Risk of Manly losing Trbojevic brothers shows how NRL must change salary cap
The NRL salary cap only has a small allowance to enable clubs to keep veterans and developed players — but the risk of Manly losing the Trbojevic brothers shows how this must change, writes ANTHONY GRIFFIN.
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The NRL must seriously look at changing the salary cap rules to give homegrown Manly stars Jake and Tom Trbojevic every opportunity to stay at the club they love.
Clubs which develop their own elite talent should be granted exemptions in the cap to keep that elite talent.
The cap gives only a $200,000 credit to clubs to keep veterans and players they have developed. There is a complicated formula for how this money is split up, but it is small change.
Most clubs will have a number of players who fit the criteria among their list of 30 top players, and Manly are a good example.
Daly Cherry-Evans now qualifies as both a veteran and developed player, while Jorge Taufua and Manase Fainu are also eligible.
So splitting $200,000 across your list doesn’t go very far, especially when you are talking about million-dollar contracts.
The game needs to think outside the box. If the NRL encourages clubs to build a big part of their business around development and recruitment of elite junior talent, everybody benefits.
Not every club has the same financial and junior resources.
The two clubs I coached, Brisbane and Penrith, had ample amounts of both and have done a fantastic job in producing homegrown NRL players.
This not only helps them build a competitive list but produces talent that other clubs can feed off.
I was also involved with the Melbourne Storm from the club’s inception. We had to manufacture a development and recruitment base at Brisbane Norths, which didn’t turn out too badly.
The point is, if you are prepared to spend time and money on a system — and the NRL needs every club to be doing this in some form — you should be given every opportunity to reap the rewards.
What are some of the possible solutions?
The first one I would propose is raising the cap credit for veteran and developed players to $500,000, not reducing it from $300,00 to $200,000 like it was last year.
The NRL will argue that this will place financial pressure on already struggling clubs.
However, if a club cannot afford to spend an extra $300,000 on its list, I would suggest it is already in trouble.
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Secondly, once a developed player such as Tom Trbojevic plays State of Origin or a tier-one Test, his club should be able to top up his wages with third-party agreements which are outside the current constraints of the salary cap.
There would have to be strict guidelines surrounding such agreements but our clubs should be able to share in the success of their products, such as the Trbojevics, Nathan Cleary and Cameron Murray.
The NRL will argue this should be treated as sponsorship money and used to maintain the solvency of the club, not to increase players’ wages.
Well, it could solve both problems if we have an open mind.
Manly have put a lot of time and money into Tom and Jake. Now they are at the peak of their powers, the Sea Eagles should be given every opportunity to pay them their market value without being severely disadvantaged.
If a player wants to leave his club, that’s a different story.
From what I understand, both Trbojevics are desperate to stay at Manly and they should not be financially penalised for doing so.
The salary cap’s main objective is to level the playing field to give every club a chance to one day win the competition.
So it’s important that members and fans have faith in the system.
If the system forces Tom or Jake (or both) to leave, the Sea Eagles, their members and the NRL have a problem.
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