Paul Kent: NRL salary cap isn't working

[Mr Spock!]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-salary-cap-isnt-working-and-damaging-the-integrity-of-the-competition/story-fnp0lyn3-1227265183141

Can't really disagree with any of this.

The cap is obviously broken. Is there a solution though?

The NRL can't just go around picking and choosing who gets help signing top tier players. Talk about a can of worms.

What about one player from each club is totally exempt from the salary cap and a recipient of the NRL's discretionary funds.

That way it's even and the NRL isn't playing favourites to keep players.

 

[Mr Spock!]

It's working, it's just that the talent isn't getting shared around how it should.

The Roosters for example can lose a star and sign up an equal or better one than they lost, Bulldogs and Manly have no trouble attracting named players because they are successful clubs. Souths are another recent club that has managed to do this and Parra will once again be in this group.

It's not difficult for a successful Sydney club to attract and retain star players because these players can stay in the same city (or house) and change teams. It's not that easy for clubs based in Townsville, Canberra, Townville, NZ or a lesser degree GC, Brisbane and Melbourne.

The salary cap will only work if we have a draft but we've seen in the past that a draft can successfully be challenged.

I don't have the answer but the stronger 4 or 5 Sydney clubs are in afar better position than the other 11 clubs and always will be until there is a major overhaul

I don't know. The Cows have had some good players with the best player in the world and still haven't come close to pulling off a Grand Final win.

When Thurston retires, the Cowboys will really struggle.

 

[Stranga]

blah blah blah blah blah suggest an alternative or gtfo.

 

[Juanjo]

Surely TPAs will be rubbed out in a few years time but frankly until the salary cap is large enough to keep your big name players then they kinda have to stay for the good of the game as a whole, even if that temporarily shits on the lesser clubs

 

[Eion]

Let's just start with transparency of TPAs. So maybe just maybe one of these journos can do some investigative journalism.

 

[dogslife]

Canberra can't attract players because Canberra is a f**king shithole

 

[MarkC]

There is a problem with TPA's but this is nothing new it has been the case for at least 10 years.
The solution is not easy ....
You could try to cap TPA's or limit them in some way.
That would need to be based on the players total salary and years at a club ... e.g. new signing TPA can only be 10% of total player income. 3 years at club TPA can be 40% of total player income.
However this sort of scheme could increase the number players to going to other codes and may be subject to legal challenge, etc.
The better way is to just increase the salary cap so TPA's have less impact in relative terms.
A salary cap has been in the game in one form or the other for a very long time, it has never worked.
You can't tell rich blokes how to spend their money...... and nearly all players will nearly always take the cash.

 

[Dogs Of War]

All sports have similar problems who have salary caps. If you look at the nfl, some teams just keep on making bad decisions. Some clubs attract better fee agents due to the market they are in.

Get Canberra a good coach, and suddenly they will attract good players who see there game improving under that coach. But when was the last time Canberra had a good coach?

Look at parra, coach goes well 1 year and players are believing in him and are now interested in coming to the club.

 

[Nugget10]

Stop playing the Man and start playing the ball.

What he wrote has some merit and I agree with him to an extent. Third Party payments undermine the whole idea of a salary cap. The fact that Paul merkin wrote it has half you blokes frothing at the mouth

 

[TheFrog]

why isnt it working?

closest competition on record last year if im not mistaken. no team back to back in 23 years. almost every team making a grand final in the last 10 years. titans, raiders, sharks are probably the only ones that havent. but even then sharks finished 5th in 2013, titans top 4 a few years back and raiders top 8 every 2nd year for 20 years.

and most importantly, what is the solution? dont say its shit without providing a good solution, thats an easy cop out of a whinger

Panthers last GF was 2003 (11 years)
Knights was 2001 (13 years)

Both these sides have made the GF qualifier in the last 2 seasons though.

 

[gUt]

Wank wank wank wank.

All I hear about the salary cap not working is talk. I never see any data. Over the last 10 years, or even longer, we've had wide range of teams taking out the title or at least being competitive in the finals. Some teams have had more success than others, but that's bound to happen in any system that can actually be called a competition. The two most successful teams were the Storm, who had to cheat their asses off and were caught out doing it, and Manly, who managed to keep it all together for longer than most but are now suffering for it. The least successful teams can hardly blame the salary cap for the troubles.

