Opinion: Rugby league only has one problem – but it’s a bloody big one | Malcolm Knox
. Few seem to notice the bleeding obvious, which is that the blowouts became routine once top teams were allowed to pillage the lower teams for their talent.
Why fix it? There could be an argument in favour of inequality. Why shouldn’t outstanding clubs be further rewarded for their excellence? Brandon Smith is going to the Roosters next yearthan he could take at the Dolphins. If he’s already earning more than $500,000, an extra two hunjie is a reasonable trade-off for a premiership ring.
There is a solution: an independent, points-based rating of players, cut free from the actual salaries they earn. Do what you want with money, but each club can only spend a certain number of points on its top 25 players. To manage the change, allow each to reserve half a dozen marquee players currently on their books and then have an open auction for the rest.
The fundamental unfairness perpetuated by the broken salary cap is pretty much the only big thing that’s wrong with the NRL right now. The game’s entertainment value is better than ever, thanks to imaginative coaching, the sublime skills and toughness of the players and some good pragmatic decision-making by V’landys, Andrew Abdo and the administration. On the surface, things are chugging along well.
On the other hand, it’s not much consolation for the other half of the fan population who know, before round one, that their team has no hope because the salary cap has failed in its purpose of spreading talent across the league.You could say the NRL has only one job – to lay out the rules to provide a fair competition and to update and patrol those rules – and it has failed.
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