Deloitte's investigation into the Melbourne Storm

Report should be released today or tomorrow.

Does anyone else see the irony that, and I quote:

* Amid the pending firestorm, Melbourne chairman Rob Moodie flew out for Vienna on Wednesday to attend an AIDS conference;

11am press conference

Not much new info.

13 players were paid outside the cap - 6 current and 7 former.

Breaches much higher than first revealed.

4 independent directors given the arse.

Players knew nuttin.

blah, blah

 

On Fox Sports the conference is on and this is basically what is being said: (im typing as it goes so sorry for mistakes).

- 2007 breach was over 500k

- 2009 breach was over 1mil

- original estimate for 2010 was 700k but it is well over 1m

- There was no alternative but to accept that club will not play for points because the Investigation has confirmed tough penalites are warranted.

- Fans did nothing wrong, family, many employees and many player's did nothing wrong.

- The club engaged in wide ranging and elaborate cheating.

- A small group of senior mangers orchestrated and concealed extra payments, all up
5 manager were directly involved or slightly involvled including, waldren, hanson, gregory, osullivan, vale.

- Only vale cooperated in the investiagtion.

- Main methods used to cheat was paying players in 3rd party agreements through Unity Foundation, some companies in the Mcmanus Group (run by andrew mcmanus), no evidence was found that the unity or mcmanus new they were contributing to the club cheating the club.

- They would pay the players and write invoices saying donations and consulting fee's.

- Other back door payments involved small amounts over a long period and also free flights, gift vouchers, fully maintained cars that werent fully disclosed.

- A total of 13 players, (7 current and 6 past) were involved - NO EVIDENCE FOUND THAT PLAYERS NEW.

- Players were Chamber, Cronk, Geyer, Jhonston, Kafusi, Slater, Smith, Turner, White, Crocker, Hoffman, Inglis, Quin

- No managers or agents new either.

- NOT ONE of the current players agreed to coperate with the investigation!

- Craig Bellamy did cooperate.

- Losses due to this was losses of 14million.

This will really really tell how much of a coach Bellamy is next year.....Lets see what he really has...........

Outside of the big 4, i mean, the team doesnt look like a team where u look at it and go WOW, that is just insane....

The big 4 must be getting paid massive, really massive

The big 4 will be on revised deals totalling about $2.2 million.

So, Melbourne will have to fit another 21 players into $2.1 million.

 Loyalty

 

The thing is Battler, on PAPER, the team doesnt look ridicolously good.....IMO....There are other teams that looked far far superior on PAPER.ie, people trying to say that the Sea Eagles team of 08 was under the cap?

I reckon most clubs are well over it.....except, Sharks (cant afford it), Raider (no one wants to go there) and Dogs (learnt there lesson the hard way)

why would you want to go there if you are a young player?

Get paid rubbish while you're developing, and then get given the arse when you command a bit more money.

A lot of the guys they are cutting are under contract.

I have said it before, the NRL is a laughing stock when compared other organisations in the world. 

What organisation puts in a policy or process in place and relies on whistleblowers to notify them if it is not being followed........I mean WTF...

IMO, the NRL has bigger issues in the game, refs and gambling...That is what is crippling this sport.

Question to Hartigan

"If the players weren't aware of any breaches with their contracts why did they not co-operate with the investigation"

Hartigan " Go and ask them"

It's a joke that the primary beneficiaries of these breaches are not scuitinised further

If I were a young enough player for whom the financial constraints of the Storm weren't really going to be an issue for a while (ie you didn't expect to be commanding big money in your first couple of years in the top grade) I would jump at the chance to kick off my career in Craig Bellamy's system, alongside the likes of Slater, Inglis, Smith and Cronk. 

 

You can really make strong arguments both ways with this one.

I agree, its almost unfathomable to think these players wouldn't pick up on the unorthodox ways in which they were being paid, especially when they have managers who handle / explain all that sort of thing to them.

Having said that though, a huge key to the Storm being able to keep this rorting under wraps for so long would've been to keep knowledge of it to an absolute minimum. If I were one of these administrators cooking the books, there is no chance in hell I'd want 10 or so boof head players being privy to it as well. That would be a recipie for disaster given that guys get on the drink together, go into representative camps with players / officials from other clubs and they all have wives and girlfriends ect who would leak this stuff like a sieve.  

JT, is this the same chicken wing, grapple tackle 'manic frothing at the mouth cockstink guy' who coached melbourne when they knocked Brisbane out of the finals last year?

mate, I know that stuff we see is funny and he's annoying as hell with some of the stuff he says at times but the man is definitely a very high quality coach at club level.

Despite the fact his teams were the equivalent of a 100m sprinter on steroids, the dicipline and intensity and clinical way he programed them to play football was the envy of every other club out there.

And I don't think you'll find a single player that's been at the Storm under his tenure that won't swear by him.

 

 

Not only is Billy the kid a myth he is also a cheat


Ace 2
Cheating myths 0
Billy the myth fans 0

I've always admired his ability to man manage.

Technically though, I think he's a retard.

Without Cronk he'd be fucked.

So the players, much of the board, managers etc were not interviewed, therefore the players are in the clear?

The Storm are allowed to take pay cuts, but Parra couldn't do it to keep Kevin Kingston?
Battler, remember that little name I whispered in your ear?

most coaches / teams are when their marquee #7 is missing

not the case, did you hear gallop talk about this a minute ago ? 

Not the Hayne train my friend



Hayne train don't need a good number 7

no, rory shooting a 63 takes priority

rory me

yeah all Hayney-poos needs is a bowl of ice cream and a cuddle from the coach to stop the tears and sooking

stop embarrasing yourself. Everybody knows Jeff Robson is that team

Without some help from the elements (wind ect) every course on the planet is fair game for these guys. They are THAT good.