The NRL have announced a number of salary cap fines and player punishments during a big press conference on Friday.
Manly have accepted the NRL's decision to stand down centre Dylan Walker until his domestic violence case is resolved, with his next court appearance to come on May 10.
If Walker is found guilty, the NRL have confirmed it is unlikely he will be permitted to return to the league.
The Wests Tigers will be made to play the 2019 season at $320,000 under the cap, for salary cap breaches involving club legend Robbie Farah.
They will also be fined $375,000 for the breach.
However, CEO Justin Pascoe, who was originally deregistered indefinitely for his involvement in the breach, will now be cleared to return in June, after he serves a backdated six-month ban, which began in December.
Tiger Zane Musgrove has been deregistered as he faces an indecent assault charge, which means the Tigers don't need to shed a player.
North Queensland prop Scott Bolton has been handed a five-match suspension after pleading guilty to assaulting a woman in a bar.
Dylan Napa has been fined 10% of his 2019 salary after videos of him surfaced on social media.
Cronulla have been hit with a $250,000 fine and must offload a player to be compliant for the 2019 season.
They will also need to be at least $353,000 under the cap for the next two seasons.
Shane Flanagan will also remain deregistered for an indefinite period.
Bring on Round 1 please.
I want to see some Rugby League !!!
Now that is over, when are the NRL going to investigate the protected species of the game-
The Rorters, broncos, and storm to make this comp a fair and even playing field?
What about Greg Inglis as the Australian captain, bringing the game into disrepute!
I have no issues with the NRL wanting to crack down on player behaviour however there are a couple of issues:
1. Any player facing less than a 12 year jail term (it guilty) will still be facing suspension at NRL discretion. We donโt want discretion because itโs code for inconsistency. Either stand them down, or wait for the court matter to be dealt with.
2. What happens when a play is falsely charged? Under the current rules Brett Stewart would have missed about 18 months without being at fault.
I think the players should be free to play, then if found guilty of any serious offence in court, rubbed out for good
Souffs did absolutely nothing as usual, the grubs like sweeping things under the carpet like the Burgess brothers scandals and Avu who played in the 2014 grand final when he shouldn’t have been allowed to after bashing a woman to a pulp but got suspended for 20 weeks the very next season. At least this new rule will stop those sort of players playing in the biggest game of the season in future. Inglis did not even get fined by the League and as a self inflicted punishment donated 20k to a charity. What a joke. Consistancy from now on NRL. that’s what every body is calling for. BUT TODAY the NRL handled itself magnificently and the punishments handed out to those concerned need to be applauded. ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
What if a player is allowed to play while an extremely serious crime is going through the justice system. And this player gets the Churchill medal in a grand final after a brilliant game. Later the player is to be found guilty of his extremely serious crime. Then the NRL suspend him for the remainder of his career. Was it fair to have this player change the course of Rugby League history when he was not entitled to even participate in the gameโโโโโ The NRL I believe is doing the correct rule changes for the betterment of our game. How many players have been accused of extremely serious offences in the past decadeโโโโ We are talking of a very small number and its time the NRL put some teeth into this new approach. Well done NRL๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
How are they protected? Investigate what?
Manly cheat and get caught. Toughen up!
Don’t whinge about other clubs until you fix up all your own problems!
No members, no decent players, Barrett on “gardening leave”, women bashers, an inept coach……………..
mark…โฆ..I Would still be applauding if Cooper Cronk was falsely charged with a extremely serious crime the week before the GF and denied his rightful place? Because he should not have put himself in such a predicament 1 week out from a grand final. Any player who is charged and facing 11 years plus for a crime has been a stupid person. Not necessarily guilty but stupid. What the NRL is trying hard to do is for all players to keep their guard up. If they don’t then they are a fool and will pay the consequences. ๐ช๐๐
latest rumor is a Penrith player has been referred to the Integrity unit for a violent sex video. Looks like there might be a vacancy in the NSW Blues team this season for a halfback๐ฉ๐
Not often i agree Woody but i also believe this is a good move by the NRL.
Mark raises valid concerns about the injustice of an innocent player suffering from these new rules but the game must be protected above all else. However, the player is still being paid whilst he is out of the game which to some extent mitigates concerns of the but, ‘What if he they are innocent?’ argument.
I understand there are further injustices for an innocent player being unfairly accused of a serious crime but unfortunately this is the nature of the world and such injustices occur in life outside the NRL as well.
