I don’t think the amounts that the media have published are that bad. Probably why they published it. Most would assume that storm would be up there with tpa’s. What really shows is the fact that TPA aren’t as bad as everyone thinks. In saying that, you would be nieve to think that clubs aren’t doing the dodgy.
There has been a push over the past couple years about wage transparency and it feels like the Nrl/clubs/Rlpa are trying to appease our needs by making the tpas public, but even they have admitted that it makes up just a small proportion of wages. I don’t think it will satisfy the general rl fan.
Personally the Nrl need to take over tpas and have Nrl contracted business agents that work on behalf of the players. They can directly approach the business community to do the deals. Players are allowed to use Nrl team marketing (for a fee 10-20%). A tpa soft cap of $500k should be introduced and any team that goes over is given that amount less in Nrl grant money. Nrl marketing grants don’t count towards tpas. The actual salary that players receive on the cap needs to be made public and tpas kept private.
This fixes most issues.
Less chance of rorting if Nrl controlled.
Business agents can engage community better.
Players will get more income if they are allowed to use team jerseys etc. this will also help with Nrl marketing in general.
Soft cap doesn’t limit players earning potential but could affect Nrl grant money.
Nrl based marketing grants should be independent of tpas/salary cap.
Players base salary should be made public to silence the rl fans.