Can't believe you have just given away the best bit... some people just like to spoil these things for others!

whilst i would never argue against cap dispensation for academy products ( i am massively in favour of it, i would go as far as taking academy products off the cap all together) I have no sympathy with Saints in this instance.

They werent punished for producing academy players. They were punished for offering players contracts that risked them going over the cap. They then proceeded to do so. Thats it.

It would be no different to Leeds offering every member of the squad 10k if we won the treble then complaining that doing so put us above the cap and we are punished for being successful

Oh and please please please please please please get us Inglis

Hate defending Saints but the other factor was that the international was not even in the original fixture list for the year. Saints made their financial plans for the year, the RFL made a daft mid season fixture up at very short notice, 2 Saints players got contract bonuses because of it. Saints couldn't really provide for it under the cap in the circumstances

Exactly, good to see there is some diplomacy left. Saints were innocent victims of the RFL's incompetency, just like when Keiron Cunningham was given performance enhancing drugs by the RFL's Doctor.

Saints by name...

How about lining up the players and making them give back their medals for winning in front of everyone ?

NB - That's assuming they've not done a Keith and flogged them already.

So, by the same token then, are motorbikes going to be allowed in the 100 metres sprint final at the London Olympics ?

Saints could have very easily written the contracts to completely remove that risk. They could very easily have had that clause only being activated the next season.

The point of a SC is to cap how much you are spending on salaries. not to cap how much you are spending unless you spend more

Sounds like a brilliant film to me.

The scale of the thing is the most incredible part - I read somewhere that it was 'only' about 9% of the cap each year. Well for most teams that would equate to two decent squad players or one mid-range star. In their squad all season.

The punishment was very harsh but given the extent of the breach the NRL had little choice. And News Limited do appear to have been very upset by the whole fiasco, which suggests they'd make sure the NRL knew a stiff penalty was required. Potentially the worst thing for the sport as a whole isn't even the Storm, but the negotiations for TV rights next time round. It's possible that this could cost the game millions.

From what I've read (not a lot) it does seem that the players were very much aware of what was going on - apparently the auditors discovered offer letters which detailed offers to some players considerably higher than their actual 'payments' as reported to the NRL.

Given the extent to which the club's been hit, I think some form of punishment for the players involved is also warranted. I want to keep them in the game, but I'd ban them from rep football this season - i.e. Origin.

Quote ="rpw"I can't see how the rest of superleague could lay claim to the wcc fee though. Different story with nrl winnings.'" Dave Hadfield: [iThe £50,000 prize money is a slightly different matter; the Rugby League's board of directors will discuss the matter at its next meeting, but the money is more likely to be divided among Super League clubs than handed directly to Leeds.[/i www.independent.co.uk/sport/gene ... 51742.html

Quote ="rpw"I can't see how the rest of superleague could lay claim to the wcc fee though. Different story with nrl winnings.'" Dave Hadfield: [iThe £50,000 prize money is a slightly different matter; the Rugby League's board of directors will discuss the matter at its next meeting, but the money is more likely to be divided among Super League clubs than handed directly to Leeds.[/i www.independent.co.uk/sport/gene ... 51742.html

Regardless of what the Storm did, we didn't win the game. Can't see how its ours at all.

Rugby Union got shot of Waldron pretty sharpish too: www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010 ... ugbyleague Quality statement from Melbourne's chairman: "There's =#FF0000a possibility the club might fold but we have strong support from News Limited who wants to keep rugby league alive and well in Victoria and has indicated they will help the club rebuild. Pressed again was there a possibility the club could fold, Moodie backflipped: "=#FF0000Well, no, I'm absolutely convinced it won't. www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/m ... 5857395321

Rugby Union got shot of Waldron pretty sharpish too: www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010 ... ugbyleague Quality statement from Melbourne's chairman: "There's =#FF0000a possibility the club might fold but we have strong support from News Limited who wants to keep rugby league alive and well in Victoria and has indicated they will help the club rebuild. Pressed again was there a possibility the club could fold, Moodie backflipped: "=#FF0000Well, no, I'm absolutely convinced it won't. www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/m ... 5857395321

Quote ="BrisbaneRhino"From what I've read (not a lot) it does seem that the players were very much aware of what was going on - apparently the auditors discovered offer letters which detailed offers to some players considerably higher than their actual 'payments' as reported to the NRL. Given the extent to which the club's been hit, I think some form of punishment for the players involved is also warranted. I want to keep them in the game, but I'd ban them from rep football this season - i.e. Origin.'" Or maybe not according to the Storm's Chairman (who by all accounts was in the dark)... Quote Dr Moodie said he was confident that the players were not involved or did not have knowledge of the deception. The head of the Rugby League Players Association, David Garnsey, said he expected some would walk out. ''With what Melbourne as a club, the administration, has done you could imagine a player with a principled outlook saying 'I don't want to be a part of this club','' he said. The players themselves went to ground last night - with the team marching off a shortened training session to be told of the NRL's punishment. ''It is disappointing for everyone,'' five-eighth Brett Finch said. A club source said the players, most of whom sport premiership tattoos, were devastated, with tears and anger flowing in equal measure.'" Source: www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... -tg08.html [size=85(Melbourne based tattoo removal clinics might be the big winners in this)[/size

