TPA's to be examined.

[Thelmus]

Im not convinced there is anything close to picking up all the shananigans that go on with the salary cap. Best you can hope for is that the bottom feeder clubs occasionally get a shot once in a while.
The broncos have huge advantages that go way beyond the salary cap anyway. They are professionally run and one of the most solvent of all, in the richest league club. They have a tradition of not just getting the best out of footballer, but leaving them better players, even when they leave the club. Players who crack it in first grade, usually go onto higher honours. They have access to the best coach in the country, with a proven track record.
Then there is the fact they have access almost without competition to the fans of a whole capital city and with it, the juniors that play in it. At best they might have to compete with the better run clubs like the storm. But, serously, if two clubs look on par with their offers, but one is in your home city, which one would you choose.
Canberra has that to a point, but with a much smaller market, as does the likes of the cowboys and warriors.
They are things no salary cap can cover nor should they. As for 3rd party agreements, however they structure it, the bigger clubs with bigger fan bases will have the advantage.

 

[Astro]

Its one thing to have a totally separate sponsorship with say nike or whomever and another thing to have TPA's with the meat supplier to your leagues club or in the broncos case a thoroughbred business.

If the NRL ran a proper cap like in the american leagues, where everything was transparent then whatever success any clubs get it looks a lot cleaner.

As it stands, the storm, broncos, manly* dogs and chooks, arent really going to garner as much respect as otherwise from the rugby league community when they have such advantages...

* not that manly would ever get any anyways

Every club can find advantages if they put the right people in charge.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Melbourne, Brisbane, Penrith the biggest third party agreement spenders in the NRL

IN a landmark change, the NRL is considering revealing what clubs spend on third parties each year in a bid to kill off the damaging whispers that give rise to suspicions of salary cap rorting.
NRL chief operating officer Nick Weeks has admitted the current system is no longer acceptable.
The two options currently being considered are to anonymously reveal what each club receives in third parties by simply labelling them Club A, Club B and so on, or revealing what each club is actually receiving in third party agreements.
Only one is acceptable.
What eventually gets agreed upon by the clubs and the RLPA will depend on how mature they can be in the conversation.
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Weeks has admitted the current system needs to be changed.
“What we have done,” Weeks said, “is we have agreed with our clubs to have a discussion about that and we need to engage the players association in that as well.
“There is a lot of misinformation around about third party agreements.”
A working party of NRL chief executives will form next week to discuss changes to the current system.
As part of its information gathering, the NRL disclosed to certain sections of media how much is being spent in legal third parties. It was a mature decision designed to correct the often damaging narrative around third parties.
But the secret is out.
For years the game has pedalled the line that the salary cap and produces parity across the competition.
That was supported in Monday’s presentation, which included the statistic that, since 2000, 75 per cent of NRL teams have won the premiership (the four who haven’t are Gold Coast, Parramatta, Canberra and Warriors).
“That’s significantly higher than any other league around the world,” Weeks said.
In the same time frame just 50 per cent of the competition has won the Super Rugby title, 56 per cent have won the AFL flag, 34 per cent have won the Super Bowl, 40 per cent the major league baseball pennant, 27 the NBA championship and a mere 25 per cent the English Premier League.
It reflects well for the NRL.
Last season, $3.76 million was paid to 93 players across the NRL in arm’s length third party agreements. The great majority — 77 players — were Origin level or other tier one internationals, already among their clubs best earners.
The NRL would not reveal each club’s spend, which averaged to $235,000 each club.
It is known Melbourne Storm benefited most. Storm players earned an extra $788,000 in third parties.

Melbourne were the biggest third party spenders last season.
Brisbane was next, more than $200,000 below Melbourne but still commanding more than half a million dollars in third party income. Penrith was third, also benefiting by more than half a million dollars paid to its players in third parties.
The other club significantly above the average last season was Manly, spending more than $300,000.
The bottom club, St George Illawarra, got only a small third party benefit, receiving $26,000 in extra income.
Third parties are the ugly rebuttal in the NRL’s claim of competition parity.
While 75 per cent of the competition might have won a grand final since 2000, a lesser known fact is that of the 18 grand finals played, 15 have featured either the game’s top two third party spenders, and Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as Sydney Roosters.
Is that merely a quirk, or competitive advantage? Clearly the old sell, that the competition is a level playing field, no longer works.

The Dragons spent the least in terms of third party agreements.
While some clubs will be reluctant to release their spending advantage the difference in total salaries has real world impact that few fully consider.
For example, in the first five rounds beginning next month Ivan Cleary’s Wests Tigers face Melbourne twice and Brisbane, ranked one and two and third party spending, as well as Parramatta and the Sydney Roosters.
The Tigers could conceivably be 0-5 based on roster strength, a position that could naturally lead to fans questioning their season prospects and to begin theorising whether Cleary’s recruitment was any good, whether he can coach at all, whether the players can play.
In an industry where job security is impossible, the disparity could decide careers.
Tigers fans should know their club is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars less than their opponents. Cleary and other coaches in similar positions, like the Dragons Paul McGregor, should be afforded a sympathetic hearing before judgment is applied.

