Salary Cap Needs A Major Revamp (2016)

In the wake of last week’s decision by the NRL to hand down $1 million fine to the Parramatta Eels and dock all 12 points they had accumulated for the year – among other punishments – for salary cap breaches dating back to 2013, there have been many pundits picking at the bones of the Parramatta board.

This piece is by no means a criticism of the sentence handed down, nor is it a defence of the Parramatta club. But the fact that such excessive breaches can occur not once, but twice since the Bulldogs were busted in 2002 is the issue that should have alarm bells ringing.

The fact Parramatta consciously decided to run such a scheme after what happened to the Storm is both brazen and stupid. The fact it took the NRL salary cap auditors over three years to find is concerning.

But perhaps this isn’t a black and white issue whereby clubs are breaking the rules. If we look back since the NRL began in 1998, we can see that there have been over 100 separate instances of the salary cap having been breached, big and small. So far the NRL has collected almost $8 million in fines since 1998.

The Bulldogs punishment was for breaches made from 2000-2002. In 2000, the NRL had handed the club a $50,000 fine for exceeding the cap. This raises the question: how did the auditors not see a problem then?

When Melbourne was busted in 2010 for breaches made since 2006 it shocked everyone. But Melbourne had received fines for breaching the cap in 2006 ($63,266), 2007 ($13,917) and 2009 ($15,000). Auditors had three opportunities there, yet still failed to find anything odd. It took a whistle-blower to reveal the scheme.

Now Parramatta has been done for breaches dating back to 2013. Not surprisingly, they had been found to have majorly breached the 2014 salary cap in an audit the following year, which saw the club fined $465,000, while there was strong talk they’d start the 2016 season with negative four competition points.

Parramatta was forced to make changes to the way the club was governed to appease the NRL. It’s laughable that the governance of the Parramatta club which the NRL was happy with is now being held responsible for the major breaches the club has made since 2013.

Every club has received fines for all forms of cap breaches since 1998, such as second-tier cap breaches, unregistered players and exceeding the top tier cap, among others.

There have been just five seasons since 1998 where a team hasn’t been intentionally cheating the cap in an intricate and excessive manner. Canterbury’s scheme was for 2000-2002, Melbourne’s for 2006-10 and Parramatta’s from 2013-16, each more intricate than the last.

 
It’s time to fix the salary cap, as it’s clearly riddled with loopholes. The auditing system and process needs a revamp, too. Teams will be less likely to cheat if they know the auditors can come at any time, more than once a year. Players get drug tested at no notice at all times of the day – there’s no reason why clubs shouldn’t be audited the same way.

**This article appeared on the Commentary Box Sports website**

The Halftime Spray #16 (2014)

Last week, Jeremy Hawkins was denied his opportunity to play for the Canberra Raiders in the NRL due to the second tier salary cap. In February this year this cap was amended and increased from $375,000 to $440,000 in an attempt to allay this issue.

Alas, it has failed. Why? Because it was a band aid fix to a bigger issue that could be solved quite easily.

Every year, each club has to name a full 25 man squad, players whose salaries fall under the NRL Salary Cap for their respective clubs.

This is where the problem lies. Squad sizes of 25 are just too small. Of the 173 squads from 2004 til 2013, there have been just 8 which finished the season using 25 players or less.

In the same time, there have been 13 occasions where a side has used 34 players or more.

The most common number of players a club uses in a year:

29 players - 28 occasions
28 players - 25 occasions
30 players - 19 occasions
27 players - 16 occasions
26 players - 15 occasions
31 players - 14 occasions
33 players - 10 occasions
32 players - 9 occasions
23 to 25 players - 8 occasions

Even after 18 rounds this year, nearly all the teams have used more than 25 players already.

To add to this absurd squad figure of 25 is this alarming fact: The last time every team in the competition had 25 players or less in the same season was in 1950.

It's pretty clear that a typical squad size in the modern day game is 30 players.

Having restrictions preventing new players from covering for injured players in the NRL side is absurd. We should be giving young players every opportunity they can to play at an elite level.

The NRL should also be employing good occupational health and safety practices, where possible in a contact sport, by allowing clubs to replace injured players without penalty and without forcing injured players to continue playing, so as to help the club remain under the salary cap.

Especially given the comments by Robbie Farah a few weeks ago that suggested none of the NRL players are insured.

All the NRL needs to do to fix this issue is increase squad sizes to 30. To accommodate the extra players, increase the salary cap by a million dollars.

This would ensure that players outside the 30 man squad will be able to play without the club breaching the second tier salary cap, players won't be playing injured, more players will get exposure to the NRL thus creating a larger talent pool, which is a great thing if the NRL continues to plan towards introducing new teams in the near future.

Fixing the NRL Salary Cap (2013)

The absurdity of the second tier salary cap has reared its head quite emphatically in the past week due to the circumstances that have prevented talented Penrith rookie Fullback Matt Moylan not being allowed to play because his match payments would exceed the club’s second tier salary cap and thus, put the Panthers over the cap.

With the number of players seeking massively increased salaries with the cap increase, it means there is a very real potential that a team could be hit as hard by injuries as Penrith have been this year and they will have to choose between fielding less than 17 players on game day, playing an injured player, or exceeding the salary cap.

This situation should never take place.

Basically speaking, the NRL salary cap covers the top 25 players at each club. The NYC squads have their own cap as well. The second tier cap is used to cover those who play in the NRL, on match payments only, and who aren’t members of the NRL and NYC squads.

