In the end it's the NRL who have cheated the Storm!

[Someone]

Im starting to get annoying with dumb fans and stupid ex players like mal meniga and co going on the news and saying ' i feel sorry for them'. the repitition of it is making me mad and makes it easier for me to keep hating storm.

 

[The EELiminator]

Because they didn't cheat in the game per se - OK, they slowed down the play-the-ball, 'wrestled', etc. But the game was won fair and square on the day by the illegal team.

The fact it was illegal doesn't mean they didn't win the game fair and square.

they didnt cheat in the game but their team was worth $400,000 more than ours? how is that fair

 

[Springs]

Im starting to get annoying with dumb fans and stupid ex players like mal meniga and co going on the news and saying ' i feel sorry for them'. the repitition of it is making me mad and makes it easier for me to keep hating storm.

Yeah Mal Meninga does have a right to say what he feels. In fact he has a far greater right than what you do. These 'stupid ex-players' are the ones that played the game, the players now have far more reason to say what they think because they are the ones the salary cap, and all this crap going on with melbourne, affects!
You say you are annoyed with them, well none of us, or the ex-players, care at all.

 

[Eelementary]

It's easy to claim Melbourne were managed and coached better better than anyone else looking at the results and the way they played the game.

But the sinister truth is the team they assembled did Bellamy a great credit in this regard. "Nuffies" such as the lesser-known players were buoyed by lining up alongside White, Inglis, Smith, Cronk, Slater, Folau, Manu, Hoffman, Johnson, Lima, Blair, etc. week in and week out. If you were a player lining up alongside these blokes every week it wouldn't take much to fire up.

Sure, Bellamy did a great job tactically and in terms of motivation for the players. But let's not forget his team had several highly paid players that were illegally retained. Slater, Inglis, Cronk, Smith, White, Blair, Manu, Hoffman, Turner, Johnson, Folau, Finch, Cross...Over the years they were all representative players or players right on the representative cusp. They retained all bar three of those, and added Finch, and were reportedly even keen on Mason at one point...

So this argument that they cheated to keep the stars they developed holds no water, either - if that were even remotely true they wouldn't have signed Finch (who at the time was under contract with Parramatta, meaning Melbourne had to buy out his contract) and made an offer to Mason. They even made offers to Fuifui Moimoi.

Their administration was rotten to the very core, and rugby league fans were cheated.

 

[Eelementary]

they didnt cheat in the game but their team was worth $400,000 more than ours? how is that fair

It isn't. But my point is that the match itself was played without cheating, salary cap issue aside. We didn't win that game.

 

[Eelementary]

Yeah Mal Meninga does have a right to say what he feels. In fact he has a far greater right than what you do. These 'stupid ex-players' are the ones that played the game, the players now have far more reason to say what they think because they are the ones the salary cap, and all this crap going on with melbourne, affects!
You say you are annoyed with them, well none of us, or the ex-players, care at all.

How does a player have a "far greater right" to express their opinion than the fans and MEMBERS of the football clubs who support the teams financially and through their cheering?

 

[_Johnsy]

That's without question but when we say 'club' who do we mean?

Is it the players, the coaching staff, the trainers, the meds....or is it the handful of individuals who did this.

For me it would be great to go a day without the club/players releasing comments about the possibility of taking legal action to have their premierships reinstated or taking pay cuts (when all & sundry know they cannot take paycuts to keep the current squad).

But no, day after day comments are made about the above.

They have done well turning this whole debacle into how the salary cap is unfair, why did they (melbourne & media) not make the same amount of noise about the unfairnessof the cap for the same period over the last 5 years. It has become a "hot" topic since Melbourne have been caught. All this does is cheapen the strength of the whole counter argument.

It easy to see why people are very suspicious about the motives of News Ltd media sections continually throwing up this argument, and in turn assisting Melbourne in playing the victim card. As any representative of the Melbourne club, they must see that they will have to cop the continua barbs, and negative comments, as they as a club, and they only decided to take the actions as a club. They saw fit to have these people in the positions to make these decisions. Any company/business/club that does not have checks and balances to ensure these type of dishonest actions do not take pace must cop it all on the chin.

