that his young son was an absolute fan - not even an AFL fan - and that he didn't know how he was going to tell him. For the first time ever I felt sorry for him (I reckon he's a notorious Swans hater) as in the reverse position I don't know how I'd tell my kids that our team are a pack of cheats. My heart goes out to the fans.

You'd have to think, realistically, that the blokes who were getting overpaid, plus some of the mid-range players - and the coach - knew. How deep it went probably won't ever get told. It's going to be like Howard and the children overboard: "I was never officially advised".

Wouldn't surprise me if they wound up the organisation and started anew. NRL need a Melbourne team, but you'd think with all the poo on the Storm (and the minimal chances to get decent sponsorship) they would almost give it up as a lost cause. Geez, it's going to be like a feeding frenzy though of players at the end of the year...

Apparently AFL are gonna have a quiet look at the Saints books C2002-2004.

[goswannie14]

I'd hardly call an average crowd of 14,000 people a strong base when the AFL can pull double that to a bottom of the ladder battle!

That would be way above average for an NRL game.

[AnnieH]

If it happened to us, I'd slit my wrists.

I can't imagine how the fans must be feeling. No one seems to care about them.

[Big Al]

Won't defend Storm's actions but the penalties seem way over the top, doubt a Sydney team would have received the same.
If NRL wants a national competition they've just shot themselves in the foot because I can't see the Storm surviving these penalties

With due respect Will, this is crap. Remember the Bulldogs in 2002.

The extraordinary level of cheating by the Storm left the NRL with very little option to do what they did. If you saw the ashen look on Gallops face yesterday you would realise that he knew the ramifications of what the NRL was doing but had little choice due to the Storms deceit.

[SwansFan1972]

Gould has a surprisingly good column in today's SMH.

My biggest issue with Gould is his tipping the bucket on the NRL management for not cottoning on to the rorts earlier. If he had an idea as to how they were meant to do that in the face of willful deceit from a (formerly) respected club CEO, he would be the world's most highly sought after audit consultant and wouldn't need to be spruiking on the footy show!

As is bleeding obvious, (both with the current Storm situation and the wider corporate world) the only way these shenanigans ever come to light is via a "disgruntled worker" blowing the whistle. The perpetrators of these events are hardly going to leave a highly visible and easy to find trail are they!

If what Gould asserts about the cap (i.e. it is so low, everyone has to find ways around it), is accurate, then clearly some work needs to be done on reforming it. Some sort of cap must be retained, otherwise the comp risks turning into an EPL - only three or four mega rich clubs ever have a realistic chance of winning while the other 17 or so play each season just to stick around and to avoid relegation. How that arrangement continues to captivate the poms escapes me, but I digress!

Surely among all the NRL's administrators they can come up with a more satisfactory cap arrangement. There are already some simple ideas currently in place elsewhere - such as discounting a couple of long serving player salaries (as does the AFL with veteran status) that would surely help. Or third party agreements need to be restricted only to a club's identified top three 'marquee' players, but can be for any amount up to a set limit (say $250k per marquee player). The possibilities are pretty much endless, but something - anything - to avoid this situation happening ever again is a must.

[Molly dooker]

I just can't imagine what the state of mind or play is going to be for the players? What are they playing for? Certainly not dignity even if this entire s... fight is not their fault, deep down they must have known something, but then again I am giving League players the benefit of actually having a few brain cells, there are a couple of exceptions but rare, what would your brain be like if you tackled a fridge a hundred times a day?
Do the players play hard for some semblence of respect and risk a big injury? What would you do?
I just can't imagine.

[Big Al]

My biggest issue with Gould is his tipping the bucket on the NRL management for not cottoning on to the rorts earlier. If he had an idea as to how they were meant to do that in the face of willful deceit from a (formerly) respected club CEO, he would be the world's most highly sought after audit consultant and wouldn't need to be spruiking on the footy show!

As is bleeding obvious, (both with the current Storm situation and the wider corporate world) the only way these shenanigans ever come to light is via a "disgruntled worker" blowing the whistle. The perpetrators of these events are hardly going to leave a highly visible and easy to find trail are they!

If what Gould asserts about the cap (i.e. it is so low, everyone has to find ways around it), is accurate, then clearly some work needs to be done on reforming it. Some sort of cap must be retained, otherwise the comp risks turning into an EPL - only three or four mega rich clubs ever have a realistic chance of winning while the other 17 or so play each season just to stick around and to avoid relegation. How that arrangement continues to captivate the poms escapes me, but I digress!

