Man, I am so tired of this. Another week, another salary cap issue.
Firstly, let’s go to the old 2010 Melbourne Storm issue. I’m really glad this has been re-opened. Melbourne never deserved to have their premierships taken away from them. As a Manly fan, I remember them beating us up in 2007. It was 13 on 13. They were the better team. All credit to them.
But that’s not what has me wound up. It’s the culture of entitlement that some players have now. It’s the whole thing about maybe I can earn $600,000 somewhere else instead of fulfilling my contract that earns me $400,000. I can’t think of anywhere else in society that would tolerate this nonsense,.
For the fella that works as a driver at the local depot, whose wife works at the local supermarket; how can they keep supporting their team? $150 for a jersey? $200+ for game day for a family with two kids once you take into consideration some pies or buckets of cardboard quality chips, and maybe a plastic cup full of warm beer? Is the NRL deliberately eschewing their grassroots fans?
And then we have players that are quite happy to break their contracts. Why does the NRL even have contracts? Maybe they should just implement all rugby league players as independent contractors, paid on no more than a yearly basis. Maybe clubs should forgo health insurance and superannuation benefits for players, since many of them are happy to walk out of their clubs at the first sniff of extra money.
It’s not that long ago that we heralded players such as Steve Menzies, Luke Ricketson, Nathan Hindmarsh, Shane Webcke, Andrew Johns, Simon Mannering, and Paul Gallen for being one club men. Their word was their bond; and their love of their club actually meant something.
I propose a reconstruction of the salary cap. Instead of a dollar value, place a points value on each player based on the number of NRL games he has played, as well as Origin and test matches. It would stop the ridiculous bidding war over players such as Joseph Suaalii. At the end of every season, clubs would know what players are worth. Don’t start signing until after the Grand Final. Allow discounts for club development and club longevity. It’s really easy. I could knock up a spreadsheet for the entire NRL roster in about two hours.
And one more thing. If a player signs a contract he must stick with it, unless there is a clear agreement between player and club that it is beneficial in both interests for the player to move on. Otherwise, let the player mow the lawns…..