Seems the players have already spoke about the 50k back.

I suspect he'd of followed through and then his head would of exploded!

What the Bulldogs did in 2002 and what Melbourne have done the last few years has been systematic abuse of their salary cap system.

Have we really seen the equivalent of that over here?

Which RFL/SL club have been found guilty of operating two sets of accounts?

Ive always felt that cheating is cheating
If you had contracts in place that had the potential to break the cap and then you did, that is cheating
If you break it by a small amount, that is cheating

a break of a fundamental rule should mean exclusion from winning any trophies, the next level of punishment would come in for breaches like Melbourne's

Did Wigan not sign Fielden when they were in a relagation battle to ease that fear, which took them over the following year?

IIRC Wigan broke 'the spirit of the cap' rather than the cap itself.

I'd suggest that all the breaches the RFL have discovered over here have been fairly minor by comparison to what the NRL have discovered at Canterbury and Melbourne which might justify the more lenient punishments we've seen in SL.

Which British club has been found operating two sets of accounts?

I thought they had gone well over although I could be wrong. But as I recall was this not the same incident where ML challenged this, and when all around thought they would get a six point ban ended up with 2 through a technicality? I agree no club has been so underhand and devious as the Dogs or Storm, but had Wigan been relegated that year had they not gone and got Fielden, when surly they must have known it would take them over, then I wonder how massive the difference in cost would be between what they would have lost as to what the Storm have hidden?

IIRC, a 8 point ban that ended up at 4 because Wigan successfully argued that they couldn't introduce the new penalties retrospectively.



Again IIRC Wigan re-negotiated several contracts in order to fit Fielden's contract within the cap. That was eventually ruled a breach of the 'spirit' of the cap. I'd imagine this type of thing happens at every club to some extent every season (including Leeds) but the scale of the re-negotiations at Wigan was ruled a breach by the RFL.

I await Rogues Gallery input to clear up any confusion.

Where's Gilder gone? Has he disappeared because, in the words of many-a-hull fan, he's been owned?

In order to avoid relagation though, that is the part where cap mis-management becomes cheating to gain unfair financial gains IMO of course. FWIW i think Storm have been let off lightly only have the penaties against them they have, a banning for the season with all results reversed would have been a fairer result for all involved this year for me. Although how you penalise them for seasons gone by is another kettle of fish.

Has anything been mentioned about what Storm are going to do with their current squad? Surely they cannot afford to keep the current team unless they all accept a pay cut? Does this mean that there will be some shedding of players for the club?

I've been thinking about this too. But there are too many senarios at the moment. I was thinking that they must offload players to get under the cap. But how can they do that when a player could and quite rightly so say "no that's my contract pay it" which still leaves them over the cap. But surly there must be a set of contracts that are sent to the NRL stating the players contracts and that the other payment was, for aguments sake, under the counter. If this was the case then they could operate with the current crop paying their NRL sent contracted saleries and be under the cap. But then there is the question of taxes and the like, who is accountable for them for the other payments. IMO this is very messy and this is only the tip of the iceberg as to who is accountable for what. Like I say there are far too many other variables at the moment to be able to assertain who is paid what, illegally or not. But what i am suprised about, given how initially harsh the NRL have jumped on them is why they are allowing them to carry on this season. I find that very strange.

So, here we have a Leeds fan that will excuse Wigan for breaking the "spirit" of the salary cap but will repeatedly criticise Leeds for not adhering to the "spirit" of the overseas quota when they actually do adhere to the actual quota, rather than some fictional "spirit" of a quota that doesn't exist.

I am beginnning to wonder if you;re really a Leeds fan at all.

Wigan did what probably all SL clubs do to some extent each season when negotiating and re-negotiating player's contracts. The RFL deemed Wigan (on quantity and/or back-loading) to have broken the spirit of the cap and were punished accordingly. I have no issue with the RFL's actions in Wigan's case.

I perceived the debate to be concerning the proportionality of the punishments handed down by the respective governing bodies. I don't see what (again from memory) Halifax, Wakefield, Hull, Castleford, St Helens, Bradford and Wigan did (in regards their breaches) to be in the same degree as what Canterbury did and what Melbourne have apparently done.

In terms of $$$$ you are right but the point is some of the above gained success/survival through cheating which isn't tolerated in the NRL and is punished accordingly i.e Titles stripped and proper ££ sanctions imposed whereas our soggy Kit-Kat RFL just blow hot air imo and many others.
The $$$ involved relates as much to the prize money they gained as it does to the actual $$ they paid over the Cap but it still points clearly to cheating and an underhand approach to gain an unfair advantage which the clubs you mentioned did over here.