NEWS Badel: Real reason Croft left Melbourne

I don't think it's salary cap issues in regards to the Storm being over the cap but the system is not set up to support this swap, The contracts have to be terminated and new one year deals signed and then revert back to their old deals for 21 and 22. I would assume Momirovski and Grant are on similar size deals so you're not outlaying more.

The money for the one year deals have to be the same, I think the problem is making sure it's flawless and if it becomes a regular thing then there are no issues or problems in the future.

I think Gardham is being very cautious.
I could be totally wrong, but I don't see how Momirovski and Grant can be on the same money?

I accept they probably aren't leagues apart, but Grant has played two games in two years and he's at Melbourne, a club who have a history of paying their top players and NRL squad well, but running very tight contracts outside of that, and Momirovski was picked up by the Tigers, a club who notoriously overpay for players and he's been a regular part of their NRL setup. He was part of the Roosters finals campaign in 2018 and I just can't see how the Tigers picked him up without putting some decent money on the table?

I'm obviously only speculating, but if Grant was on somewhere around the basement price, Momirovski could easily be on more than double the basement rate now?
 
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Grant is a hugely promising rookie while Momo is avg at best IMO.

Sure but that doesn't really have a bearing on the financial argument. Moorooski is an NRL regular basically and Grant is an unproven, albeit highly talented, depth player.
 
Why? Plenty of promising rookies are on surprising salaries. Jayden Nikorima?

Is Grant that highly rated though? JNik had the double whammy of having played really well as an underager in the 20s comp AND being a Broncos junior when he was poached. I am not sure Grant has ever really been that highly rated.

Again, don't get me wrong, you could well and truly be right but Moomoo came from the Roosters system and from memory, did have some multiple interests in him when he signed with the Tigers.

Regardless, it really shows that the Storm may have mismanaged their cap once again but not at least not necessarily by cheating.
 
If Grant were at any other club the point might hold weight, but given the rest of the Melbourne roster during his time there, it's virtually impossible that he could be on anything that was very far above the minimum wage.

He is obviously a real talent, but in the context of their squad he is a contingency option at best until Smith decides to retire, it seems pretty unlikely Melbourne would have allocated much of their salary cap to a player in that position.
 
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While this makes sense, I can see the storm over-investing in the hooker position with the fear of losing Smith very soon.
It's possible, but they do have Brandon Smith on the books too if the situation really blew up.

Obviously we can't say for sure on any of this so it's just speculation, but objectively I'm sure most would accept that when it comes to who is paid more, Momirovski, a guy who was recently recruited by a notorious over payer in the Tigers to slot into their NRL setup, is pretty likely to be earning more money than Harry Grant, a guy who is biding his time not playing NRL and isn't in their first grade plans right now, at Melbourne, a club which is notoriously quite top heavy when it comes to player payment distribution across their squad.
 
Isn't this pretty much what has happened with Kahu?

Kahu's contract wasn't void and then a new one created, Cowboys just took a year with options. But Kahu's situation is as close as the NRL have come to this happening.
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It's possible, but they do have Brandon Smith on the books too if the situation really blew up.

Obviously we can't say for sure on any of this so it's just speculation, but objectively I'm sure most would accept that when it comes to who is paid more, Momirovski, a guy who was recently recruited by a notorious over payer in the Tigers to slot into their NRL setup, is pretty likely to be earning more money than Harry Grant, a guy who is biding his time not playing NRL and isn't in their first grade plans right now, at Melbourne, a club which is notoriously quite top heavy when it comes to player payment distribution across their squad.

Grant signed a new deal last year for three years, would you really sign a new deal for three years and still be on base money? I would have thought with Smith retiring within that three years a chance you become the NRL hooker and it's your second deal you'd be getting it upped.

Also It wouldn't be a great decision for the swap to cost you money- you have to take on the Tigers deal and if it's more than you're paying Grant are you going to over invest in a player you don't keep and might not even play for you and might play for the Coast.

I would only do it if it was the same money, you're adding depth for 12 months and getting Grant some NRL- that shouldn't cost me money.
 
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Croft looks like darius with his hair cut.
 

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