The NRL seem very reluctant to address or even tamper with the current TPA system. Call it what you wish; cap, hat or sombrero, it appears that benefactors who are 'willing' to promote and support a player, for whatever purpose, are more inclined to direct their interests to the better performing clubs and players. Don't be mistaken, there are plenty of other loopholes within the salary cap structure that 'clever' clubs can exploit, again with the right benefactor attached, unfortunately we aren't one of them, as our benefactor deems us to be no more than a hobby, nothing too serious.
Now would a draft or even a trade window (or both) fix these issues? Probably not.
TPA's and those other hidden benefits can be sourced even after a player has been drafted or traded (or even arranged beforehand, pending successful 'getting' of the player they want). There is also the issue of young players drafted to teams they really dont want to go to, only to leave immediately after their contract expires or even request releases due to 'homesickness'. There are teams within the AFL who can attest to this. In fact the drafting club seems to nurse them in readiness to go straight to the preferred club to shine there.
Even a trade agreed between 2 or more teams wouldn't prevent the addition of TPA's or other benefits (within the cap structure).
I fear the dreaded TPA is here to stay, unfortunately. The only way I could see a change is that a player cannot sign at a new club for 'significantly' less than his existing contract (significantly may apply to age or form of the player, Norman being an example here).
However you look at it, it's a situation that won't be going away soon.