Quote ="BrisbaneRhino"From what I've read (not a lot) it does seem that the players were very much aware of what was going on - apparently the auditors discovered offer letters which detailed offers to some players considerably higher than their actual 'payments' as reported to the NRL. Given the extent to which the club's been hit, I think some form of punishment for the players involved is also warranted. I want to keep them in the game, but I'd ban them from rep football this season - i.e. Origin.'" Or maybe not according to the Storm's Chairman (who by all accounts was in the dark)... Quote Dr Moodie said he was confident that the players were not involved or did not have knowledge of the deception. The head of the Rugby League Players Association, David Garnsey, said he expected some would walk out. ''With what Melbourne as a club, the administration, has done you could imagine a player with a principled outlook saying 'I don't want to be a part of this club','' he said. The players themselves went to ground last night - with the team marching off a shortened training session to be told of the NRL's punishment. ''It is disappointing for everyone,'' five-eighth Brett Finch said. A club source said the players, most of whom sport premiership tattoos, were devastated, with tears and anger flowing in equal measure.'" Source: www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... -tg08.html [size=85(Melbourne based tattoo removal clinics might be the big winners in this)[/size

I don't think they did - Waldron appears to be a career sports executive - there's talk his previous Aussie Rules club (St Kilda) could also get hit (some bookies have suspended betting on the AFL wooden spoon). Not sure he's had enough time to cheat at Melbourne Reds yet.

Quote ="tvoc"Dave Hadfield: [iThe £50,000 prize money is a slightly different matter; the Rugby League's board of directors will discuss the matter at its next meeting, but the money is more likely to be divided among Super League clubs than handed directly to Leeds.[/i www.independent.co.uk/sport/gene ... 51742.html'" I can't understand that, I don't see what the WCC has to do with anybody this year other than Leeds and the Storm?

Quote ="tvoc"Dave Hadfield: [iThe £50,000 prize money is a slightly different matter; the Rugby League's board of directors will discuss the matter at its next meeting, but the money is more likely to be divided among Super League clubs than handed directly to Leeds.[/i www.independent.co.uk/sport/gene ... 51742.html'" I can't understand that, I don't see what the WCC has to do with anybody this year other than Leeds and the Storm?

I agree. The other SL clubs didn't earn the right to play for the money so shouldnt receive any of it.

FWIW I think the money should go back to who ever put it forward.

I for one hope that if the storm are offloading players, the english teams look at bringing Gareth Widdop home.

Wont that be the sponsors? who have already had their advertising from the game.

So be it.

Although i put it in a rather convoluted way in a previous post its now apparent in the aussie media that they realise the storm must have to play with a legal salary cap squad this year too.Cuts are admitted to be forthcoming.
taxman acknowledging situation but not yet actively involved is what i read.

Are there possible criminal consequences here?

Interesting, with most clubs being up to their salary cap limit who'll want to take the extra players on?

It depends and of course Aussie laws could be different. I assume that certain individuals could be guilty of false accounting. Then there is the whole issue of tax from corporate down to players personal tax liabilities, has it been paid correctly, has it been avoided, have the paid less overall by using two set of accounts?

This is going to rumble on for some time and players could find themselves implicated but it could be that this deception has been very tightly controlled by only a handful of people and players/agents may not have been complicit to the fraud. In some ways, if they have managed to keep this deception secret for 5 seasons, then as much as it does sound odd that players were not aware of this double accounting system I am starting to think they might not have known anything. The less people that know the less chance there is of being caught! Lets say a player knew (even if just half a story) and then fell out with the club/players... lets face it, it happens quite often, what would be the first thing he would do! Blow the whistle of course!

This could just be a small handful of people at the club who have managed to fool everyone for quite a long time!

French rugby union would be my guess. I'd be amazed if Toulon weren't on the phone already given that half of their 3/4 line is already made up of ex NRL players.

There isn't the money in either the NRL or Super League to start attracting the likes of Billy Slater or Greg Inglis - certainly not this season and I'd say probably not next season either. There also the issue that if criminal charges do follow from this, some players may well have trouble getting into the UK at all given previous examples.

I can see the game losing some outstanding talent to the other code very shortly.