There will never be a perfect solution.
Hereโs an interesting one for you WoodChook….Walker has been rubbed out for 3 months for an offence he has plead not guilty of and which pre-dates todayโs change in NRL policy. If he is found guilty he will rightfully have his contract terminated and be de-registered. Zane Tetevano is a convicted wife basher who plays for your club and played a pivotal role in winning a premiership. Given the retrospective application of the NRLโs new stance shouldnโt Tetevano be de-registered? Or is it ok once they put on a Roosters jersey
There is more discretions that have played out during the off season, yet no action? Why have some potential serious offences that have been dealt with via the law not been acted on? There is now guys still to receive a day in court banned or stood down with a presumption of innocence, some have been to court and been reprimanded/ punished yet some have had no repurcutions from the game as yet. Its now time for the game to act transparently and punish all for a serious offences people, drug or motor vehicle.
And your club is? Kelpie
Really? “Investigate what?” Yea thats exactly what they said about parra, manly, storm, Bulldogs, sharks, tigers. Dont be so naive to believe the others are all clean. “How are they protected?” Ummm…TV=$$ especially Melbourne and Brisbane. Everyone knows broncs and storm get special treatment as teams occupying a whole capital city. Wake up kelpie. Woof woof. ๐ถ
๐
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/sydney-roosters-offer-former-newcastle-knight-zane-tetevano-a-lifeline/news-story/c34c59342b0be5d4300cd893edc0add5
Mark these two instances have occurred during different time frames. Walkers case is one of the seventeen players who run amok during the 2018-19 off season horror events that has prompted the NRL to make a stand against violence and bringing the game into disrepute. Zane Tetevano was sacked 5 years ago by Newcastle in 2014 for his past crimes.
The NRL 5 years ago as you know did not have the same policies in place but they did have in place a system if the player participated in and proved to the NRL that he had completed every thing required that he was allowed to return to the game for first offenders of such despicable crimes.
The NRL Integrity Unit last night (16 Sep 2016) confirmed they had rubber-stamped Tetevanoโs NRL return following his assault conviction, saying he had spent two years out of the game and had met all rehabilitation requirements set for him. Tetevano did not want to return to the toxic environment of the NRL players world but Roosters coach Robinson saw a rehabilitated man that he could use for his team for 2017 and the NRL allowed him to return in 2017. Which is basically a 3 year (1048 days out of the NRL) banishment from when the horrific crime was committed.
So as you can see Mark two different time frames which cannot go back further than events which occurred during 2018-19. However if these events occurred under the latest rules he would be banned for life. Zane is one of the lucky people who went searching for help and was cured of his mental demons and is allowed to play NRL today. But thank God the NRL has evolved to a point where two or three years out is not good enough from 28 Feb 2019 onwards. ALL future crimes of the same degree will be life time bans.
If The Government brought capital punishment into Australia tomorrow. All the prisoners who committed crimes that deserved that punishment could not be executed for previous events. It would be for future criminals after the law was introduced.๐ฑ
Manwar78 your just salty because your loser club cheated the salary cap to be a bottom 4 side.
And remember when you said walker wouldnโt be stood down because he had nothing to answer for?
Listen here ManWar69er. Im certainly not going to believe any dribble that comes out of you. As if you would know what Melbourne, Brisbane or the Sydney cap position is. I think you were going around back in 2017 telling eveyone that the Manly Seacheating Eagles were well under the cap back then too! Everyone knows the Manly have been rorting the cap for years. You clowns got caught out and your trying to point out in frustration teams like the Sydney Roosters as guilty also. It will never happen because the Roosters management are brilliant at Business Management ๐ช๐๐
Walket and JDBs Acts occurred BEFORE the NRL changed the rules. same with Barba. So why are they being punished and Zane not?
Again. Please explain you dummy? Is the “off season” not before the rule was changed 2 days ago? Thick as bricks you are mate. I told you long ago to Stop smoking that Ajax.
One More Time For the ManWarDummy โฆ..๐ต๐ฉ๐๐๐คฃ๐The rules brought in on the 28/2/19 were in response to all the dramas that occurred during the Off Season starting on the night of 30/9/18 until now. Any offences committed or came to the attention of the NRL that have not been already dealt with previously by the NRL will be dealt with by the rules introduced on the 28/2/19. Walkers & JDB offences occurred during the time frame that the NRL have been really concentrating on to punish. THE OFF SEASON.๐ช๐๐