Looks like it's working to me. People can be bitch and speculate and say completely made-up bullshit like "It obviously doesn't work!" but it's all just hot air until someone shows me the data.

This.

Except for the Boughtdogs obviously.

 

[Craig Johnston]

Restricting tpa is restricting a players capacity to earn income outside of the completion rules. You can't even enforce it legally, suck it up, it's a fact of life that some markets are stronger than others, in the broncos case it just needs to be watered down with more competition

 

[LESStar58]

I just find it amazing that the AFL has such blatant salary cap rorting, certain teams given draft concessions and leg ups each year, and uneven draws, yet no journo opens their mouth...

The NRL Comp is much more fairer in comparison...

You spend enough time in TFC to know why the aFL does this. They want to dominate 2 of the 3 biggest markets in Australia and can only do that by giving a leg up to teams who nobody in the designated "supporter base" gives a wet fart unless they are successful. They then do sweetheart deals with the media for favorable coverage.

If the NRL afforded this to their one and only team in an outpost they'd have 4 premierships instead of 2. So yes... i agree with you

 

[Edwahu]

Restricting tpa is restricting a players capacity to earn income outside of the completion rules. You can't even enforce it legally, suck it up, it's a fact of life that some markets are stronger than others, in the broncos case it just needs to be watered down with more competition

Sure, maybe you cant stop it. Lets publish the numbers though and not pretend the comps actually an even playing field.

 

[Alex28]

Manly losing DCE and Foran isn't really an indication that the salary cap is working. If Manly's management was somewhere near competent and their players liked each other at all they could have kept their team in tact - certainly not lose 4 of their biggest stars...

 

[Nice Beaver]

How is the cap not working? The most successful team of this era has been forced to lose their best 2 players. And who was able to bid the most? Two teams that haven't made the finals in 4 years (GC) and 5 years (Parra). The teams with the current longest streaks without finals footy.

So they've gone from the most consistent team to the worst 2 teams of recent history.

That's a working salary cap.

I will throw up immediately after posting this, but I agree with this in principle.

The fairest system I have heard to date is some sort of points system if they truly want to make it a more evdn playing field.

Each team can have a squad up to X amount of points and each player is allocated a nominal point value based on rep experience etc.

If they insist on allowing unlimited TPA payments then they have to give teams an even spread of FTA games to compete for sponsors willing to part with cash. We know that will never happen though.....

 

[Craig Johnston]

Sure, maybe you cant stop it. Lets publish the numbers though and not pretend the comps actually an even playing field.

I agree there needs to be better transparency so the clubs that don't do it well can learn off the clubs that do, I don't agree that players should be forced to disclose their entire earnings to the public though

 

[Craig Johnston]

Luxury tax is a potential solution, players would prefer a guaranteed contract over one that was dependant on a sponsor

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

Restricting tpa is restricting a players capacity to earn income outside of the completion rules. You can't even enforce it legally, suck it up, it's a fact of life that some markets are stronger than others, in the broncos case it just needs to be watered down with more competition

No-one has an issue with a player earning an income outside of the game. Sponsorship, such as a contract with Adidas to wear their boots + compression gear or a deal with Lowes to plug their rubbish clothes is a great way to maximise a players earnings, and no-one would stand in the way of that.

But there is a significant difference in someone having a TPA, as that is an enticement to sign on to a club with non-guaranteed income as part of their total contract with the club. As a result TPA's is a higher risk (and higher reward) strategy for a club to sign or retain a player. Those clubs which were able to gear towards TPA's before the announcement of unlimited player allowances at the moment are the ones gaining the most, as they are in a position to offer the greatest amount of money per contract without taking up as much of their salary cap space.

If your club cannot compete in the TPA market, your club cannot compete.

 

[CM67]

Is there any top line sporting competition in the world that has a system that allows for an even spread of talent.
I am a casual MLB fan and I know that the same teams always tend to be there at the pointy end of the season.
I dont follow football but from what I see the English,Italian and Spanish competitions always feature the same few big name clubs.
No idea about NBA or NFL,maybe fans of those sports could enlighten us.
So.genuine question,is there a better system out there?