Cameron Smith’s stunning call for NRL to return Melbourne’s stripped titles

[Slater1]

Only Salty Storm fans. Admit it the storm are the sharks bitches!!

If we were the “sharks bitches” we would’ve lost by more than a missed Will Chambers pass

What has the Sharks done in the past two seasons?

 

[yadamisha]

If we were the “sharks bitches” we would’ve lost by more than a missed Will Chambers pass

What has the Sharks done in the past two seasons?

You still lost ...just like nearly every game since against the Sharks. Took an illegal shoulder charge to change the game flow last game - cheating again. The grub slater should never have been allowed to play in the GF, and everyone knew it.

 

[AJB1102]

Could I steal $100k from you and for you not to care?? How about $4 million??

You get punished for both. But the theft of $4M would carry a significantly greater punishment.

You’d be upset at me taking both amounts.

If I had like $19.7M (total caps 2006-10) and you stole $3.78M of that I'd be way more pissed than if I had $32.23M (total caps 2013-17) and you planned to take $700K but only actually took much less?

 

[Slater1]

You get punished for both. But the theft of $4M would carry a significantly greater punishment.

In my opinion the punishment for cheating should be the stripping of any premierships if the cheating has had an impact on that team being able to assemble that side.

It’s still cheating— you don’t just go “it was only 750k”— it’s still rorting the cap.

 

[AJB1102]

In my opinion the punishment for cheating should be the stripping of any premierships if the cheating has had an impact on that team being able to assemble that side.

It’s still cheating— you don’t just go “it was only 750k”— it’s still rorting the cap.

I'm not saying it's okay just because it was below some imaginary amount I deemed acceptable. I'm saying weigh the severity of the punishment against that of the crime.

You're obviously wanting a zero tolerance to salary cap breaches in which premierships are stripped whether you were over by $1 or $3M.

Too big of a divide in opinion there. We'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[Slater1]

I'm not saying it's okay just because it was below some imaginary amount I deemed acceptable. I'm saying weigh the severity of the punishment against that of the crime.

You're obviously wanting a zero tolerance to salary cap breaches in which premierships are stripped whether you were over by $1 or $3M.

Too big of a divide in opinion there. We'll have to agree to disagree.

That’s fair enough... I think I can agree to that

Out of curiosity— where do you see the ‘line’ being?? At what amount should clubs be stripped of premiership points/premierships, etc. for being over the cap?

The eels lost competition points & the Auckland 9’s in 2016 for being $500k over... is that the line?

Should Manly in 2018 lost competition points? How about Cronulla & the Tigers this year?

 

[Dragons 09]

Zero tolerance! The clubs are given a number to work with and if they can't f**ken count, strip them of everything. It's not that hard to run the numbers through a spreadsheet to know where you are at, a junior accounts clerk could do it. Breaching the cap is just a piss take by the clubs who do it and there wouldn't be a breach that has occurred without someone in the club knowing it was happening.
And i'm not having a go at sharks, storm or anyone in particular, if the Dragons do it they should be reamed as well.......

 

[Miller was a legend]

Zero tolerance! The clubs are given a number to work with and if they can't f**ken count, strip them of everything. It's not that hard to run the numbers through a spreadsheet to know where you are at, a junior accounts clerk could do it. Breaching the cap is just a piss take by the clubs who do it and there wouldn't be a breach that has occurred without someone in the club knowing it was happening.
And i'm not having a go at sharks, storm or anyone in particular, if the Dragons do it they should be reamed as well.......

2010. Check out the dragons salary cap position.

Zero tolerance is a bullshit stance that cannot work. Mistakes get made and with zero tolerance it doesn’t matter if that $1 was a mistake or cheating.

3.79 million is quite a large mistake though

 

[AJB1102]

That’s fair enough... I think I can agree to that

Out of curiosity— where do you see the ‘line’ being?? At what amount should clubs be stripped of premiership points/premierships, etc. for being over the cap?

The eels lost competition points & the Auckland 9’s in 2016 for being $500k over... is that the line?

Should Manly in 2018 lost competition points? How about Cronulla & the Tigers this year?

It's hard to sort of find an average to set a line. Interesting question though.

I'll probably f**k a few things up so anyone feel free to assist and correct but below is my summary take on recent cap breaches:

Storm
- $3.78M over 5 seasons
- tried to hide it
- fined $1.6M, 2 prems, 3 minor prems, WCC and basically punted from to the 2010 season.

Parra
- $500K over in 2016
- planned to cheat unsuccessful like Sharks in other years
- tried to hide it (?)
- fined $1M, loss of 9s trophy and prize money ($370K?), 5 officials sacked and not allowed to accrue competition points in 2016 until they got under the cap.

Manly
- $1.5M over 5 seasons
- tried to hide it and fought against the NRL investigation
- fined $750K (not sure if any suspended?) and a $660K reduction of salary cap spread over 2 seasons, 2 officials de-registered

Sharks
- up to $700K in promised and undeclared TPAs over 5 season, most of which never eventuated. I would like to know how much was actually paid but this isn't available. A director funded a company to source TPAs in convention of the "arm's length" rule, this was apparently unsuccessful but still an attempt/intention to break the rules.
- tried to be hidden by previous admins (current if you're Manly) before new CEO self-reported
- fined $750K ($500K suspended) and a $707K reduction of salary cap spread over 2 years.

