Bearfax
Grizzly old fart
I'm watching with much interest some of the deals made by clubs such as Sydney City and more recently Brisbane and wonder if many of their deals are heavily supplemented by 3rd party agreements. Sydney City apparently has not had to lose one of their premiership group and are still looking to supplement their squad. And I just read of a fully paid trip to the USA for 'team bonding' purposes. Brisbane are scooping up the cream of younger star players including Barba and Milford, while they negotiate for Cherry-Evans on the sly and are making a play for Cameron Smith and Karmichael Hunt. That's despite the fact that they had an almost full salary cap this year and have not lost many players.
I can only assume that the Third Party rule is being rorted by the wealthier clubs giving them almost unlimited monies to procure the best players around. Some clubs of course who have strong corporate interest can easily hide any association with the club to gain accreditation as a third party participant. Smaller clubs of course dont have that advantage.
Surely this is not what the salary cap was meant to do. I have been a strong opponent of the salary cap alone system without some definite value given to players at different levels of worth or a draft system which I realise has its own problems. But if this 3rd party system isnt carefully monitored, wealthier teams will again dominate the league year after year.
I can only assume that the Third Party rule is being rorted by the wealthier clubs giving them almost unlimited monies to procure the best players around. Some clubs of course who have strong corporate interest can easily hide any association with the club to gain accreditation as a third party participant. Smaller clubs of course dont have that advantage.
Surely this is not what the salary cap was meant to do. I have been a strong opponent of the salary cap alone system without some definite value given to players at different levels of worth or a draft system which I realise has its own problems. But if this 3rd party system isnt carefully monitored, wealthier teams will again dominate the league year after year.