Originally Posted by
travelling_gerry
Next rugby boss to inherit salary cap crisis
The Australian12:00AM November 23, 2017
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WAYNE SMITH
Senior sport writerBrisbane
@WayneKeithSmith
Phil Kearns or one of the other *finalists interviewed yesterday for the position of Rugby Australia chief executive could be handed a ticking time bomb when they take over the job, with the game set to face a huge salary cap blowout.
The closure of the Western Force and the subsequent dispersal of their playing roster around the remaining four Super Rugby franchise — the NSW Waratahs, the Queensland Reds, the Brumbies and the Melbourne Rebels — has triggered the crisis.
It’s estimated that the Rebels are currently $700,000 over their allocated $5 million salary cap and that figure could temporarily blow out even further if, as expected, Test lock Adam Coleman joins the migration of a dozen Force players who have moved to the Rebels to continue playing under coach Dave Wessels.
Eventually, the Rebels will be required to shed some of their contracted players, and while the other Australian provinces are showing little interest in taking them off their hands, those Melbourne players with dual passports could be snapped up by British and European clubs.
While the Waratahs and Reds are understood to be fairly safely under the salary cap, it is believed the Brumbies could also be over, especially after singing Force backrower Isi Naisarini, lock *Richie Arnold and, as of yesterday, champion winger Chance Peni. And with David Pocock returning next season from his sabbatical and Christian Lealiifano set for a full season of Super Rugby after his temporary off-season move to Ulster, the Brumbies’ budget is understood to be at breaking point.
“It won’t only be Melbourne that will be over the caps,” said a Rugby Australia spokesman yesterday. “It’s hard to say until everything materialises at each of those squads whether each team is going to be over. We don’t think every team is going to be over the $5 million but certainly there will be more than one.
“We would have always had to have some relaxation of it (the salary cap) because it wouldn’t have worked otherwise.”
Certainly there does need to be some dispensation given that the Rebels’ recruitment drive was stifled by all the uncertainty of the “five into four” cutback. The club finished last in Super Rugby this year and looked to be facing another grim season in 2018 until the Force were axed and the cream of the WA roster opened up.
Yet the beggars of the 2017 competition now look to be on target to become one of the main title contenders next year. On paper, they are set to field more than half a dozen current Wallabies next year, including Will Genia, Marika Koroibete, Sefa Naivalu, Reece Hodge and Matt Philip, with Coleman likely to make a decision within days. Certainly there has not been an even division of the former WA talent.
The flip side, however, is that those states which adhered to the salary cap — like Queensland, which passed up on Genia and Rob Simmons in order to stay under it — will now be penalised.
All this will be dumped into the lap of whoever is chosen to replace Bill Pulver as Rugby Australia chief executive officer.
Former Wallabies captain Kearns, who is currently managing director of InterRISK Australia, a leading corporate insurance broker, was in the final round of interviews yesterday but he faces a stiff challenge from Raelene Castle, the former Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Netball New Zealand CEO.
It is understood that there may be as many as five finalists for the position who were also interviewed.
Meanwhile, barely had the Reds come to terms with former Wallabies captain Stephen Moore’s decision not exercise his option to play one last season of Super Rugby next season when they were forced to deal with a dark cloud hangs over their other “elder”, George Smith.
It is understood the Suntory-contracted flanker is returning to Australia from Japan for medical treatment on severe back pain and the 37-year-old might be forced to retire ahead of next season.
The Reds, however, are well placed in the backrow, with Liam Wright currently on the Wallabies tour, while Adam Korczyk surely would have been there too except for injury. Hopefully if Smith, the winner of the Pilecki Medal this year as the Reds’ best-and-fairest player, is not able to play next season, he will join Queensland coaching staff.