Boyd Cordner and Cameron Smith have led their clubs to yet another grand final.
Boyd Cordner and Cameron Smith have led their clubs to yet another grand final.Source: FOX SPORTS
AT least one of this year’s grand finalists, the Roosters and the Storm, have featured in 15 of the last 20 NRL grand finals.
The Storm have featured in nine grand finals since 1998, when the salary cap was introduced. The Roosters have featured in seven.
That’s including Sunday’s grand final, where the two powerhouse clubs will play off for the silverware against one another for the first time.
The numbers raise the question as to whether the salary cap is serving its intended purpose and does equalisation actually work?
Hoops previews 2018 GFHoops previews 2018 GF6:14
Granted the Storm were caught and punished for salary cap breaches, which caused their 2007, 2008 and 2009 premierships to be stricken from the history books, but that still leaves 12 of the last 20 grand finals featuring at least one of the two teams.
Few would disagree the Storm and Roosters are two of the best-run sporting organisations in the country, with the exception of the Storm’s salary cap breaches.
However, if the same two teams are constantly finding themselves in the final game of the season, questions need to be asked as to whether the salary cap is doing its job.
Let’s remove fans’ constant jibes that these two teams are cheating the salary cap from the equation.
Roosters celebrate 2013 title.
Roosters celebrate 2013 title.Source: Getty Images
The simple fact that two of the 16 clubs feature in more than half of the grand finals in the last 20 years raises questions as to whether the salary cap is having the desired effect.
If the same teams are getting to the grand final anyway, why not just abolish the salary cap and let clubs pay their players whatever they want?
Since 1998, the Roosters have made the most legitimate grand finals with seven (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2018).
Storm celebrate their 2017 Grand Final victory.
Storm celebrate their 2017 Grand Final victory.Source: AAP
The Storm have made six (1999, 2006, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018).
The teams to have made four grand finals in that time are the Broncos (1998, 2000, 2006, 2015) and the Sea Eagles (2007, 2008, 2011, 2013), while the Bulldogs have three to their name (1998, 2004, 2014).
Clubs with two grand final appearances each are the Dragons (1999, 2010), Eels (2001, 2009), Warriors (2002, 2011), and the Cowboys (2005, 2015).
Teams to have appeared in just one grand final are the Knights (2001), Panthers (2004), Tigers (2005), Rabbitohs (2014) and the Sharks (20016).
The Raiders have not made the grand final since 1994 while the Titans have never made the big dance.
All the focus around the salary cap seems to centre on clubs breaking the rules, with investigations uncovering breaches at the Eels, Sea Eagles and Sharks in the last few seasons.
However, what is being missed is whether or not the salary cap is serving its intended purpose, which is to level the playing field and give every team a chance to play in the grand final and win the competition.
Different clubs will always have better management, better fan bases, better facilities and better coaches.
But if the salary cap is failing to consistently level the playing field then it might be time to tinker with it or abolish it altogether.
Replies
If certain clubs weren't cheating, we wouldn't have roosters & storm appearing in more than half the GF's since 98'. The clubs winning the premiership each year are the clubs who are the biggest cap cheaters end of story. You just can't argue with that.
How pleasing was it to see the other cheaters South Sydney eliminated last week? It was worth waiting an extra 7 days just to see them bow out try-less against a 12 man roosters team. "South Sydney marches OUT". "Glory glory ....."
The Salary Cap isn't a talent distribution mechanism, at least not a very good one, it is a budgetary mechanism, it is designed to prevent teams from spending themselves and each other to death in the pursuit of success.
In that sense it succeeds. If you can fit twice as much talent in your cap as the next team, then good luck to you. It's not designed to ensure that each team has the same exact amount of talent. Any attempt by the NRL to perpetuate such a lie is criminal.
The reality is that the Storm in particular have had sustained success because they were able to identify and develop 3 elite players in key positions to build their roster around. As players in other positions have improved and increased their value, the Storm have in the main not attempted to retain those players, but have simply identified the next young player in their pipeline to insert into their line up. Those players fit in seamlessly for two reasons,
1) They've already done thousands of repetitions with the first team prior to being selected, so they know their role before they debut, and
2) Smith, Slater and until this year Cronk have always been there to provide the backbone to their structure. Everyone else just has to fit into their assigned roles on both sides of the ball.
3) Paying the big four and then the big three under the table allowed them to keep together the most elite spine the game has ever seen. Agree that they have developed plenty of other stars but show me another team in the NRL era that has had the 1, 7 and 9 of QLD and Australia for 10 years while also holding onto rep quality players in the rest of the side.
100% and this is often glossed over. The Storm are still getting gains from cheating the salary cap way back when. Those years let them develop and establish the best spine in the country and the club loyalty built over those years gave them the ability to retain that spine for basically the entire careers of all of them.
If one team can retain the best international spine in the world for a decade, whilst still having regular international forwards on the books, there's something wrong.
Why is that wrong ?
The salary cap isn’t meant to punish success, and not should it. Yes they cheated the cap, and yes they’ve still benefited years later, but even if they didn’t cheat, even if they did stay under the cap they still would’ve prioritised those 3 players, wouldn’t you ?
Cheating allowed them to hold onto GI, Hoffman and a few others for longer than they would’ve been able to, but the big 3 would’ve stayed and they would still be successful.
The salary cap is an absolute farce, we get caught cheating god only knows how much the other clubs have been.
Funny thing is I was looking into this just the other day, I went back to 2006 until now, 2006 because that is when the Storm dominance started.
Grand Final appearances in the last 13 years;
Storm 8, Manly 4, Roosters 3, Broncos 2, Cowboys 2, Eels 1, Sharks 1, Souths 1, Dragons 1, Warriors 1.
Top 8 Finishes last 13 years;
Storm 12, Broncos 11, Manly 10, Cowboys 8, Bulldogs 8, Roosters 7, Dragons 7, Sharks 7, Souths 6, Warriors 5, Panthers 5, Raiders 5, Eels 4, Knights 4, Titans 3, Tigers 2.
As you can see pretty much the same group of teams make the top 8 most years while the same group of teams finish in the bottom 8 most years.
The system is not doing what they claim it is designed to be doing, when you throw TPA's into the mix than straight away there is an un-even playing field. A draft system in conjunction with the salary cap would create a more even playing field but the players will never allow it to happen.
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