 

[The EELiminator]

It isn't. But my point is that the match itself was played without cheating, salary cap issue aside. We didn't win that game.

and my point is without the salary cap cheating they would have lost at least one player from that team and probably couldnt afford finch either
you cant say they cheated all the way up to the grand final and for 4 years before it and then say that one game was won fairly

 

[Eelementary]

and my point is without the salary cap cheating they would have lost at least one player from that team and probably couldnt afford finch either

And would still probably have beaten us...

 

[The EELiminator]

For ne it would be great to go a day without the club/players releasing comments about the possibility of taking legal action to have their premierships reinstated or taking pay cuts (when all & sundry know they cannot take paycuts to keep the current squad).

But no, day after day comments are made about the above.

its a smokescreen mate they know they cant get the premierships back or keep their current squad but by putting that in the headlines every day it keeps other stories on the back burner

 

[The EELiminator]

And would still probably have beaten us...

thats the tragedy of the whole thing mate the storm have been competitive from day one they might have still won the comp without going one cent over the cap but we'll never know now will we?

 

[Eelementary]

Well yeah...

Ah, well.

 

[Crusher]

One final question?

Can anyone honestly say they were expecting the penalty that was issued.

I suspect that the instant David Gallop announced it almost everyone would have been in abosulte shock at it's severity. Think back to that moment and recall what your thoughts were. I suspect most people were thinking hefty fines and loss of points this season at best. What about you?

BTW insinuating that I condone the actions of certain individuals within the Storm is ludicrous. Taking certain lines out of context also doesn't help anyone.

The context of this whole thread is that clubs have been cheated by an inadequate system. I thought I had made that clear. Those of you who claim the cap argument is only coming out now should contact media monitors It has been in Eastern seaboard mainstream press a total of 865 individual articles since 2005.

BTW also, read tomorrows Tele and Courier Mail. It will be worth it!

 

[The EELiminator]

One final question?

Can anyone honestly say they were expecting the penalty that was issued.

I suspect that the instant David Gallop announced it almost everyone would have been in abosulte shock at it's severity. Think back to that moment and recall what your thoughts were. I suspect most people were thinking hefty fines and loss of points this season at best. What about you?

i posted this in another thread but i'll copy it here...

fine
2002 bulldogs: $500,000
2010 storm: $500,000 (plus return of 1.1 million prizemoney)

points
2002 bulldogs: all points deducted, *zero points accrued for rest of season*
2010 storm: all points deducted, zero points accrued for rest of season

titles
2002 bulldogs: 0 but were eligible for minor premiership before points deduction
2010 storm: won 2 premierships and 3 minor premierships before stripping

*a bulldogs fan replied with the following:*

we lost 37 of our 41 points, putting us on 4 (we kept those points from the bye) and won 3 of the remaining 4 games, putting us on 10 to end the year

i dont really remember much about that year so they might be right and the bulldogs were allowed to accrue points but they were charged about 3-4 weeks from the end of the season not near the start of it
as i have said elsewhere the storm won the premiership not once but twice by cheating that deserves the harshest punishment possible

 

[Neverminder]

thats the tragedy of the whole thing mate the storm have been competitive from day one they might have still won the comp without going one cent over the cap but we'll never know now will we?

Couldn't agree more - this is the most tragic aspect of all.

They may have won all four for all we know if they did things the right way. With the way they were able to develop talent, it's reasonable to speculate that a prospect superior to any on the list may have emerged if given the opportunity (via a star's departure, for example).

And on hearing then penalty for the first time I was stunned (as one would be, I guess, considering it was an almost unprecedented in professional sports worldwide (with the exception of Juventus' match fixing, but that's on a whole other level from salary cap rorting imo))

Cheats never prosper.

?

 

[Eelementary]

One final question?

Can anyone honestly say they were expecting the penalty that was issued.

I suspect that the instant David Gallop announced it almost everyone would have been in abosulte shock at it's severity. Think back to that moment and recall what your thoughts were. I suspect most people were thinking hefty fines and loss of points this season at best. What about you?

