Salary Cap changes

[DIEHARD]

NRL: Radical salary cap proposal mooted to stop drain

The NRL is considering assisting clubs to recruit players from outside the competition - even if they can't fit them in their salary cap.

While the radical proposal would not have helped South Sydney retain Sam Burgess, it would have prevented Israel Folau being lost to rugby union after Parramatta were unable to accommodate him in their salary cap.

The idea was one of nine possible changes to salary cap rules discussed at last Friday's meeting of NRL club bosses in Auckland, which also included:

❏ Centrally contracting big-name players through ''ambassador'' payments from the NRL;

❏ Including transfer fees, such as the $300,000 Brisbane paid Canterbury to release fullback Ben Barba, in the cap;

❏ Rolling the existing marquee player allowance into an increased salary cap;

❏ Clubs putting up a $10,000 bond to appeal salary cap rulings and a further $30,000 bond to take the issue to a hearing;

❏ Lifting the second-tier salary cap to $440,000 to avoid situations such as Luke Brooks and Matt Moylan being prevented from playing NRL last year; and,

❏ Extending the long-serving player allowance to include those who had played six years with a club.

Folau and fellow AFL defector Karmichael Hunt would be obvious targets, along with members of the All Blacks, England and Wales rugby union teams, if clubs were given salary cap dispensation for signing players from outside the NRL.

However, there is a fear clubs would also raid Super League for more talent like Burgess, Sam Tomkins and James Graham.

With many in the game forced to cringe every time Folau runs out for the Wallabies, former Queensland deputy premier and treasurer Andrew Fraser - a consultant to the NRL on salary cap reform - has proposed changes to ensure such a situation does not occur again.

Sydney Roosters would have also been able to secure Sonny Bill Williams without going through all the hurdles that resulted in the club being fined after signing him on an eight-month contract NRL salary cap auditor Ian Schubert refused to register until just days before his first game last season.

Fairfax Media was told that no one from the NRL would discuss the proposed salary cap changes but several bosses said there had been a lengthy discussion last Friday about assisting clubs to sign big-name stars from outside the game that they could not fit under their cap.

Under Fraser's proposal, a club in the situation that Parramatta faced when Folau quit GWS Giants would go to the NRL, who would effectively put his contract out to tender to other clubs. If another club had more room under their cap they could then forward an offer but if the player only wanted to live in Sydney or insisted on joining a certain club it would then be up to NRL chief executive Dave Smith to decide whether to allow the club to exceed the cap.

The NRL could also assist clubs to sign players from outside the game by offering them an ''ambassador'' payment but Fairfax Media was told only one or two players were likely to be offered such a role and they would have to be considered able to assist the profile of the code. While most clubs are opposed to the idea, those Fairfax Media spoke to praised Fraser for being prepared to table such a proposal for debate before next Monday's annual general meeting.

Clubs were also pleased there would now be a formal appeals process for salary cap rulings, although they will forfeit their bond if unsuccessful. However, Schubert cautioned against dramatic changes to the system he ruled over for 16 years.

''It's not necessarily what you want to change but what happens further down the line,'' Schubert told AAP at the NSWRL's Hogs for the Homeless launch on Thursday. ''The richer clubs can get further away and whilst you don't want to hold them back, you are trying to bring the others up, there is a certain point at which that turns and then it does favour the richer clubs.

''But there has been a big review gone on the last 12 to 18 months - what comes out of that I'm not too sure but the bottom line was it wasn't too far broken. Of course the thing to consider if you do make change is the flow-on effect.

''The even competition was one of the goals we set out to achieve and we probably did that better than what we thought we might have at the outset. It was an integral part of it.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...#ixzz2tswUUjiQ

[kioli]

Wow, sound like pretty big changes...