Judgement Day

[bula]

Its too difficult posting links (on my mobile at work)
But the Telegraph has a couple articles including Hartigan saying the infringements are huge and it will shock the nation.

Also, Frank Ponissi told Storm admin that the report will be released today!
Its gonna make me sick, April 22 all over again.
Hartigan also says we will struggle to keep the big four.
I won't be able to handle it, News will crush everyone in its way.
I hope none of the players knew.

[HayneHeadbutt]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 5891814318

Melbourne Storm rort report to shock nation: John Hartigan

As the Storm nervously await the release of the Deloitte investigation into their finances, Hartigan said for the first time the club would struggle to keep its star quartet of Greg Inglis, Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater.

He also took aim at Storm chairman Rob Moodie, branding his suggestions that Deloitte was doctoring its report to suit News Limited as "defamatory and patently absurd". Speaking outside News Limited's Surry Hills offices yesterday, Hartigan revealed the report would name players.

"That will happen," he said. "There will be names named when it [the report] is released this week.

"Look, you are in for a shock because of the depth of what I'd consider a fraud, that will be there for everyone to see. The size of the infringements are huge".

"Our job is about rebuilding the club so I want to make this club totally open, transparent and for them to be able to rebuild with the players and the best team we can get.

"There's people [at the club] who have been suspended and you will see there's action about them in the report.

"We [News Limited] have only had the report since the end of last week. It's a very big document and we want to make it transparent and release it.

"The bottom line is that there are parts for people's privacy, particularly the players, that we feel we can't [make public]. But I think you will be surprised at how much [information] you will get."

Hartigan insisted any Storm officials aware of the rorting would be sacked and players would be named in the report.

Asked could Melbourne possibly retain their four big stars, Hartigan said: "I'll do some sums when we release it to show you how difficult [it will be]. It is about retaining the fans, the best team, the best players, the culture, and the things that are so great."

Hartigan said Melbourne may need some assistance from the NRL to retain a competitive side.

"We are going to need goodwill from the NRL. [But] when you are suing them, I am not sure that will buy you that goodwill."

The four independent directors, Moodie, Jayco caravan king Gerry Ryan, Peter Maher and Petra Fawcett, are taking the NRL to court claiming the league did not follow due process in stripping the Storm of two premierships and preventing them from playing for points this season.

News Limited chief operating officer Peter Macourt this week asked Melbourne's independent directors to resign. They refused. The Storm's acting chief executive Frank Stanton addressed the club's administrative staff yesterday, telling them the report had exonerated them.

He said the report would be released some time today

hahahahahahahahahahaha

[bula]

Bloody school holidays, all the kids get to stay up late

[Ice]

It's all well and good for this *lima lima lima duck* hartigan to say we'll struggle to keep the big 4 but where are the going to go if we lose one of them. There's NO club in the league that can afford to pay their salary! Didn't he read his own tabloid trash paper that reported we actually tried to do a deal to release one of them but couldn't come to an agreement because of lack of funds from the other party? I really do hate these News Limited scumbags.

[Crooner]

Here's what I don't unerstand, the club knows what the salery cap is in 2011 already, the club knows how many players they require to field a team, the big 4 have said they will take pay cuts.
Any contract can be terminated at any time if both partys agree.
You can't tell me that the football department and the board do not have a plan in place already with who they want and what it will cost.
The players would have at least a small idea and they would have discussed it as a group at some point.
What the *lima lima lima duck* is the hold up, I just don't get it.
I does not matter any more what we breached the cap by over the last 5 year, we are serving the punishment for that offence.
All that matters is 2011 at this point, I am strugling to understand why the club has not come out with a plan for 2011.
Shit we can put together a roster on here but they can't I don't get it.

Sorry for the rant, like you all I am completely over this whole ordeal

[stormsally]

I'm sure they are drawing lists up on paper.  They wouldn 't want to annouce anything in case there is something in the report that will change their plans. 

I suspect the reason it is being held up is due to legal ramifications - meaning if they do sue anyone  which I would think that they would do if there was grounds.  Don't forget that News Ltd was itself defrauded because the money that was paid over the NRL contracts came from their books.  That is the news I am interested in coming out of the report.

NRL has said the players can't take a pay cut - which may not be legal contract wise, but in the end the contract has to be approved by the NRL.  From what I understand there can be some alteration, like Smith's guarentee on the Foxtel contract - but not a complete renegotiation which does suck but at the same time I understand where they are coming from.

I think this article makes the Storm's squad negotiations clearer than any other:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/craig ... 5891820582

MELBOURNE Storm coach Craig Bellamy knew his champion team would be broken up well before the salary cap scandal erupted in April.
Revelations the Deloitte report could prove Storm would be $1.3 million over the cap in 2011 were no surprise to the club or Bellamy, who was told in January.

After disgraced former chief executive Brian Waldron left the club, Bellamy and football manager Frank Ponissi were told several heavily back-ended contracts, done by Waldron, would put Storm well over the cap if honoured.

It's believed a small portion of that was in deals not registered with the NRL, but the majority was in legitimate contracts and easily traceable.
Bellamy was not given any specifics of the deals, only the total Storm was set to spend on its playing roster and was told it had to be reduced to get back under the cap in 2011.

It meant high-profile players would have to be moved on.

Bellamy accepted the club's fate and some of his most loyal servants, including Ryan Hoffman, Brett White and Jeff Lima, were asked to look for contracts elsewhere.

It emerged this week that Hoffman would be joining English club Wigan, but it's believed he began seeking a new home in February and not as a result of the club's salary cap scandal.