BTW insinuating that I condone the actions of certain individuals within the Storm is ludicrous. Taking certain lines out of context also doesn't help anyone.

The context of this whole thread is that clubs have been cheated by an inadequate system. I thought I had made that clear. Those of you who claim the cap argument is only coming out now should contact media monitors It has been in Eastern seaboard mainstream press a total of 865 individual articles since 2005.

BTW also, read tomorrows Tele and Courier Mail. It will be worth it!

I think it's fine.

Their Premierships are tainted and deserve to have an asterisk next to them, as well as their Minor Premierships.

The money they won was ill-gotten - pay it back.

They cheated the cap, so pay a fine.

They were still cheating, even this year and next, so why let them even be in contention for the Finals at all? Do we want this year's potential Premiers to be cheaters again - only this time, knowingly?

Gallop and the NRL have drawn the line in the sand and declared, "Enough is enough!" Now the penalties for cheating are very, very clear, and hopefully it all works.

 

[gronkathon]

One final question?

Can anyone honestly say they were expecting the penalty that was issued.

I suspect that the instant David Gallop announced it almost everyone would have been in abosulte shock at it's severity. Think back to that moment and recall what your thoughts were. I suspect most people were thinking hefty fines and loss of points this season at best. What about you?

BTW insinuating that I condone the actions of certain individuals within the Storm is ludicrous. Taking certain lines out of context also doesn't help anyone.

The context of this whole thread is that clubs have been cheated by an inadequate system. I thought I had made that clear. Those of you who claim the cap argument is only coming out now should contact media monitors It has been in Eastern seaboard mainstream press a total of 865 individual articles since 2005.

BTW also, read tomorrows Tele and Courier Mail. It will be worth it!

I was honestly shocked.

I expected the NRl to slap them on the wrist and me to be angered by it.

Instead I was taken aback but felt it was justified

 

[Ike E Bear]

I was shocked, but only because I wasn't fully aware of the extent of the rort in the first instance. My mind reeled at all of the issues raised by the whole sordid mess.

There are small problems with the penalties and the implications of the Storm playing on in 2010 with the same over-the-cap playing roster.

But, by and large, I think the penalties were appropriate and furthermore just about the only option that was actually viable.

I still think they need to shed players until they can field a legal team ... but even if they do I don't think they should be able to contest the finals this year. The Bulldogs decision effectively wiped them out of the comp that year and that's what needed to happen here. I wouldn't have minded if the Storm were given the EXACT same penalty as the Bulldogs, taking them deep into the negatives, but that's the only way I'd be okay with them earning points. They have tainted past premierships and have also done a number on 2010 - the impact of that stain, however, must be minimised. That's what not allowing them to accrue points achieves.

The NRL has seemingly learnt some lessons from the Bulldogs rort, but one thing they still missed is that playing with an illegally developed and maintained playing roster is still not acceptable ... this year or next.

 

[The EELiminator]

I wouldn't have minded if the Storm were given the EXACT same penalty as the Bulldogs, taking them deep into the negatives, but that's the only way I'd be okay with them earning points. They have tainted past premierships and have also done a number on 2010 - the impact of that stain, however, must be minimised. That's what not allowing them to accrue points achieves.

the bulldogs were found out late in the season thats why they had earned so many points plus dropping them to zero guaranteed them the wooden spoon even if they won every game since then (i forget now but a dogs fan said they were still allowed to get points) the case now is altered its still early in the season so if the storm were allowed to play for points they could still make the semis and win the premiership

 

[Crusher]

the bulldogs were found out late in the season thats why they had earned so many points plus dropping them to zero guaranteed them the wooden spoon even if they won every game since then (i forget now but a dogs fan said they were still allowed to get points) the case now is altered its still early in the season so if the storm were allowed to play for points they could still make the semis and win the premiership

The problem is the NRL have opened up a can of worms by saying that if this incident was found out before the season the Storm roster could have been sorted so they start the season with a 'legal' team and avert any future penalty.

Seven rounds in and its a different set of rules which makes you conclude that the NRL think it's too hard to sort out this season in its entirity.