INSIDE STORY: Cameron Stewart and Stephen Lunn
AT a meeting held in a secret location in the suburbs of Melbourne yesterday, a group of Melbourne Storm players tried to decide their future and that of their disgraced club.
Shamed by the biggest sporting scandal in a generation, and the loss of two premierships, the players fumed about the events that had overtaken their once-proud club under former chief executive Brian Waldron.
It was the players' second meeting in two days since news broke that the Storm had systematically rorted the salary cap for the past five years.
Storm's spiritual leader, former skipper Robbie Kearns, says tears flowed at the first meeting on Thursday night when the players were told they would receive the harshest penalty ever handed down in Australian sport. Kearns said the players were in a state of disbelief, still considered themselves the rightful champions and wanted to make a plea to the NRL to leave the history books intact.
Yesterday, after some bruising words, the players agreed they would try to move forward to rebuild their club and its shattered reputation. It was a reputation beyond reproach only six months ago until NRL salary cap auditor Ian Schubert discovered a secret file of documents in Melbourne Storm's offices after receiving a tip-off from a whistleblower.
When Schubert reached into the file he found a series of salary offers to players. But these offers failed to match those salaries lodged by the club with the NRL.
As NRL officials burrowed further, their eyes grew wider as they learned that the team's creative flair on the field was more than matched by some creative accounting off the field.
And the NRL's estimate on Thursday the cap had been rorted by $1.7 million may well have to rise after Storm's owner, News Limited, obtained several letters from the home of a senior club official that detailed salary arrangements, which had not been available to the auditor.
Five past and present club officials are under investigation, but the question is whether the dirty secret of the Storm's salary cap rort was known more broadly, by other officials, by the players' managers, or even by the players themselves.
"I don't think the player or the coaches would have any idea," said Scott Hill, who played for the Storm in 2005 and 2006 when the rorts allegedly started and did not notice any changes to the way in which players were paid. "You sign your contract and then you concentrate on playing. My manager dealt with (former boss Brian Waldron), that's what a manager does and so the players really go on what their manager says".
As well as Waldron, those named as being aware of the rort included acting chief executive Matt Hanson, chief financial officer Paul Gregory, former chief financial officer Cameron Vale and former recruiting manager Peter O'Sullivan. Coach Craig Bellamy and players, who have spoken off the record, have denied any knowledge of the rort.
Storm chairman Rob Moodie did not think the players were aware of the breaches. Many would not know what the cap is.
Rugby League Players' Association chief executive Paul Moreton doubted if the players would know the intricacies of their contracts. "It's complicated by appropriate and agreed third party payments," he said. "The majority of players wouldn't know if they received additional payments".
He said a number of Storm players had contacted the association and he doubted all received extra payments. "I will bet my right one that it doesn't. I'm absolutely convinced it's not systemic. They must be gutted, like everybody".
Mr Moreton admitted there may be other cases of cap infringements in the NRL, but it "doesn't mean every club is engaged in systemic cheating".
NRL chief executive David Gallop said players weren't aware of the contents of the statutory declarations outlining player payments lodged by clubs with the NRL.
Waldron - described by News Limited chairman and chief executive John Hartigan as "the architect of the whole shooting match" - began his professional life in secondary education before switching to sports administration in the early 90s, joining AFL team Richmond. After moving to St Kilda, he took the helm as chief executive in 2001 and joined Storm in late 2004, when soon after the NRL alleges that the rot, or rorts, set in at the Storm.
Schubert is believed to have been tipped off last October by an ex-Storm employee about a secret set of cooked books hidden in a separate room to the administration department at the club's offices. As Gallop said on Thursday they showed there were two sets of books, the payments in the real book allowing the Storm to recruit and retain the best players.
Sources told The Weekend Australian that a number of systemic rorts appear to have developed over the years.
First, a series of third party deals weren't disclosed to the NRL, including one to captain Cameron Smith, that had been negotiated by the club, a clear breach of the rules. Second, the club, allegedly in collusion with suppliers, inflated contract prices, paying the difference with the true cost, to the players. Third, and most simply of all, there were contracts with players in one set of books that had higher payments than the contract registered with the NRL.
"It was all done in increments of about $15,000 on game days whereby hospitality payments, supposedly being made on game day, were being siphoned off and used for payments to players," Mr Hartigan said. "I don't know if the players recognised if they were getting streams of income from two separate sources but that's what happened".
The identity of the whistleblower is not yet clear but suspicion initially fell on Vale at the club from 2006-08 before leaving to join the Kangaroos AFL team. Yesterday released a statement denying knowledge of the breaches and being the whistleblower.
So why did Waldron and his senior officials take such risks?
As Gallop said the results of the rorting spoke for themselves, with Storm playing in the past four grand finals, winning two titles.
But according to Moodie, when asked this week why he did it, Waldron replied simply: "Everybody does it".
Gallop rejects this. "It's the oldest schoolyard excuse that everyone else is doing it. I have always said the salary cap isn't foolproof. All I can say is once again if you're taking that risk you're taking a big one".
But the biggest victims are the fans, who embraced their team without a shadow of suspicion, believing as Moodie says "the myth".
The Australian
