Time for NRL to lift lid and be transparent on salary cap figures
WE call on fans to support the game but continue to keep them in the dark over not-so-trivial matters such as the salary cap. That must change, writes PAUL CRAWLEY.
NRL
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I’M sitting at home watching the Sydney Roosters do a demolition job on St George Illawarra last Sunday when up popped a comment on Twitter.
Like petrol on a bonfire, up she went.
It related to how the Roosters had signed Brett Morris, Ryan Hall and Angus Crichton to add to their star-studded roster for next year.
Don’t roll your eyes.
I’m sick of people poking fun at the Roosters’ salary cap sombrero.
As you might imagine, the initial post arrived with a few derogatory hashtags.
Suffice to say, the most legally responsible was #salarywizards.
From there the conversation kind of went downhill, although there were a few Roosters fans seemingly shocked at some suggestions.
Anyway, it got me thinking about the bigger issue in all this. And it goes beyond what you might think the Roosters are or are not up to.
It’s about transparency, or lack of it, in our game.
For years I haven’t been able to understand why the NRL would not force clubs to make player salaries public, if only so clubs such as the Roosters don’t get accused of doing wrong when quite obviously they are doing plenty right.
And if one club is doing such a great job and others so poorly, then why shouldn’t it be exposed to fans and members?
After all, we call on fans to support the game but continue to keep them in the dark over not-so-trivial matters such as the salary cap, which is the foundation the competition’s credibility is built on.
In the NBA and NFL, they have no problem publishing player salaries — and it doesn’t seem to cause massive drama in the United States.
So what have the NRL clubs and players got to hide?
And don’t give me that hogwash that this is about player privacy.
I don’t know a thing about basketball but a quick search on Google told me the salary expenditure of every team, as well as individual wages, down to the last dollar.
And these figures were published on the NBA’s own website.
Then I went looking at the NRL’s website. Here’s the irony.
Even though the NRL trots out the same line every time, that it would be an invasion of privacy to publish player salaries, that doesn’t stop NRL.com fuelling the debate.
For instance, when Aaron Woods was recently faced with the challenge of trying to find a new home because of Canterbury’s salary cap mess, NRL.com reported: “There is no way the Tigers would even consider taking the full freight of Woods’ $800,000 contract. However, it could come down to how desperate the Bulldogs are in freeing up space.”
Remember, this is the NRL’s own website.
NRL.com also told us why St George Illawarra “paid big bucks” to lure Ben Hunt south from Brisbane “on a five-year deal worth in excess of $1 million per season”.
That was a deal that “changed the NRL landscape”, according to NRL.com.
Even young Brisbane forward Payne Haas did not escape the apparent privacy invasion when it was reported his new “$3 million deal” had been “registered with the NRL”.
You could go on and on.
And it’s not just the NRL’s website, of course. It’s everywhere.
Here’s the point again: it’s not as if not publishing a complete list of player salaries stops the conversation.
And if the NRL’s own website won’t ignore it, why should fans?
But by not publishing accurate and complete salaries across all clubs, it only adds to the confusion and distrust, like we had again last Sunday.
Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if we adopted the policy in play in the NBA and NFL? Why wouldn’t the Roosters want it out there?
Let’s face it, as far back as I remember, the Roosters have never been in major salary cap trouble, yet still this innuendo persists.
Year after year. It was the same when they signed Cooper Cronk and James Tedesco for 2018. The whole circus could be avoided so easily.
It would place as much pressure on underperforming clubs because fans and members could hold their board and administration to account.
It could also help avoid salary cap scandals like we have seen in recent times at Manly and Parramatta.
And there wouldn’t be anywhere for players or agents to hide if something untoward did eventuate because ignorance could not be used as an excuse. If a player’s contract was different to what his bank statement read, he’d know there’s a problem. With no limit on third-party agreements, it is already an uneven playing field.
We know some clubs are able to spend significantly more, even if we don’t know the exact amounts. But at least providing contract salaries, as well overall third-party agreements, would give everyone a truer perspective instead of fuelling this bonfire.
Imagine if Bulldogs fans were made aware of their club’s predicament before it spiralled out of control.
I’m prepared to bet the members might have got on top of the problem before the NRL even noticed there was one. And I’m also betting a bloke like Woods would have made a different decision about his future and saved himself a lot of heartache in the process.