This leads to a number of issues, some of which have been fleetingly discussed over the years but with no action.

*It forces NRL clubs to use NYC players to cover injuries in the NRL, instead of older players in feeder clubs or other competitions. This has often been criticised as it can lead to greater injuries, especially long term, to the younger players. A lot of these players aren’t up to NRL standard at the time either, which is why the NYC is in place.

This is a major reason why a genuine Reserve Grade competition must be reinstated, as a stepping stone between NYC and NRL. Instead of a second tier salary cap, have a reserve grade cap. Three grades worth of players should be able to cover injuries without any concerns.

*Since 2007, there have been just 5 instances out of 96, where a team has used 25 players or less in a year (2013 not included). These were Souths (2012) 25 players, Manly (2012) 24 players, Manly (2011) 25 players, Manly (2010) 24 players and New Zealand Warriors (2007) 23 players.

This is a breakdown of the number of players a squad used in a season for the years 2007-2012 (inclusive):

23 players – 1

24 players – 2

25 players – 2

26 players – 8

27 players – 13

28 players – 18

29 players – 16

30 players – 10

31 players – 10

32 players – 5

33 players – 6

34 players – 1

36 players – 2

37 players – 1

38 players – 1

With this data it is clear to see that having an NRL squad of 25 is too small as it is very rare that a club uses 25 players or less.

If the NRL squad size was increased from 25 players to 30 and the salary cap increased by $880,000 it would almost abolish the sort of crazy circumstances that prevent young talented players like Matt Moylan from being forced to miss playing in the NRL due to some accounting by-law.

Reinstating a genuine reserve grade competition, of which every club must have a side (as they do in the NYC) would completely prevent this sort of absurdity from happening ever again.

It would also mean more advertising space for sponsors, more games to televise, more games on game day, better value for money for fans, fans at games for longer, less long term and severe injuries to the young talent coming through the NYC system and a stronger NRL competition.

Everyone wins.

Dream Team On The Cusp Of Realism (2012)

For those of you aficionados of Rugby League who have yet to found themselves thrust into the world of Fantasy Football or Dream teams, here’s a brief run down:

*You pick a squad of 25 players (Just like in the NRL)
*You have a salary cap (Just like in the NRL)

Because player wages are mostly speculation to us plebeians, a value for each player is calculated based on each individual’s strengths and weaknesses, statistically.

Each week, every player earns points for scoring tries, goals and field goals, tackles made, off loads, hit ups, line breaks, line break assists and 40/20 kicks. They also lose points for missing goals and field goals, missed tackles, penalties conceded, handling errors, being sin binned and being sent off.

When you think about it, it’s a very good gauge as to a players overall worth.

It’s a system where good performance is rewarded, poor performance is penalised. I love a statistically basic but exceptionally accurate concept attached to work ethics and morals so as to create realistic values for players in a virtual game for the greater public, don’t you?

Now this is all a very fun game and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands people nationwide. But is that all it should be?

Given all of the debacles that happen every year with clubs exceeding the salary cap, some by small amounts, others more excessively, perhaps it’s time that a players value was dictated by their actual performance on the field and not by which player manager runs enough rumours around town to drive up their clients asking price.

Imagine a competition where players could only improve their value by working harder.

Crazy concept I know, but stay with me.

Poor behaviour gets punished as well.

Calm down, I know the idea is sounding preposterous, but I’m pretty sure there are some people left in this crazy world whose workplace runs along similar guidelines.

In this crazy otherworld dimension, Corey Parker would be the games’ greatest player and possibly being touted as the next immortal. Only Paul Gallen would be close to being his equal.

Players like Michael Gordon, Shaun Fensom, Aiden Tolman, Ashley Harrison, Liam Fulton, Jake Friend, David Stagg and Dave Taylor would be regular test players.

It would also mean regular rep players like Justin Hodges, Adam Blair, Willie Tonga, Manu Vatuvei, Greg Inglis and Keiran Foran wouldn’t even be regarded as one of the best 100 players in the game today.

It would also see the minimum wage increased by $17,000, which is not a bad thing, especially when the highest paid player is earning under $500,000. The NRL always talks about evening out the competition, well evening out player wages is just one facet of achieving that goal.

By having player wages based on performances only, it also allows for a more even competition and more importantly, an end to those pesky parasites known as player managers, an increase in the average player salary across the board, thus reducing the risk of players betting on games etc.

As you can see, we are solving quite a lot of problems just through a magnificent concept knocked up purely for the purposes of mucking about.

This system also allows us to see which teams are over the cap right now. After some extensive research and calculations, using player values obtained from the Dream Team competition on the Daily Telegraph website, combined with the 25 man squads as listed in the official 2012 season guide, we can immediately see which teams need an audit for exceeding the $4.4 Million Salary Cap which the NRL currently has in place.

Brisbane - $4,621,496
Gold Coast - $4,451,832
Melbourne - $4,586,648
Newcastle - $4,480,256
North Queensland - $4,695,504
Parramatta - $4,476,296
Cronulla - $4,625,984
St. George-Illawarra - $4,444,352

These 8 clubs are currently over by a combined total of $1,182,368, while the other 8 clubs are under by a combined total of $1,318,416.

This system thereby gives us a fair and level competition on the field and on the books.

We could make these cheating clubs shed players to the honourable teams, or we could strip them of all their premiership points for 2012.

At least then, Souths would be able to play finals footy again….

….It truly all is just a dream!