As always in Rugby League, when bad something happens, its a crisis. We might as well stop playing the game all together and spend the rest of our likes throwing our arms in the air…
With the Sharks facing some serious, troubling allegations that some are suggesting could see a number of players banned from the game for an extended period of time, there were people willing to tell you that the Sharks may have to withdraw from the 2013 NRL season.
That would never be allowed to happen. Do you want to know why?
The National Rugby League will make around $300 million this year alone on deals that it has signed with various broadcasters that provides them with a 16 team competition. That will gives broadcasters 8 games per weekend on which they have already sold advertising and in some cases subscriptions. There are penalties built into contracts like this if the NRL, for what ever reason, can’t fulfill their end of the deal. There is an actual dollar figure attached to it.
Simply put, the amount of money the NRL would lose by the loss of just one game every weekend would far outweigh how much it would cost to make sure the Sharks could take the field. Even if the NRL had to give the Sharks salary cap relief for players suspended and then give them money to the clubs to draft in talent from feeder competitions such as the NSW and QLD Cup, New Zealand and Super League…it would still cost far less than losing that one game to broadcasters.
We saw with South Sydney that if you sit out a season or two, the road back to becoming a decent football team again is a long one. The Bunnies were lucky, that had rich backers and heavy hitters in the game pushing for them to return to their glory days. For the Sharks, a team that has to battle every season to keep afloat, they would never recover from having to stand down from the NRL for a season.
There are plenty of decent talent out there to fill the positions the Sharks may have to fill this season. Sure they might not be elite talent, but the game is filled with youngsters just waiting for their opportunity to shine on the big stage. The biggest issue would be how the NRL and the Sharks handle the salary cap.
Normally when a player is suspended for drug use, their playing contract is torn up. There are suggestions in this case that the Sharks will honor player contracts, which means they wouldn’t be able to buy any players to bring into their lineup this season. That would make things very difficult for the club. They would have to rely solely on their own local juniors and that is a big ask. That may still cause them salary cap issues just from match payments.
The NRL has always held the salary cap as untouchable. Something not to be fiddled with. I can not see the NRL allowing the Sharks any special salary cap relief to bolster their side during this tough time.
I’ve have held back from writing about what is going on at the Sharks because most of what we know is just rumour. No one knows how this is going to play out. Players may get suspended, players may not get suspended. No one honestly knows! One thing we do know for certain is that the Sharks will not be allowed for forfeit a single match. It would just cost the game far too much money to allow that to happen.
