MELBOURNE Storm has surged to Sunday's NRL grand final paying its players significantly less than the $4.4 million salary cap allows.
An administrative restructure followed the 2010 salary cap scandal and revelations disgraced former club chief executive Brian Waldron had rorted the system by doing deals for some of Storm's biggest names.
The job of contracting players fell solely to Storm football operations manager Frank Ponissi, who confirmed yesterday the club was deliberately paying less than the total player payments allowed.
It was also the case last year and will be next year, too.
Storm's board demanded a "buffer zone" every season between the amount allowed and that paid to players.
That was to cater for the complexities of the salary cap, which NRL salary cap auditor Ian Schubert scrutinised every year.
While unwilling to confirm how much under the cap Storm was this year, Ponissi admitted the board wanted the buffer every season for the foreseeable future.
"I can confirm we are not paying the full salary cap by direction of the board," Ponissi said yesterday.
It's believed the amount by which Storm is under the salary cap is enough to sign another player.
Melbourne could maintain the buffer and still create its grand final roster this season because it wasn't carrying wages of any players not on its list.
Last year, Storm was forced to pay some of the salary of players offloaded to other clubs as a result of the cap scandal.
Despite the limitation created by the buffer, Ponissi praised the board for giving him and Storm coach Craig Bellamy complete autonomy to oversee player retention and recruitment.
While maintaining the buffer, Storm also will kick off next season with enough room in the cap to add a summer or mid-season signing, as it did with prop Richie Fa'aoso this year.
Seems legit.
Replies
Does the coach have to sign off on the contracts? Wouldn't they be somewhat involved with contract negotiations?
so what clubs doesn't it happen at?
Which books is he referring to? They claimed they were under the cap when they were cheating, what's the difference now. I think that they haven't factored in the boats and cars given to Cronk, Smith and Slater.
Often the coach and the recruitment manager are heavily involved in contract negotiations. I agree, how could Bellamy not have known or at least suspected. Players such as Smith, Cronk and Slater had to have known as well. A boat just doesn't turn up out of no where and you don't question where it came from. They had to have known something was going on when they started getting paid more money than what was on their contract. And they would've had to sign both contracts so I can't see how the players getting paid extra weren't involved.
Well, when Matty Johns was the kicking coach for Cooper Cronk he was on the verge of becoming a house-hold name and Matty asked him why he was going to sign a 5 year deal with Melbourne when he could sign a 2 year contract and then he would have gotten more money when his contract was up...they knew, they signed the two contracts if they didn't then their manager should be delisted because no manager should ever sign a client's name even if they are given approval to do so
individual players knew the wrong thing wa being done they just wouldn't have known about the other plAyers. the cap is the clubs responsibility
in saying that players should have been punished for signing extra contracts and side letters
My God I am sick of ridiculous stories like this - they really grind my gears.
The point about the Storm and why they are still cheating filth is because by significantly overpaying players during the period they did, other clubs did not have the opportunity to secure the services of those players. This means that instead of splitting up Cronk, Cooper, Smith and Inglis because the Storm could not afford them, they kept them at the Club, built momentum and then developed them into the superstars they are today.
When the salary cap scandal broke, the Storm decided which players to offload and OF COURSE did everything in their power to keep their spine together. If the spine had not been illegally put together in the first place, it would have been dramatically different.
Once cheaters. Cheaters until Cronk, Smith and Slater no longer play for the team.
im with you Tinks 100% here...
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