Now this is Shock News that nobody going to do anything about
Fox Sports Report
NRL club bosses’ shock claim on teams rorting the salary cap
Seventy per cent of NRL club bosses believe rival teams use illegal third-party deals to flaunt the competition’s salary cap system.
According to a
Sydney Morning Herald survey of 23 chief executives and chairmen who responded, there was a general consensus illegal third-party agreements were being used by clubs to gain an advantage.
“The NRL have done a good job cleaning up a lot of the confusion and irregularities around third-party agreements,” an anonymous boss told the Sydney Morning Herald.
But many clubs believe that there are still instances where a club will operate outside the TPA rules to secure income for a player. That sort of assistance can make a big difference in signing or keeping a player.”
Since 2017, the third-party agreement market reduced from $8.2 million to $4.2 million in 2021.
The dealings are still perceived as a problem within NRL clubs, even after the organisation cracked down on third-party deals following the Eels salary cap scandal in 2016.
Arm-length” agreements also significantly reduced from $4.6 million in 2017 to $1.5 million in 2021, with players making less appearances in the last few years due to Covid-19.
Australia
“Equalising the competition to ensure that salary cap rorting does not impact results is critical,” another anonymous boss said.
“Clubs should compete on a level playing field.”
In 2018, the Storm had the most private sector “arm-length” agreements of any team, with more than $1 million of third-party agreements for the big three of Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith.
The reduction in these agreements could be due to the retirement of a number of the NRL’s stars as well as a competition wide crackdown.
In 2019 the Roosters recorded only $69,000 in third-party agreements but stars such as Cronk and James Tedesco benefited from whole game sponsorships not included in the team-by-team breakdown.
Again the Storm led the competition in 2019 for third-party agreements with the Broncos ($350,000), Panthers ($233,000), Sharks ($212,000) and Rabbitohs ($199,000) not far behind.
“We have increased surveillance and education in this area,” Abdo said to the Herald.
“The NRL salary cap and integrity team will always take action if any potential breaches are reported or detected.”
“We complete regular audits. Clubs, players and agents are aware and educated about our rules. If the rules are breached we will take strong action as we have done in the past.”
