Batten down the hatches, folks, the storm in a salary cap may not be over yet
GREG PRICHARD
April 26, 2010
ANALYSIS
The National Rugby League has prepared itself for the distinct possibility that the Melbourne Storm salary cap breach will get worse.
It is only natural for the league to anticipate that the investigation into the club's cheating - ordered by Melbourne's owner, News Limited - will establish the existing breach in greater detail.
But they are also well aware of its potential to discover breaches that may so far be unknown.
The NRL's salary cap auditing team, led by Ian Schubert, is not as large as the league would like, but it was still able to unearth the Storm's systematic cheating that went back to 2006, and was projected to be at its worst this year. The fact that News Ltd now has representatives of the accounting firm Deloitte, and members of its own internal audit staff, on the job in Melbourne means the digging will get deeper.
Schubert had been on the case since October in a bid to uncover the extent of the Storm's rorting.
Further breaches from this point - should they be found - are likely to be discovered much more quickly because of the number of people involved in the investigation.
The odds are that more accounting discrepancies will be found, and the league won't be surprised if that happens.
News Ltd has already said it is prepared to divulge any new information that may be uncovered to the NRL for judgment and penalties.
The director of corporate affairs for News Ltd, Greg Baxter, said yesterday that while the investigation had not thrown up anything new at this stage, it was only in its early stages.
Baxter said that News Ltd was not necessarily anticipating new breaches in the investigation into the Storm's accounting but if their books contained further inconsistencies investigators would soon expose them.
''We believe we'll find a lot more detail to do with the matters that are already known,'' Baxter said.
''Whether there is any new stuff is yet to be determined. There's nothing at this stage. If there is, we will accept NRL action on it.''
It is estimated the forensic audit, as it is called, will take several months to complete.
It's going to be a substantial dig.
If the Storm were prepared to devise such an elaborate plan, it seems a logical extension that they may have come up with at least another.
That is why it is wrong to suggest the Storm should be allowed to play for competition points this season, and possibly even make the finals and contend for the premiership.
Imagine if another rort, or rorts, was uncovered further down the track that put the club further over the salary cap than the $700,000 it has already admitted to. That would be ridiculous.
The league has done the right thing in effectively shutting the Storm out of this year's competition.
Even if there was no potential for the matter to get worse, it acted properly. The possibility that it could get worse means the game couldn't possibly allow a situation in which Melbourne could be a competitor.
