Clinton comes in and Cooke has to go

must have been tight

This is a bad day for RL as a sport. The NRL may be the best competition in the world but it sure brings the game into disrepute far too often. Especially with player indiscretions. I think the teams who where runners up should be made champions, I’m not sure why they are not. Also do Leeds now become world champions again as they lost to them this year?

Hope Super League carries a review out too.

Wonder if any fraud charges will follow. Can businesses legally operate 2 sets of accounts, 1 declared and 1 not declared? I dont believe so.

I think your right, we are very close to the cap, but thats a world away from the suggestion *cough*

Er, I haven't witnessed anyone doing that.



As someone has already pointed out, they were technical breaches rather than premeditated fraud. That's not to say that any British club is guilty of anything similar, but it's amazing how some clubs manage to keep under the cap when you look at their playing staff. Not Rovers though.

from tv reports fraud charges will follow.

As i say, hope a wholesale review takes place of all SL and NRL clubs. The salary cap is intended to create a level playing field, not be abused.

Would you expect any REAL action by the RFL if anyone was found out on this scale, more Ostrich impressions are likely.

Nice to see a sports organisation taking decisive action against clubs flouting rules, I think its a tad OTT but the Aussies do take the RL seriously.

it would never happen here of course too many interested parties would have there black gloved hands all over it. The salary cap here only operates because the clubs sort of roughly agree to it, if one club decides to stuff the cap it is not enforeceable. The European rules on competition would almost certainly rule that any salary cap illegal or at best a restriction of trade.

I'd be surprised if any action was taken. They'd probably give slapped wrists behind closed doors in the secretive way that the RFL do everything.

I'd still expect a couple of SL clubs to have sleepless nights on the back of this announcement.

I wonder how many super league clubs have already been on the blower regarding the availability of the storm players, after all they will have to take a pay cut to get under the cap.

I hope Jimmy boy has already contacted them regarding Cooper Cronk.

Lovely article about the Storm...

[urlhttp://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/storm-is-passing-but-thanks-for-the-thunder-and-lightning-20100422-tfqm.html?rand=1271935614685[/url

So because the club has been stripped of their titles does this mean the players will lose there winners medals aswell.

Good article here seems the blame lies with brian waldron who funny enough is at the super 14 melbourne club www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/coach ... 5857185303

Good article here seems the blame lies with brian waldron who funny enough is at the super 14 melbourne club www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/coach ... 5857185303

interesting forums.leagueunlimited.com/showt ... p?t=357756

interesting forums.leagueunlimited.com/showt ... p?t=357756

Says players will keep any medals won.

That's wrong in my opinion.

Weird. So they'll have a medal saying they won a title that the records show their club didn't win?

I think that's a bit of a harsh way to view the players, TBF. As far as they may be concerned, it's up to the club to stick to the cap and why should they believe they aren't? Also a couple of other points:

- the players over there are often on incremental contracts, so they would have little idea of the wage bill at any given time;
- they also see teammates leave, and are told it's for cap reasons (why should they then question their club's application of the cap? I also seem to remember, didn't Crocker offer to take a pay cut so that they could keep Newton?).

I actually feel sorry for the players. No matter what's gone on off the field, there's no questioning the work they've put in on it, and they've just had their main rewards for that work taken away from them.

If the operation undertaken was so elaborate that it's taken several years for it to come out, why would you expect your average rugby league player to have given it a second thought, never mind figured it out? All they'll be bothered about is playing the game and being paid, the fine details are for others to worry about. Be honest, if you were fortunate enough to be playing pro, earning a good wage, and winning, would you concern yourself with whether the admin was being done properly? I doubt I would.

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... andal.html? Leeds Rhinos' Gary Hetherington seeks windfall from Melbourne Storm scandal

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... andal.html? Leeds Rhinos' Gary Hetherington seeks windfall from Melbourne Storm scandal

This is amazing!

How though can you strip titles. They have already celebrated, the losers comiserated. Load of old tosh. Surely they should be thrown out for 2 seasons instead.

IMO any players found to have been receiving monies by illegal means should be banned too. No way can they have not known what was going on

Yup.

Again though, why is everyone so sure they must have known? It's not up to players to know the rules of the salary cap. Do you also think that Shaun Briscoe et al should have been banned for Wigan using Rugby Union club registrations to circumvent the cap? If a player is told by his club that something's ok/within the rules, why should he question them?

People need to consider the fact that it's not uncommon for NRL players to receive additional revenue from club arranged sponsorship too. It's very possible that Melbourne used such a ruse to hide what they were doing from the players too.

In fact, if you think about it logically, it would be in Melbourne's interest to keep it hidden from the players. If they didn't it only increases the chance of whistleblowers when players are moved on or have any sort of grievance with the club. The more people who know about a secret, the harder it is to keep, and 5 years' worth of player turnover is a lot of mouths to keep shut.

Just in the NRL or playing anywhere.