This has been discussed ad nauseum...
But here are problem with that:
- Players who are cut loose will struggle to find new clubs for this year. These will be low-middle earners, not the big names.
- This disadvantages teams who played Melbourne with their $4.8M dollar roster side and lost, or won but not by as many as they could have.
Melbourne knew the rules before hand, they should be (and have been) punished accordingly.
The current punishment disadvantages teams that have already played the Storm even more as now the Storm have absolutley nothing to play for. Players at Melbourne won't risk niggling injuries in nothing burger games. who knows where the Storm players are at or if they are giving 100%.
And maybe a loan arrangment could be worked out where by the Storm still pays the wage bill for the season but $700K of extra players are loaned to the clubs that finished last and second last in 2009. Just an idea and it's better than what the NRL's smash and destroy the whole season for everyone idea. This way no player gets cut, other clubs are assisted and the Storm can at least play in this years competition to at the very least avoid the spoon.
I can't believe that a club can introduce so many young kids into the NRL kids like Slater, Smith, Cronk, Inglis, Folau, Blair, Chambers, Tomane, etc, some of which they have lost to other clubs, all of which they alone developed from never heard of's to Australian Reps or house hold names. And then get punished in such a way as this by a system that doesn't reward producing and developing great players in a fantastic system. Instead we as a game with our current policies are destroying this system that has created champion players from nothing.
It's not as though the Storm bought these players for the incredible amounts from other clubs, they developed these players from kids. The system is garbage, yeah the Storm cheated the system but crikey it's a terrible policy, and what a punishment. It's so short sighted.
How far are they going to go, does Billy Slater need to give his Clive Churchill medal back, the same Billy Slater who a few years back was riding track work and is now arguably the greatest fullback of the limited tackle era? The guy who went from nothing to hero while developing his skills under the guidance of the Storm.
The sad joke is that our games stakeholders have flattened the Storm with an incredible the level of punishment that simply in defence of a ridiculous system that doesn't reward development or loyalty, but instead purchase and squander.
And I do not support the Storm, I support Manly.