Tigers
- f**k knows. NRL.com says:

"The NRL proposed a fine of $750,000 late last year for failing to disclose an Ambassador agreement with Robbie Farah when he finishes his career and for misleading the NRL in relation to an application for cap relief."

But that shit was in the papers so it seems strange to say they failed to disclose it. I'll leave this one alone.

 

[AJB1102]

Zero tolerance! The clubs are given a number to work with and if they can't f**ken count, strip them of everything. It's not that hard to run the numbers through a spreadsheet to know where you are at, a junior accounts clerk could do it. Breaching the cap is just a piss take by the clubs who do it and there wouldn't be a breach that has occurred without someone in the club knowing it was happening.
And i'm not having a go at sharks, storm or anyone in particular, if the Dragons do it they should be reamed as well.......

NRL players for the most part are not on a set salary. It's broken down into match payments and other bonuses. If he plays 24 first grade games will make a big difference to if he only plays 2. Then there is injuries and a guy has to get promoted. A lot of clubs breach the cap every year through no sinister motives.

 

[Dragons 09]

2010. Check out the dragons salary cap position. Tigers in 05, it goes on and on.

Zero tolerance is a bullshit stance that cannot work. Mistakes get made and with zero tolerance it doesn’t matter if that $1 was a mistake or cheating.

3.79 million is quite a large mistake though

If we cheated the cap in 2010 then take the premiership off us and we would deserve that.
Zero tolerance works in many aspects of society, no reason i can't work when counting numbers is involved. Get an independent auditor to double check your sums if you're not so bright.

 

[Miller was a legend]

If we cheated the cap in 2010 then take the premiership off us and we would deserve that.
Zero tolerance works in many aspects of society, no reason i can't work when counting numbers is involved. Get an independent auditor to double check your sums if you're not so bright.

I get your point 09 however it really cannot work in this circumstance. I think AJB has covered this fairly well above

 

[Dragons 09]

NRL players for the most part are not on a set salary. It's broken down into match payments and other bonuses. If he plays 24 first grade games will make a big difference to if he only plays 2. Then there is injuries and a guy has to get promoted. A lot of clubs breach the cap every year through no sinister motives.

Yeah, i get that, but it is still ostensibly about "budgeting". As in any business you track budgets regularly and re-forecast constantly. Perhaps "zero tolerance" needs a bit of finessing and what Miller was a legend said about being $1 over is a fair call and a good example of that, but even your examples in your post above backs up my theory that most, if not all cap breaches, are a piss take. Cheats need to be called out for what they are and only the severest of punishments will be a deterrent.

 

[AJB1102]

Yeah, i get that, but it is still ostensibly about "budgeting". As in any business you track budgets regularly and re-forecast constantly. Perhaps "zero tolerance" needs a bit of finessing and what Miller was a legend said about being $1 over is a fair call and a good example of that, but even your examples in your post above backs up my theory that most, if not all cap breaches, are a piss take. Cheats need to be called out for what they are and only the severest of punishments will be a deterrent.

I agree pretty much. Again it requires weighing up the crime and setting a punishment inline with the severity. Cronulla have been punished probably more on their intention or for making provisions to allow themselves to cheat without actually doing so.

As a Sharks fan the stupidity infuriates me. We had probably the most frugal and best recruiter in the game as coach. As such we were significantly under the cap. We set up provisions to cheat a law that wasn't affecting us - literally solving a problem that didn't exist and in turn creating plenty of other real problems.

If we didn't unnecessarily open an avenue to cheat we'd be sweet. I pay out Parra's inability to cheat but at least their attempt was sorta needed.

 

[Styles clash]

Smith should learn to keep his mouth shut. Years of crap is why the Storm have struggled to win the support of Melbourne despite onfield success. The crap and success are inseparable. Astonishing the captain says this the week before a new season.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

I understand...

I totally get why Sharks fans are upset--- In 20 years the Melbourne Storm have been more successful, got a higher crowd average and a higher membership based out of a club based in Victoria than the Sharks have been able to do in 50.

What's it like supporting a club who's "best ever" player who has the record for most losses in NRL history? While also been known as a deadset merkin and drug cheat.

It's only been the last few years that Storm have had a higher crowd average than the Sharks..

 

[Danish]

It’s going to be great to see Cam Smith booed off the field in his final game of the NRL.

It’ll make billy’s send off look positively tame.

One of the game’s most embarrassing figures

 

[Lynoman]

6 words for you Cammy.

f**k off you cheating grub merkin.

 

[mave]

It's not often there is a fairly general consensus on any topic.
Cam Smith seems to be the exception.

Well done Cam....bringing people together since 2003

 

[firechild]

As I’ve suggested earlier—- cheating the salary cap is cheating the salary cap. It’s the same thing— by claiming it’s different because it’s by different amounts doesn’t make rationale sense.

Let’s put it this way?? Could I steal $100k from you and for you not to care?? How about $4 million??

You’d be upset at me taking both amounts. The sharks still cheated the salary cap.

Great analogy. Someone who steals a million dollars will get a much more severe punishment than someone that steals a few dollars. The law always takes into account the severity of the crime, why wouldn't the NRL?