Was Waldron right?

[Buzz]

He said in the last couple of days to Storm Chairman "every club does it" - not as a defence, but as justification. And now this:

A senior player manager said the scandal was just the tip of the iceberg for the NRL: "Waldron said everyone is doing it. Well, he'd be right.

"They call it 'overs', as in 'he's on overs' or over what's been registered. I can't imagine any club in the NRL that's not rorting the system: there would be plenty of the other 15 clubs who would have CEOs and boards now issuing instructions to clean up their act," the manager said.

He said one well-used trick was for a club to assign a particular poker machine to the player and allow all its takings to flow to him.

Another was for a sponsor or third party to be asked to pay an extra amount that might be put in an overseas bank account.

"But if the manager came around with a bag of money a few times a year, who would know?" the manager said.

He said Storm and, previously, the Canterbury Bulldogs, had been caught because of a whistleblower and not because of NRL auditing.

If this is even half true, this puts the NRL in a seriously awkward position. It would surely need to come down as hard, if not harder on other clubs - which would decimate and most likely destroy the NRL as it stands.

So I can therefore almost guarantee that NO other club will be investigated. Cause that's how Gallop rolls.

[tugga]

I don't think now is the time to be accusing anyone else of cheating. I think he was wrong.
We broke the rules. We cheated. We have to wear it.
I have heard others say that the Broncos could not have kept under the cap with a State of Origin side, but really, that  talk needs to be put aside. They are in the clear and so it every other team.
We got caught.

[Buzz]

tugga - my point though is even if this is half right, the NRL has put a line in the sand with their sanctions to Storm. The NRL needs to investigate these claims particularly since they come from the source of the problem - player managers.

The problem now is - where to for the NRL? If there is widespread systemic rorting of the system (beyond Storm's own efforts), what penalties remain for them to inflict? They can't go backwards now less they make a mockery of their punishment of Storm and place the whole Cap system into further chance of rorting.

Two separate people have said it's happening. One from Clubland, one from Playerland. I don't dispute Storm broke the rules, the problem will come if the NRL discovers more teams breaking the rules. By fact that they've handed down such harsh penalties to Storm means that they'll need to equal or exceed these. What will that do to the game?

[CooperCronk]

I agree with Tugga.
What we now need to do first  is pull together, become members and go to games to show we love the team and prove to all those doomsayers that Storm is a required team in Melbourne.

All your  points are valid Buzz, but its something the club can pursue further down the track when things settle down.

[tugga]

Well in my opinion, the salary cap rules get broken every year. Plenty of clubs get fined for breaking the cap by a small margin.
All the books need to be turned over and given a thorough going over.
Why can the AFL keep their books in order?
Our sport is ajoke.

[StormFront]

If u think the AFL's books are in order you would be wrong....

This is not just an NRL issue - this has been going on for years in all sports.

As long as their is a salary cap - this will continue to happen and the clubs
and player managers will just get smarter about doing it.

[Buzz]

Believe me - the AFL's books are not kept in order. You just need to hear Demetrispew on the radio today: "We used to have a strict salary cap - everything was inside it; travel; petrol; 3rd party agreements. That encouraged clubs to find ways around the system. Now the cap is more relaxed, travel, petrol and things like 3rd party agreements are outside the cap".

Outside the cap? Doesn't that mean sanctioned rorting? Kind of like everyone claiming $150 of dry cleaning expenses at tax time? Like the NRL orchestrating 3rd party agreements to keep Joey Johns in the game?

Trust me when I say the AFL is not clean.

And just to bring a little political irony to the discussion - a sporting team rorts an artificial payments control system and loses millions, and individuals face fraud charges. Meanwhile, a politician overseeing the rorting of a $2 BILLION insulation scheme which led to 4 deaths and a hundred house fires gets side shifted to a new job. Sometimes I agree that we place Sport above all else in this country...

Flame away!

[Michael :P]

Well in my opinion, the salary cap rules get broken every year. Plenty of clubs get fined for breaking the cap by a small margin.
All the books need to be turned over and given a thorough going over.
Why can the AFL keep their books in order?
Our sport is ajoke.

Your fkn kidding arent you.

AFL use a teaspoon to go digging for their dirt.

[Michael :P]

BTW Storm need to speak softly about these allegations and let them play themselves out.

And then in a few weeks go to the NRL and plead a case for leniency. If that means jettisoning a couple of players but paying there wage for the year ala Finchy, so be it.

[CooperCronk]

Agree with you Buzz, the afl shifts the goalposts at whim to suit their agenda.
What puzzles me is a lot of their supporters follow the code blindly without asking questions.

[rainstorm]

The AFL takes a lesser product and develops it with a strategy.

We are left to the whims of an incompetent administrator..

Storm for LIFE!!

[CooperCronk]

BTW Storm need to speak softly about these allegations and let them play themselves out.

And then in a few weeks go to the NRL and plead a case for leniency. If that means jettisoning a couple of players but paying there wage for the year ala Finchy, so be it.

Spot on Noa, that's what I was trying to suggest in my above post.
But knowing Gallop, there is no way in hell he will reneg on his decision, cos there will be such an outcry from clubs and supporters up north.

[VIC]

I agree with Buzz - there needs to be a widespread invesigation across ALL clubs!

If there is truth that most or all clubs are rorting the salary cap, then my opinion is that this then makes it an even playing field SO GIVE US BACK OUR PREMIERSHIPS!!!!

[Brian]

We teach our Kids that Two wrongs Do not make a Right

[Joel Caine number 1 fan]

He said in the last couple of days to Storm Chairman "every club does it" - not as a defence, but as justification. And now this:

A senior player manager said the scandal was just the tip of the iceberg for the NRL: "Waldron said everyone is doing it. Well, he'd be right.

"They call it 'overs', as in 'he's on overs' or over what's been registered. I can't imagine any club in the NRL that's not rorting the system: there would be plenty of the other 15 clubs who would have CEOs and boards now issuing instructions to clean up their act," the manager said.

He said one well-used trick was for a club to assign a particular poker machine to the player and allow all its takings to flow to him.

Another was for a sponsor or third party to be asked to pay an extra amount that might be put in an overseas bank account.

"But if the manager came around with a bag of money a few times a year, who would know?" the manager said.

He said Storm and, previously, the Canterbury Bulldogs, had been caught because of a whistleblower and not because of NRL auditing.

If this is even half true, this puts the NRL in a seriously awkward position. It would surely need to come down as hard, if not harder on other clubs - which would decimate and most likely destroy the NRL as it stands.

So I can therefore almost guarantee that NO other club will be investigated. Cause that's how Gallop rolls.

how would waldron know if every club was doing it???