Everyone knows my implacable opposition to this ludicrous salary cap scheme (as implemented currently) and the laughable, dysfunctional general structure we have in Australian rugby where the nanny ARU micro-manages various aspects of the franchises' affairs, but has no care for or influence over or interest in the calibre of their management and coaches.
So I'll stay away from repetition and make one or two other points:
1. If it's true that some form of technicality permits the Rebels to escape a salary cap and/or 3rd party contribution control that every non-PE owned franchise must comply with, that is not a flaw, that's a fucking outrageous scandal as the PE contributions + looser 3rd party $s could always if needed trump the other franchises' traditional income sources.
2. So amusing the posters who like the status quo system in Aus rugby and the 'averaging out salary cap' talk as though our S15 network and Aus rugby generally was in rude health and diminishing the Reds' or Tahs' fire power to help 'the growing network' was/is sorta kinda a good thing that would not affect very much the whole burgeoning system.
FFS: From 2004 to 2010, we did not win an S15! And we only won last year after a near-death QRU clean out of total proportion. No Aus team looks close to winning the 2012 S15 at this time, most of our teams are low in the S15 ladder....again. And does any Aus team look 'on the brink' of S15 glory for 2013, no. The mighty Tahs are struggling again, the Force are in the gutter, the Rebels remain an experiment (but frothing like the early Force), the Brums are being revitalised post near-death crisis through better coaching and culture, not imported expensive stars.
NO Australian S1x team has ever won an S1x on the back of expensive stars and loads of local franchise imports. The message is blindingly clear if you look at the Brumbies' S1x wins and the Reds' S15 one and what is happening again at the Brumbies today: the model that works best here and is proven is this: build on a genuine 'one of all and all for one' team concept and ethos, not an internally elitist culture; build on up-and-developing lower profile players who have much to learn from good coaching but with high latent talent and, crucially, low egos; build powerful combinations of good players not star-isolates; AND quality coaching in depth is king of the hill, nothing of real success will happen without it.
That is, the 'string of stars and top line imports' model has NEVER been proven in Aus S1x and S15, never, not once. And it's been an unequivocal failure at the Force after 6+ years of trying. But it's precisely the opposite thinking that this salary cap, combined with the low quota for overseas imports, and exclusions for PE invested franchises encourages and permits.
3. If we simply must have a salary cap, for God's sake allow players that have played say three or more consecutive seasons with the franchise to be excluded from the cap so as to permit franchises to retain their long-standing players of quality and in whom they will likely have invested substantial amounts of $ and time. To not be able to effectively compete for such players on the open market value principle is grossly inequitable to a successful franchise and will likely denude their capacity to win again in the near term (and it's multiple near term wins Aus rugby desperately needs to build sustained fan depth, sustained commercial strength and broader media interest).