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That extra $788,000 that Melbourne has to spend nearly equates to a marquee player. It is the difference between having a Jesse Bromwich or Cameron Munster in your side, or not.
Trying to argue that clubs should get off their backsides and generate more third party deals, as some suggest, is ridiculous.
Firstly, it is illegal for clubs to generate these third parties.
More importantly, it gives no thought to the different commercial realities of each market.
Sydney has nine clubs to split among its population of five million, Melbourne and Brisbane are the lone NRL teams in cities of 4.7 and 2.3 million respectively.
All dwarf the likes of Newcastle (436,000), Canberra (435,000) and Townsville (178,000). And add to that the competition for sponsorships from other sporting codes, which differ with each city, and the commercial realities for each club emerge significantly different.
It is impossible for all to be the same and, really, for all to be considered the same.

Paul Kent in the Daily Telegraph.

 

[tommy]

Am very, very surprised Melbourne have the most and Roosters didn't even get a mention.

 

[Alec]

Am very, very surprised Melbourne have the most and Roosters didn't even get a mention.

Yeah, you'd think the Roosters would at least try a TPA excuse to cover up the rorting.

 

[1910]

Am very, very surprised Melbourne have the most and Roosters didn't even get a mention.

Melbourne would have the most because they had three big names with good managers who can source deals. Just a deal with Smith would be huge.

Who at the Roosters would you chase if you were a business?

 

[Nashy]

Am very, very surprised Melbourne have the most and Roosters didn't even get a mention.

Shhhh. They want to deflect attention off their favorite Sydney club.

 

[mitch222]

Am very, very surprised Melbourne have the most and Roosters didn't even get a mention.

Those figures are completely fabricated. Kent would have no fucking idea what third parties the clubs have got. Just pure gutter journalism with no real facts attached to it. Its equilivalent to us sitting around the camp fire making up players salaries.

 

[tommy]

Melbourne would have the most because they had three big names with good managers who can source deals. Just a deal with Smith would be huge.

Who at the Roosters would you chase if you were a business?

It's not necessarily about the business chasing them, the player doesn't even have to do any extra work like advertising for the money in some cases if I'm not mistaken, they just collect it. Politis would have dozens of rich business associates he could call on for top ups who he could ensure get a good deal in some business deal in return. Hell if there's a horny rich grandma in Manly that doesn't mind throwing the team 50k a year surely there'd be a few in Bondi too.

 

[1910]

It's not necessarily about the business chasing them, the player doesn't even have to do any extra work like advertising for the money in some cases if I'm not mistaken, they just collect it. Politis would have dozens of rich business associates he could call on for top ups who he could ensure get a good deal in some business deal in return. Hell if there's a horny rich grandma in Manly that doesn't mind throwing the team 50k a year surely there'd be a few in Bondi too.

The manager or player has to source them to be arms length deals. Slater and Smith are much more desirable for promotions and have deals with bananas, Nike, and VB that would all pump up that Storm figure.

Roosters don't have anyone that could compete with those two or three when Cronk was there.

 

[Morkel]

The manager or player has to source them to be arms length deals.

Ha. Haha. Hahhahahahahahhaahhaha. You almost kept a straight face there.

And yet we so often hear about contract negotiations being held up due to third party arrangements etc.

It's a farce.

 

[Browny]

Shit Brisbane Airport use Cam Smith in their latest campaign

 

[1910]

Ha. Haha. Hahhahahahahahhaahhaha. You almost kept a straight face there.

And yet we so often hear about contract negotiations being held up due to third party arrangements etc.

It's a farce.

That could be a lot of things, NRL verifying the third party and if it should be on the cap, manager sourcing the payment and deal, club sourcing the payment and deal.

 

[Old Mate]

Shit Brisbane Airport use Cam Smith in their latest campaign

We’re probably paying a bunch of his salary just to top him off.

 

[talanoa]

Ha. Haha. Hahhahahahahahhaahhaha. You almost kept a straight face there.

And yet we so often hear about contract negotiations being held up due to third party arrangements etc.

It's a farce.

i agree 100%, this whole thing about the managers sourcing their own deals is hilarious.
the club big boys - and this is at all clubs have the best contacts and relationships with the corporate world so a quick call or intro would be easy to arrange.
i think the whole tpa issue is a gee up, the bigger concern should still be around the brown paper bags in the maccas car parks but too many dirty hands connected for this to ever be front and centre.

 

[cakeGG]

Funny how Nth Qld and the Roosters don't get a mention......