"Brian (Waldron) was renowned for back-ending contracts and it was a big year next year in terms of what needed to be lost," a Storm source said.

"It had to happen. It kept getting put off year after year. Craig was good about it.

"It had to catch up with you eventually when you back-end contracts."

Most of the players in the gun were said to be "getting overs" at Storm, or more than what they were worth.

That could pose a problem should any want to stay in the NRL because other clubs are unlikely to match their current deals, making overseas an option for some.

Ponissi said the idea of losing players, more than losing points or premierships, had taken a toll on Bellamy, who gave NRL starts to almost all Storm's current list.

"Craig is finding it really tough at the prospect of losing his players," Ponissi said. "Not playing for points and losing premierships is hard, but seeing players he has developed, who have come to the club as young men, leave - that's the hardest thing for him. It has been a tough season and that is not going to make it any easier over the next few weeks."

But amid reports some exits were done deals, including Hoffman and Lima to Wigan, Ponissi said no one under contract for next season had been released yet.

That includes superstar centre Greg Inglis and Ponissi said though there had been speculation about how the club could keep him, captain Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk, Storm's highest paid players, no decisions had been made on their futures

[jellyhead]

Foxsports news just said that Gallop has said they may be able to take pay cuts so that Storm can field a competitive team.

What I don't understand is if, as Hartigan says and the breaches amount to fraud then surely all the contracts would be illegal and have to be torn up anyway thus enabling Storm to draw up all new contracts.

[Crooner]

Gallop has said publicly that he would not accept pay cuts this teat but would be open to this in 2011 providing they were realistic.

[jellyhead]

11:00AM press conference and release of report just announced on Foxsports News.

Get ready kids ... here it comes!

[CaptainKlutz]

This also is worth reading.

From the ABC website.

Storm want fab four despite blowout
Updated July 15, 2010 06:24:00

Melbourne is refusing to waver from plans to retain its star-studded core, despite fresh claims its NRL salary cap rorts are almost double initial estimates.

With fans, players and officials throughout the rugby league world anxiously awaiting the release of News Limited's independent audit of the Storm's books - due this week - Melbourne chairman Rob Moodie said the club was determined to maintain the core of its side.

That is despite revelations the Storm breached the cap by $3.2 million over five years - nearly double the initial estimate of $1.7 million.

However, Moodie is confident the club could shave $1.3 million in player payments for next year while staying competitive on the field.

And that means holding onto star quartet Greg Inglis, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and skipper Cameron Smith is a must, despite the fact they would take up half the club's 2011 salary cap.

"We're certainly looking to do that," Moodie said of retaining the foursome.

"We think that we can still manage the salary cap and keep the backbone of our club."

Proposed amendments to the salary cap for next season mean the club may need to shed only $1 million in payments, which could leave the Storm capable of running out a side which would be more than competitive.

Along with the big four, props Brett White and Adam Blair may also be retained at what would be a cost of $2.5 million, with the remaining $1.9 million to be spent on rookies like Gareth Widdop and Justin O'Neill as well as journeymen such as current prop Bryan Norrie.

Just when that process gets underway is unknown as the Storm continu to play the waiting game with the release of Deloitte's audit of the club once again delayed.

Moodie will not be there to see it handed down however after flying out Vienna on Wednesday to attended the International AIDS Conference.

The Storm chairman used his departure to take another pot shot at the objectivity of the News Limited commissioned audit, which has been in the hands of the media giant's lawyers for the past week.

"This report should have been an independent report, and more importantly it should have been commissioned and completed by the NRL before premierships and points were stripped from the club," Moodie said.

"The report to us isn't independent and to be a fair and honest transparent account, then it has to be released in full, it has to be released to everybody.

"We have to be able to see it - as independent board members we haven't seen it."

Speaking to the Seven Network, News Limited chairman John Hartigan labelled Moodie's claims as "absurd".

"To suggest that they're (Deloitte) going to sculpt something to suit us is, I think, defamatory of them (the Storm's independent directors), but it's patently absurd," Hartigan said.

"The size of the infringements are huge. We're in for a shock because of the depth of what I consider a fraud."

Meanwhile, the head of the Accredited Player Agent Scheme, Neil Cadigan, said he had not been made aware of any player managers being complicit in systematic rorting of the salary cap.

Cadigan said the NRL had the power to strip player agents of their accreditation, but he refused to speculate on any penalties for player managers of Storm players involved in salary cap breaches.

"We've received no information, report or anything of that nature - there's been nothing but speculation and innuendo at this stage," Cadigan said.

"The process would be the NRL would report to us which I would have to investigate and if there is any complaint or any behaviour which might be regarded as being non-ethical, it would go to a committee to investigate."

[mystormboys]

Just heard on radio Darryn Lockyer reckons tear up all contracts and start again.  Ya reckon this would work?  Not a bad idea but this mess is always gunna leave a bad taste in the mouth.

[one-eyed]

News paid for report, news get report for their lawyers to look over and then release whatever the bosses want, we will probably never know the full facts.

[StormFront]

Just heard on radio Darryn Lockyer reckons tear up all contracts and start again.  Ya reckon this would work?  Not a bad idea but this mess is always gunna leave a bad taste in the mouth.

That was the first option and suggested at the start.... but D.G. said all contracts had to
be honoured and the NRL would not register any new contracts from players that
should have been under their old contracts.....

Every move Storm has tried to make the DG had stopped it......

As a result we have the entire NRL at a standstill over contracts and the chance
to try and get a Storm player at a bargin basement price...

[jellyhead]

For those who can't get to a TV, the press conference is being streamed on the Foxsports website at 11.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,865 ... om=edstrap

[coupy73]

will it be on the radio anywhere???