Salary Cap Loophole (Ricketson)

[Maroubra Eel]

Rebecca Wilson in her Sunday Tele column wrote:

"The Roosters Luke Ricketson will play for another season on a greatly reduced salary. Ricky Stuart has told Ricko he is keen for him to stay but at substantially less than his present contract. Ricko is keen to have a career at the Roosters when he retires and he and Stuart believe another season would be the perfect way for the club legend to finish up as a player."

I believe Ricko should finish up with the Roosters, I applaud his loyalty. Although it does look as if this is a ploy by the Roosters to get around the cap.

It looks like they want to pay him peanuts next year and then fix him up in the following years with money that won't fall under the salary cap.

 

[dice]

Nothing new. They are doing the same with Freddy. The day the NRL try to stop it is the day the salary cap will die.

 

[Razor]

You can't stop that. All the clubs do that. Paul Green is on $50 a game for the Broncos, but look who he's employed by - Fox Sports - whose 50% owners(News Ltd) own the Broncos.

 

[OVP]

All clubs except Parramatta dont you mean. Every club has a team of people dedicated to getting the most out the salary cap, their job is to find loopholes. Parra on the other hand have Brian Smith, a single coach, to work out the salary cap. No wonder they are ripping themselves off.

 

[DJ1]

If true and undisclosed it is cheating.

 

[rossy]

Gee, there's a surprise.

DJ1 making an allegation that the Roosters are involved in cap cheating activity.

Are you going to provide that evidence you've been sitting on for a few months? Or are you going to take the cowards way out of making claims and not backing them up?

 

[steaming stormer]

It's not cheating technically, as he is only being payed a minimal amount to play. what he earns after he retires in his employment has no bearing on a salary cap. It is definitely a loophole though, and one that I don't know how they would close :?

 

[Glenn]

Hmmm one way around it, introduce a minimum wage that the club has to pay eg $20,000 a season , and that money has to come from the club not some sponsorship arangement

 

[Freak]

Nothing new. They are doing the same with Freddy. The day the NRL try to stop it is the day the salary cap will die.

You mean to tell me the Salary Cap is still alive :shock:

Surely you must be mistaken. The Cap has been dead for years,

well at least it's purpose has!!! :evil:

 

[Holla if ya hear me]

Arent the broncos doing the same with the coaches son in law
Send him to the clydsdales and then bring him back later on in the year.

Come to think of it -Why dont,in this day and age, the broncos have a reserve grade team?

 

[Glenn]

Basically the Clydsdales is Brisbane equivalent to Premier League, why they don't have a Premier League side IIRC just the cost involved sending them to Sydney every second week

 

[Razor]

Arent the broncos doing the same with the coaches son in law
Send him to the clydsdales and then bring him back later on in the year.

Yes

Ikin retired, took a job at the Broncos Leagues club, and decided to play part-time at Toowoomba. He then gets a very small match fee everytime he plays. Probably topped up by his Leagues club earnings.

Green gets $50 per game officially. Anyone actually believe that? Getting topped up by Fox Sports.

Carl Webb doesn't come under the salary cap either because he isn't on their books. Only on Toowoomba's.

 

[dice]

what he earns after he retires in his employment has no bearing on a salary cap.

Technically, DJ1 is correct. If Ricketson has taken a pay cut in lieu of higher wages after he retires it should be disclosed and included as part of the salary cap. In reality though, if it is a gentlemen's agreement the NRL can't prove it.


Another loophole which I can see many clubs using is that of company cars. When paying FBT there is no requirement on the FBT provider (the sponsors providing the cars in this case) to log details of who is driving the car. That means a sponsor can provide a car to a player and there is no way the NRL can prove the car is for the players exclusive use.

 

[rossy]

Hopefully DJ1 will be condemning the Broncos over this heinous behaviour.

 

[sretsoor]

Why is anyone surprised. I would have expected no less of the club to offer him some kind of role within the club when he retires after all he is the most cap player for the club and a legend.

Just because he has re-signed for one more year before being employed by the club doesn't mean the cap is now being exploited.

 

[DJ1]

Arent the broncos doing the same with the coaches son in law
Send him to the clydsdales and then bring him back later on in the year.

Yes

Ikin retired, took a job at the Broncos Leagues club, and decided to play part-time at Toowoomba. He then gets a very small match fee everytime he plays. Probably topped up by his Leagues club earnings.

Green gets $50 per game officially. Anyone actually believe that? Getting topped up by Fox Sports.

Carl Webb doesn't come under the salary cap either because he isn't on their books. Only on Toowoomba's.

Wouldn't they come under the secondary cap for players outside the top 25 earners?

 

[DJ1]

what he earns after he retires in his employment has no bearing on a salary cap.

Technically, DJ1 is correct. If Ricketson has taken a pay cut in lieu of higher wages after he retires it should be disclosed and included as part of the salary cap. In reality though, if it is a gentlemen's agreement the NRL can't prove it.

Maybe it has been disclosed and is taken into account for the following years cap.

Another loophole which I can see many clubs using is that of company cars. When paying FBT there is no requirement on the FBT provider (the sponsors providing the cars in this case) to log details of who is driving the car. That means a sponsor can provide a car to a player and there is no way the NRL can prove the car is for the players exclusive use.

Isn't this what was investigated at Newcastle? They found no breach I think! Are you sure there is no disclosure for FBT? I think the ATO demands it now.

 

[dice]

Maybe it has been disclosed and is taken into account for the following years cap.

Nothing wrong with that.

Isn't this what was investigated at Newcastle? They found no breach I think! Are you sure there is no disclosure for FBT? I think the ATO demands it now.

The employer has to pay the FBT or the employee has to make an FBT contribution. AFAIK, if using the Statutory FBT method and the employer paying the FBT there is nothing that links the Fringe Benefit to the employee. The ATO doesn't give a damn basically as long as the FBT is paid. This was true two years ago when I gave myself a company car but I am not sure if it is still the case.

 

[DJ1]

Agree with your point on nothing wrong if disclosed and accounted in the following years cap.

I think the rule changed so that salary plus fringe applied to you is now on this years group certificate.

 

[dice]

I think the rule changed so that salary plus fringe applied to you is now on this years group certificate.

Using the Statutory method there is nothing to say a car is driven by a particular person on a particular day. So it is still valid for a sponsor to give a car exclusively to a player and claim it as either a courtesy car or company car driven by the sponsors employees or customers.