Eels cleared, but NRL will ‘closely monitor’ Broncos over salary cap
Greg Prichard | July 31, 2009
The NRL has left the door open on suggestions Brisbane may have broken the salary cap, in case further information comes to light.
The league issued a statement yesterday in which it announced it had cleared Parramatta of suggestions they may have cheated the cap by possibly guaranteeing investments in real estate by players contracted to the club in 2002 and 2003.
But at the same time it detailed its plan to ‘‘closely monitor allegations made in a recent court case about payments made to Brisbane Broncos players by high-profile individuals associated with the club’’.
The statement made reference to a former Brisbane chairman suggesting in court that payments had been made. But no details of payment amounts or frequency of payments had emerged, and the ex-chairman had declined to be interviewed by the league.
The former chairman, Don Nissen, appeared at the case in Queensland involving Gordon Nuttall, a former state government minister. Nuttall was found guilty of 36 charges of corruptly receiving secret commissions from Ken Talbot and Harold Shand between 2002 and 2005.
Talbot has a financial deal with former Broncos coach Wayne Bennett, with the money provided for the welfare of Bennett’s two disabled children. He has also given money to former Brisbane players and provided personal loans to Nissen.
