Although Wigan have form in breeching the Salary Cap, this is hardly crime of the century.
It's more surprising that they didn't manage to "bury" the overspend somewhere in their accounts.

£14,700 on a salary cop of £1.9 million, less than 1%

The time when they should have been properly dealt with has long since gone and they'll probably appeal (again) and end up getting 2 points start, citing some obscure rule that nobody else knew about.

Its described as a technical breach rather than an attempt to cheat, 2 points still seems lenient, but it is different than the Salford situation which was an attempt to get round the cap full stop and was a far bigger figure. i would like to think they now are scrutinized more for the next couple of years and a much harsher punishment if it happens again. the fine should have been at least as much as they over spent, and 2 points the following season is hardly a deterrent. if it was 2 points last year fair enough but the following season 6 seems more appropriate and a bigger deterrent.

The 2 points will be handed back once Wigan have appealed. This is the RFL we are talking about after all.

So you think a 2 point deduction is appropriate for a less than 1% technical breach (one that didnt go on players salaries etc)?

Well said....can't stand cheats !

Is it just me that finds it strange that "agents fees and a flight allowance" are considered part of the salary cap?

Yes, although I'd expect that whoever is in charge if the financial details at Wigan would know this.

Dont buy Wigans excuses and reasons, if you are over you are over, it shouldn't how much and a percentage it is, plus they say they didn't get any advantage as they lost all there games in that period, again this is ittelvent to the situtaion.

Any salary cap breach should come with a points deduction, otherwise there is no punishment, a £2500 is loose change to Wigan.

once a cheat....

Guess this relates to the Burgess and Leuluai signings, they must have flown business class! Put them in coach next time!

I don't know why people still bother with the salary cap, here at Warrington we've opted out for quite a few years now.

Every season

Any more of this and ol' Lenners will be wishing he'd never taken on the might of the RFL. No world cup games, now this...
more popcorn, I think...

Rubbish its Wigan

I’m not too bothered about the amount Wigan are over, it’s a marginal figure. It’s the attempt to conceal it initially that’s the problem for me.

Lenagan can pretend it’s merely an administrative mistake all he wants but he’s talking utter tosh. Of course agents fees and flight costs are part of the cap. In the same way as if a club sponsor pays a player that’s counted on the cap.

Basically Wigan knew they were over but tried to hide it. 2 points deduction more than warranted. A fine for going over the salary cap makes the cap utterly irrelevant. A points deduction is the only punishment that has any impact.

likely get the 2 points back once they have appealed



anyway great timing by the rfl day before the first game of the season?!

A breach of 0.8% is hardly going to distort the competition, how the RFL describe that as a "serious" breach is mystifying.

Isn't the this the third salary cap offence for Wigan (not including their original dispensation)? What is it about the salary cap that they and Lenaghan have such difficulty with?

The Wigan statement is the typical pompous, arrogant statement that we've come to expect. People aren't stupid enough to need to have it spelled out that 100.8 is less than 101, so why mention it? A breach is a breach, it's a stupid breach and they tried to conceal it.

Not sure if Wigan have more money than sense,or it’s just arrogance.

Ha ha - I followed a Facebook link when I first saw the story. Should have checked it with a more reputable news outlet!

Can I share your popcorn please, it is going to be a long sanctimonious thread?

Yeah £15k, really splashing it about aren't we...

Cheating gets. Biggest name in RL they promote themselves as. hmmm repeated cheating is all they excel in.

Now I'm all for Wigan getting the worst possible treatment, and I must say, it made me chuckle when I was first reading the RFL statement this morning. Any bad news for Wigan is generally good news to me as a Leeds fan.

But jeez, it's £14k - feels like a massive over reaction from the RFL to me. I'd envisage they'll get their points back on appeal, and rightly so really. I can only think their previous indiscretions and Lennegan being a bit of a throbber have played against them.

As others have stated, the real shame is that this will now take the headlines, when both Super league and the club's alongside the RLWC team seem to have done a lot better than ever with their marketing in this last couple of weeks.

Feels like a massive own goal from the RFL in terms of timing, their apparent bodging of their own procedures and the over the top punishment, and a bit of an amateurish mess up by Wigan (and attempt to hide it). Sorry state of affairs when everything was building nicely for the season launch.

To all the people saying it's 'only' £15,000 so they should get the points back. what's the point in having a salary cap at all then?

Everyone has the same cap, it's fixed. Going over it is cheating. Every other team in Super League stuck to it, so getting away with it would send completely the wrong message.

They say it's because of flights and agents, but I could equally argue that the £15,000 they used for that was actually in the first million spent, and this overspend was Sam Tomkins wages - it's a pot of cash that all player costs come out of and once you go over that you don't get to be the ones who define how or why.

Leeds had an injury crisis last year, why didn't we just go £15,000 over the cap to get someone in on a short term deal? Apparently having injuries is a good enough excuse to cheat and according to some shouldn't come with any real consequences.

I find Cas getting salary cap relief and then not using for what it's for more of cheating scandal then a systematic error.