BEFORE Christmas last year, the Sharks spoke with NRL salary cap boss Ian Schubert about how to deal with John Mannah.
Everybody knows the John Mannah situation. Many of us draw great hope from it.
Here is a young man, just 20, diagnosed last year with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
He immediately stopped playing and began chemotherapy, which left him battling nausea and headaches, and he promised he would beat his cancer and return to his career in the NRL.
As a club, we told him that we would be there for whatever he needed. Back in the real world, though, it also left us with a problem - as a club.
With no telling when Johnny would be back, it meant we would be starting the season a man down on our 25-man roster, with Johnny's contract money also counting against our salary cap.
So we contacted the NRL to discuss a possible solution.
How could we fit in a player without exceeding our salary cap?
Schubert told us there was only one way we could retrieve the roster spot and free up some money under the cap.
Sack John Mannah.
He wasn't comfortable with the answer himself, but was certain that under current NRL rules that was the only option available to us.
It hardly makes sense.
As a club, we give thousands of dollars to charities every year, to causes like the McGrath Foundation and others. Our players support all manner of functions, as often as they can, through donations and personal appearances.
Yet when one of our own is struck down, and the club stands by him through the fight, the only way we can continue to compete under even terms is to sack that player.
I will not sack Johnny.
I believe it is important, among other things, that he has a goal to get through his treatment, which is to return to play football with the Sharks. I know it gets him through the tough times.
Which means some of you might be wondering why I am going down this track at all.
What's the big deal? Why not just wait until he comes back?
The answer is simple.
Injuries are one of the critical factors that determine the success of your season.
Every club has a 25-man roster who must fall inside the salary cap. Yet the truth is almost every club has to use more than 25 players to survive a season, and the clubs that use the least amount are generally the more successful.
Melbourne, Manly, Melbourne, Brisbane, Wests Tigers ... they all had light runs with injury the year they won their premierships. Every season we all accept it is one of those variables that have to go our way if we are to be successful.
It only makes sense.
The salary cap is levelling competition to such an extent that the moment you are down a player or two from full strength you are at a distinct disadvantage to a full-strength rival.
We all get injuries in our clubs, but if you can suffer fewer injuries than your opponent you stand a better chance of winning.
So when you lose a player, it is critical.
Last year we lost Ben Ross and Brett Kearney out for the season after one game, and the cost was dramatic.
Already the Roosters have lost Anthony Cherrington for this entire season, before he has played even one competition game. It's why, as a coach, you have your heart in your mouth when your players play in such games as the recent Indigenous All Stars game.
Or even when they play in State of Origin.
For some reason you tend to accept it better when a player is lost while playing for your team, as opposed to a rep game or a promotional game.
Yet even if a player is lost there, the clubs get no compensation in terms of salary cap concessions or a roster spot. Under the current rules, the only way clubs can bypass this disadvantage is by sacking the player.
The NRL needs to implement an "injured reserve" list similar to that in America's NFL and NHL.
Those leagues understand how much injuries affect your season.
Under NFL rules, if a player is injured for the season, like Cherrington or Mannah, they are put on injured reserve.
It means they are unable to play for the remainder of the season (which stops the "miracle" comeback making a mockery of the system), but they still receive full pay and their roster spot is there for them when they are ready to return.
Yet it allows their teams to go out and replace them on the roster so they are not playing at a disadvantage to rival teams for the rest of the season.
In the NRL at the moment, a couple of season-long injuries to regular first-graders can effectively end your finals chances right there, even if the competition is only two weeks old.
In fact, more so.
You simply don't have the depth to get through the rest of the season.
Of course, we need a cut-off date - say, June 30 - when injured players are no longer able to be replaced. This would stop clubs stocking up on fresh talent right before the finals.
I have ideas on how to make it work but that is a conversation for later with David Gallop.
But it is time we recognise the strength of the salary cap and the drastic restrictions it puts on your chances when season-ending injuries or illness affect your players.
There is no way we will sack Johnny Mannah.
He is important to our club, and right now we are important to him.
The same as Anthony Cherrington is to the Roosters, or whoever else might be ruled out for the season when we kick off next weekend.
But the price for loyalty shouldn't come at the cost of your season.
It's time, as a league, we caught up.
