While some fans may have forgotten the dreaded round 13 rule and the havoc it caused amongst NRL club’s up until 2015, the repercussions of this questionable rule are still being felt in the NRL to this day.
To put it briefly, what the round 13 rule allowed players to do was allow any player that had signed a contract with another club for the following season to renege on their commitment and instead re-sign with their current club prior to the round 13 deadline.
First implemented in 2008, the controversial ruling was scrapped in mid-2015 following the now infamous Daly Cherry-Evans saga, after Cherry-Evans backed out of his four-year contract with the Gold Coast Titans to instead re-sign on a lifetime deal with the Sea Eagles worth roughly $1.3 million annually.
Here are the top five contract backflips in the NRL era.
1. Greg Inglis
After the Melbourne Storm’s dirty laundry was aired for all to see in 2010 in the form of their disgraceful salary cap cheating, Melbourne had to release some of their biggest earners to become salary cap compliant.
Subsequently, Greg Inglis announced that he would be joining the Brisbane Broncos after agreeing to a handshake deal in August 2010.
While originally firmly committed to joining the Broncos, Inglis had a change of heart after a delay in signing the official documents thanks to an examination of the third-party deal’s associated with his new contract.
The now Souths legend later signed with the Rabbitohs on a three-year, $1.8 million deal. Inglis is said to have been heavily influenced by Rabbitohs owner Russell Crowe as well as the great connection between the Rabbitohs and their indigenous community.
Unbeknownst to most, while waiting for his Rabbitohs contract to be registered with the NRL following substantial delays due to the Bunnies being over the salary cap following the acquisition of Inglis, he almost signed for cross-code rivals the Essendon Bombers in the AFL after a meeting with coach James Hird.
Inglis later said that he had “pretty much put a deadline on it, saying if it’s not done on Christmas Day then I’ll be walking away”, luckily for rugby league fans everywhere the documents were registered on Christmas Eve, and Inglis went onto become the legend we now know.
Inglis also promised to return to Melbourne at the earliest possible moment but he never did.
Might have been a blessing in disguise.
What about “salary cap cameron”? Loudly claimed at a press conference that he was staying with the Storm to be loyal, only to sign a highly secretive contract to stay. Could have been the greatest player ever but just like Dimitri and that goat, will only be remembered for being the biggest salary cap cheat in the games history.
Smith will go down as 1 of the greatest players of all time and will definitely become an immortal. He is still the best hooker in the game and he is 36 years old, nobody controls a game like him.
Are you a Queenslander?
Smith will never be an immortal, you need credibility for that and Smith has none. He will only be known as the biggest salary cap cheat the game has ever seen.
I thought Tim Moltzen welshing on Saints might have got a mention.