Surely among all the NRL's administrators they can come up with a more satisfactory cap arrangement. There are already some simple ideas currently in place elsewhere - such as discounting a couple of long serving player salaries (as does the AFL with veteran status) that would surely help. Or third party agreements need to be restricted only to a club's identified top three 'marquee' players, but can be for any amount up to a set limit (say $250k per marquee player). The possibilities are pretty much endless, but something - anything - to avoid this situation happening ever again is a must.

Great post!!! Couldn't agree more.

[SwansFan1972]

I can't imagine how the fans must be feeling. No one seems to care about them.

Not so sure there Annie. I think this has made all of us, across all sporting codes, think for a minute "what if that was my club"? And the answer is that it would be horrible beyond belief.

Only the very malicious and small of spirit (and perhaps the fans of the defeated grand finallists in 2007 and 2009) are feeling anything other than sadness and sympathy for the Storm's fans.

The NRL was left with no option but to make an example of the Storm ... pain and misery was to follow whatever they decided to do, and I am sure they are very very concerned for the fans.

[aardvark]

Its a bit of an irony that Storm share Princes Park with Caaaarlton. Wonder if they use the same accountants???

[Matty10]

I don't recall Carlton fans giving up on their team en masse when they were declared to have breached the cap. In fact (from my recollection) most just got indignant that the penalty was so harsh - and blamed Elliot - not the club.

[aardvark]

This is true. If you support a club you should stick with them through all the highs and the lows. It will be interesting to see how many TRUE supporters Storm really have or if they are all fly by nighters attracted by their success.

[SwansFan1972]

I don't recall Carlton fans giving up on their team en masse when they were declared to have breached the cap. In fact (from my recollection) most just got indignant that the penalty was so harsh - and blamed Elliot - not the club.

I think it will be much the same for the Storm. Big difference is the scale of punishment though - the Blues even had a silver lining to theirs in bottoming out and picking the eyes out of three drafts. With no draft in the NRL, the Storm get absolutely zilch for coming last, and have to endure a season of playing for nothing - which is surely unprecedented.

There has to be a very real question on whether there will be a club for the fans to stick to!

[Go Swannies]

Its a bit of an irony that Storm share Princes Park with Caaaarlton. Wonder if they use the same accountants???

CEO was Saints. CFO is at Norths, I read!

[mocaholic]

Surely among all the NRL's administrators they can come up with a more satisfactory cap arrangement. There are already some simple ideas currently in place elsewhere - such as discounting a couple of long serving player salaries (as does the AFL with veteran status) that would surely help. Or third party agreements need to be restricted only to a club's identified top three 'marquee' players, but can be for any amount up to a set limit (say $250k per marquee player). The possibilities are pretty much endless, but something - anything - to avoid this situation happening ever again is a must.

Honestly, I reckon that's got nothing to do with it. It's all relative, isn't it? It wouldn't matter what the cap was, the fact is that they deliberately set about defrauding it to retain the players on the list. If they're going to play with the S/C, make some adjustments (and those above I think are OK, and you can include the father-son rule) then the same rules will apply to everybody anyway.

This is true. If you support a club you should stick with them through all the highs and the lows. It will be interesting to see how many TRUE supporters Storm really have or if they are all fly by nighters attracted by their success.

Interesting. I count myself as a die-hard (35yrs+) swans supporter but if this kind of thing was found to occur I'm not sure whether I could follow them any more. I don't know how much you can push the "my country right or wrong" theory - this is not about your team not doing well, this is about your team cheating to win. And by cheating, I'm talking about the administration, the coach (I suspect, but can't confirm) and the players (again, I suspect, or at least some of them definitely). Given that it's likely that they're all complicit to varying degrees, what is left? Here's where "branding" is shown up to be a hollow corporate ideology only - when you've despoiled the brand and the colours the whole sticky mess lands on the fans who must make their own decisions. Sponsors will use this event to desert to protect their own brand (or, perhaps even sense an opportunity to get a cut-price deal and be seen as taking the high moral ground) but their loyalty is not one of undying, and one-eyed support.

I dips me lid to the fans who will stick to the club. I can understand, and sympathise with, those fans who are so disillusioned with the club (and possibly the whole code) that they leave and go elsewhere.