Right but what was the Storm penalty for cheating the cap? They were stripped competitions, crippled on the ladder for the following season (impossible to win from there) and lost 1 major player - Inglis to Souths.
They kept Slater, Smith and Cronk, which was the backbone of their ongoing success even until 2017.
I won't argue for a minute that they have not continued to be a dominant and successful side, even with those Big 3 players gone, but the fact is they created an elite side through fraud, then were only lightly handicapped for the following seasons, and the core of that elite team remained. Could there not have been a different outcome if they paid their players regular wages and were out-bid by someone much earlier for Slater, Cronk or Smith?
Compare to Tigers, who were significantly penalised, including CEO suspension, for simply planning to offer Farah an ambassador role, which didn't actually eventuate, and something many other clubs do (except the clubs don't announce it in advance). I'm not arguing here on the sloppiness of the Tigers' approach, I am arguing about the significance of the penalty and the impact on the club's salary cap. Cronulla's coach defied his ban that same year, was caught out by accident, and Sharks received the same penalty as Tigers.