Storm been stripped of premierships

[camsmith]

Wrong it is strong NRL leadership. It took 3 years because of the systematic and deliberate attempts by the Storm to hide it.

The 5 years of cheating mean player retention beyond what is normally possible got them those titles.

Fully applaud the NRL leadership for this decisive action.

That is what is odd about this... every year we're losing heaps of players... where has the money gone??

 

[AG]

So what actually happens now re: the premierships. Does the runner up now get named the premier, or will 2007 and 2009 stand as a N/A in the history books?

Stand as N/A.

Massive story. Stupid considering it was only 1.7m over 5 years and they kept the books in a room on the premises.

The new stadium will save them from being KO'd.

 

[Fayed]

Storm should forfeit every single game for the rest of the year. Simple No-Show. Can't score points, so what's it matter. That way the NRL lose out and don't get any money...

 

[strategy]

Legal action pending by Storm i presume.
This is madness by rugby bosses.

What would happen if Essendon and Carlton and other teams that rorted the system had this done to them by the AFL????

Storm are not the FIRST to RORT the system but the FIRST to lose premierships ..crazy and a bias decision by the bosses of the league re premierships

 

[Claude Balls]

Fully applaud the NRL leadership for this decisive action.

Of course you do, you live in Sydney.

I hardly follow Rugby League, and can't say that I'll dwell on this for more than few moments, but surely you can't tamper with history?

Who are the premiers for 2007 and 2009 now?

 

[keeno 111]

So what actually happens now re: the premierships. Does the runner up now get named the premier, or will 2007 and 2009 stand as a N/A in the history books?

From what i understand from the press confrence N/A.

 

[Ricksta13]

I wonder if many of the players will end up in the new Super 14's team!

I wonder if any of the players will end up in GC17 or GWS

AFL will always be > NRL

 

[Rough_Edges]

I cannot leave this :|

I don't give a stuff about NRL or The Storm but this is just unthinkable. Trying to compare it to how i'd feel as a Saints fan.

this is massive.
surely the storm won't be in the NRL next year>

 

[AndSmithMustScore]

I assume there will be alot of pissed of irrate players down that way.

The new Melbourne Rugby Union team should step in and offer Storms stars nice big juicy contracts and steal them away from league.

In fact they could just sign all the Storm players and **** the NRL over right good and proper.

 

[duffman324]

Pissed their league up the wall. Now AFL fans can laugh. Have fun getting 2 people to the home games of your biggets club. Biased bastards!

 

[Final Siren]

Good news for AFL.

 

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

Is this the biggest news in Australian sporting history? Seriously, I'm absolutely ****ing stunned without following NRL or Melbourne Storm whatsoever.

 

[HBK619]

I just hope that this punishment has been well thought out.

What exactly happens now. Do the Melbourne players still play out the rest of the season knowing they can't "win" a game? Do the Melbourne players actually stay at the club despite these breaches or do they have to wait until transfer periods and such? And can Melbourne Storm actually survive such a massive hit.

I think this is a HUGE penalty. I think to some extent there is justification for penalties, but this seems to have gone way too far. There's a fair amount of reasons why Melbourne did break the Salary Cap and players have been speaking of this for years and years and is why there's such a high rate now of players leaving NRL for either other sports or RL overseas for much, much more money. Of course rorting the Salary Cap wasn't the right thing to do in the least, but doesn't it send a fair ****en message?!?

IMO a penalty of the $1.6mil fine (or somewhere around $2mil maybe) and docking them all points for this season and remaining matches would've been enough of a hit. Taking away Premierships really tarnishes the NRL as a brand anyway as in the history books we'll look back and see nothing in the 2007 and 2009 premiership winners spots, which just looks stupid.

I wish I could watch this play out though as it certainly is interesting.

 

[Phone]

I hardly follow Rugby League, and can't say that I'll dwell on this for more than few moments, but surely you can't tamper with history?

If you tamper with the salary cap the way Melbourne is said to have, you can and should.

 

[BarryG]

So am i right in saying,

News limited Owns the NRL, news limited owns the Melbourne Storm, news limited owns the media that profit from such news events.

Hmmm.

 

[Ando727]

Good news for AFL.

Hardly. NRL was never a threat to the AFL. It's a really sad day for a lot of people. Have a think about it from that perspective.

 

[danny!!]

I have a feeling Brian Waldron had something to do with this. He signed up for the Storm as CEO 5 years ago, hey look at that 5 years of rorting.

He pisses off to become the CEO of the Melbourne Rebels, and look at that, as soon as he does the story comes out and the crap hits the fan.

I have a weird feeling this is an attack on Rugby League by Rugby Union... But if so the NRL wouldn't put things in place to have killed the storm. RIP.

 

[XFactor1979]

hey this is better than the way the afl brushed the salary cap rorting carlton with a feather

or teams getting away wearing clashing jumpers on the field

 

[Itsmyshow]

I dont understand the reasoning behind the decision to strip all points for 2010 and make the Storm unable to accrue points for the remainder of the season, should they just forfiet the rest of the season, because in professional sport it is about the winning, there is no way players will be able to provide competitive competition knowing that no matter the result, they will sit at the bottom of the table for the remainder of the year. Its pointless and ridiculous... Irrelevant of who it is that did this.. Stripping previous premierships is one thing, but making the entire club irrelevant for the remainder of the season is a joke.. Who would attend the games knowing that winning means nothing????

 

[SJ]

Oh my. Biggest sports story in Australian history? Would be up there. I am in shock.

 

[aidancdaman]

From what i understand from the press confrence N/A.

N/A have won more premierships than the Sharks .

I hope the NRL make an example of them, and suspend their license for a few years. This kind of cheating must not be tolerated.

 

[garethb83]

Legal action pending by Storm i presume.
This is madness by rugby bosses.

What would happen if Essendon and Carlton and other teams that rorted the system had this done to them by the AFL????

Nope, no legal action.

They confessed to the whole thing once they realised the NRL had uncovered it. They also accepted the penalty (like they had any real choice).

This is huge. Karma is a beautiful thing sometimes.

Melbourne Rebels will be looking for a new CEO tomorrow.

 

[Histrionics]

****ing joke of a competition. Ran by absolute *****.

If they truely wanted to succeed in Melbourne they would have found another way to deal with this.

Not a massive fan of the sport but this is ridiculous.

 

[arakaan]

Hardly.

I understand cheating is cheating, you cannot argue though that anything in payment had a positive correlation for winning premierships.

It does if it means you keep 1 or 2 stars you should not be able to have under the cap.

I'm sorry but no sympathy.

 

[Primetime Pricey]

Sucked in cheating scum!!!

Carn Raiders!!!