Yesterday, news broke that the Sharks would likely be forced to include any payments made to uncontracted Ben Barba in their 2017 salary cap.
The Sharks, under the impression that Barba would sign to return to the club following his rehabilitation, made payments to their troubled premiership-winning fullback in order to allow him to focus on fixing his personal life.
Ultimately the payments would act as an advance for Barba’s newly signed 2017 contract, but as Barba has chosen to sign a long-term deal to play French rugby, the Sharks are left out of pocket.
I’ve always been a big supporter of the salary cap, within reason, but the fact that the Sharks, who supported an uncontracted player, will be penalised, shows just how ridiculous and rigid the cap rules are.
Common sense would suggest that Ben Barba, who turned his back on the club despite their support, should pay the money back.
His decision to sign to play French rugby rather than serve the 12-week suspension his selfish and silly actions ‘earned’ him, will hurt the club who publically backed him and supported him through his second public breakdown.
Paying back the money paid to him to support him through this tough time would be the least he could do.
Whether or not said paid back salary would then be reincluded in the salary cap is up for debate, but it really should be.
The Sharks acted in good faith based on a signed document the NRL stalled in approving, whilst a player they backed turned his back on them to avoid punishment his actions brought upon on.
The only party in this situation who did anything right, the Sharks, are the only party who have really been punished here.
Barba, who to his credit it looking after his family by accepting a big-money opportunity, gets a pay rise and the chance to spend the majority of the game catching up on sleep in a beautiful, foreign country.
The NRL, whose stalling on a contract that should be have been approved instantly when compared to some of the incidents the NRL has looked the other way on, get to wash their hands of a player who has provided negative headlines on more than one occasion.
The Sharks meanwhile are down on their 2017 salary cap spending potential due to promises made by Barba, and the NRL’s ridiculous stalling and inability to make a decision.
The Sharks didn’t force Barba to make the decision he made following the club’s incredible Grand Final victory.
The Sharks did, however, give Barba a chance to rebuild his shattered career following an equally public fall from grace at the Bulldogs and a less than stellar season at the Broncos.
The Sharks had no obligation to stand by a player who brought negative headlines during the club’s finest hour.
The Sharks did, however, standby said player, paying him so he and his family could focus on the important things in life, all without an actual contract being signed.
Is this the sort of rubbish the NRL and the salary cap really stand for?
Why should any NRL club support a player in any form in the future knowing that something similar could leave them out of pocket?
On the plus side, Valentine’s Day came early for the Sharks, who re-signed Valentine Holmes for a further two years, with the third year in Val’s favour.
Talk about turning a negative into a positive.
Holmes, who will replace the departed Barba in the Sharks number one role, is arguably the game’s best young player, after debuting for the Kangaroos in the recent four-nations tournament.
He’s a future Queensland mainstay, and given the circumstances of the season, now perhaps the Sharks most important player moving forward.
All the talk in the Shire is about just how good Holmes can become, especially seeing as he will now become far more involved.
Come to think of it, perhaps that is the silver lining in all this for the Sharks.
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