Warriors salary cap investigation

[DJ1]

*EDIT* deleted quote from deleted post

*Edited by DJ1 because the above edit made my response moot

 

[parra-matters]

Maybe it is someyhing to do with the exchange rate? it changes Daily so how do they work it out compared to the Aussie Dollar?

 

[Clevo]

Why was it deleted? I expect a PM....


NRL Auditors should have picked up a $1mil "error"

 

[kia ora storm]

I reckon this has been going down for a while..not suprised.

 

[The Dominator]

How can the warriors be over by up to $1,000,000 when they have one of the worst player rosters in the NRL?

Looks like this breach is on a similar scale to the Bulldog's. Not much being said mind you, it's not as much fun to bag out the kiwi's as it is to stomp on the dog's is it?

 

[UndertakerMike]

LOL No :badgrin:

 

[SpaceMonkey]

How can the warriors be over by up to $1,000,000 when they have one of the worst player rosters in the NRL?

Maybe now but go back a year or two (remember the breaches are alleged to go back a few seasons) and the roster was the envy of many sides. If you take early 2004 before the wheels fell off consider what these guys would've been worth at the time:

Jones
Lauitiiti
Meli
Toopi
Faafili
Seu Seu
Villisanti
PJ Marsh
Guttenbeil
Faumuina
Vinnie Aderson

At that point every one of those players was a candidate for international selection and all would've commanded decent money. We forget that because the catastrophic loss of collective form the club suffered in '04 probably killed what many of those guys were worth.

 

[RainMan]

Better put some dough on the Warriors collecting the spoon this year...

 

[Goleel]

They have released players like they were diseased or something over the last few years, perhaps this explains why? I can't see how their top 25 could be over the cap though, unless guys like Toopi, Villasanti and Guttenbeil are on ridiculous overs, even accounting for say, 500K each for Wiki and Price, the rest of their squad contains at least 6 or 7 players without top grade experience or with limited first grade time, players who wouldn't be earning anything more than minimum wage. The only other reason I could think of would be salary cap penalties, but as far as I know we don't have a system like the NFL in place for that sort of thing, where salary cap space is penalised for releasing players before their contract expires. They'd be in deep s**t if it did count, they've released an entire first grade sides worth of talent since their grand final.

 

[aussies1st]

I knew the Warriors would win the spoon :lol:

NEW Zealand Warriors will be docked up to six competition points and hit with a huge fine after rugby league's latest salary cap scandal was uncovered yesterday.

After owning up to player-payment "discrepancies", the Warriors will be the first team in 98 years of premiership league history to start the season on less than zero.

The Auckland-based team has been caught in the biggest player-payment scandal since the Bulldogs were stripped of the minor premiership in 2002.

The list of rorts included:

* OFFERING stars highly-paid employment after they retire;
* FUNNELING payments to players through club owner Cullen Investments;
* PAYING for player agents to fly to and from New Zealand whenever they wanted to;
* HELPING players secure commercial arrangements and then only partially declaring them to the NRL.

Warriors chairman Maurice Kidd last night indicated he would fight any move to strip the club of points before the season started.

"It's obviously within their powers to do that but we wouldn't be happy with that," Kidd said.

Asked if he thought the points should instead be deducted from the Warriors' 2005 total - in the game's record books - Kidd said: "That's right. We haven't got into those issues yet."

But NRL chief executive David Gallop countered: "While it's too early to speculate on a penalty, all clubs and fans have known competition points are in jeopardy when breaches strike at the heart of the competition's fairness."

Former Warriors chief executive Mick Watson is high on the list of interviewees the club is chasing in its investigation. The NRL may also seek to speak to him.

When informed of the drama yesterday, Bulldogs chief executive Malcolm Noad said: "If it's a systematic approach to circumvent the salary cap, our fans would expect the NRL to take very stern action."

NRL salary cap auditor Ian Schubert first got wind of the anomalies at the end of last season, when the previous administration led by Watson was departing.

Schubert warned Watson he would be conducting a full audit in early 2006.

The new Warriors hierarchy, led by Kidd, then decided to go on the front foot. They told the NRL a week ago they had found irregularities themselves.

"The chief executive (Wayne Scurrah) called me last Monday and said 'I think we've got a problem'," Kidd said. "He was preparing for the NRL auditor ... they came across things that looked a bit, uh, unusual."

It is understood the club is at risk of a $100,000 fine, although admitting their mistakes will be the one mitigating factor.

The Daily Telegraph

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,18227226-23214,00.html

 

[Steelers4eva]

Will certainly make it interesting to see how the NRL treats this one. If they are as far over the cap as the Bulldogs were should they be deducted the same amount of points, say -28 points in round 1? Or should there be something in place that says they cannot qualify for the finals? The only difference in the cases it would seem is that they came clean/got caught prior to the season and the dogs got caught near the end. Personally I don't think they may would make the top 8 anyway.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I tthink the club should be given the option of avoiding points deductions if they can get their player roster under the cap for this season. Let's face it, the season hasn't started, and they haven't earned any points yet this season with a player roster that's over the cap, unlike the dogs who had played most of a season before their breach was discovered.
If they can get their houise in order for this season then I think fines (and yes they should be big ones) should be appropriate to cover the breaches in past seasons.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

WTF, the dogs got caught cheating and where stripped of all their points all 28 of them and a guarenteed GF win.

The warriors if they dont start the season minus points should be boycotted by all fans not just dogs ones, and the dogs should take the NRL to court.

They cheated on the most serious issue is their is and must be cracked down upon extremely hard. I'd say the same if it was the knights we have the cap for a reason.

 

[douglasallen91]

WTF, the dogs got caught cheating and where stripped of all their points all 28 of them and a guarenteed GF win.

haha what have you been smoking, guaranteed GF win!

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

With the way the dogs where playing they were unstoppable - 17 straight wins not too many teams can accomplish that.

 

[Dr Crane]

With the way the dogs where playing they were unstoppable - 17 straight wins not too many teams can accomplish that.

Who beat them?

 

[douglasallen91]

With the way the dogs where playing they were unstoppable - 17 straight wins not too many teams can accomplish that.

yeah who beat them? (and it was before the salary cap issue came out)

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Fair point but every team has to have a lose to put a bit of starch back in them. IE - 04 their loss to the Cowboys was the best thing that happened to them.

 

[JoeD]

OFFERING stars highly-paid employment after they retire;
PAYING for player agents to fly to and from New Zealand whenever they wanted to;

is this even illegal?

Anyway, if the NRL started them on -28 it would make the whole season a farce. Get under the cap (if not already) and a large fine. More than that and the NRL would kiss goodbye to what is probably a fairly lucrative warriors market.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

WTF, the dogs got caught cheating and where stripped of all their points all 28 of them and a guarenteed GF win.

The warriors if they dont start the season minus points should be boycotted by all fans not just dogs ones, and the dogs should take the NRL to court.

They cheated on the most serious issue is their is and must be cracked down upon extremely hard. I'd say the same if it was the knights we have the cap for a reason.

I agree, the Warriors should be stripped of any competition points that we earn with a player roster that's over the cap. But as the competition hasn't started yet, they have the opportunity to get this season's house in order before point sanctions are applied. No points have been earned unfairly yet this year, so how can any be deducted?