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With rumours about the Waratahs possibly having approached Ben McCalman this seemed like a good time to start talking about the lack of an "Even Playing Field". (possibly again)
All Super Rugby franchises in Australia have a Salary Cap of $4.5 million.
But as we know, some franchises are more equal than others.
The Reds had no problems getting ~$0.5 million extra from the ARU for Quade Cooper and Karmichael Hunt.
Similarly the Waratahs had no problems getting something closer to $1 million for Israel Folau or $300k for players such as Wycliff Palu.
My observations over the opening rounds show just how big the disparity is between the 5 franchises.
Nothing shows this more than the number of Test experienced players playing in the starting XV for each team.
On average the situation has been as follows:
Attachment 3704
Check #14 below for updated numbers. The full squad numbers are even more lopsided.
The Reds currently have another 4 Internationals + KH to return (174 caps).
The Brumbies have at least David Pocock to return (45 caps).
The Force is eagerly awaiting for the return of Matt Hodgson (10 caps).
I have no information re Waratahs and Rebels.
These numbers do not include ALL of the players in each franchise who may still be under some level of ARU top-up.
So the Force gets an additional Marque player + extra overseas players (but still have to fit within the Salary Cap).
In addition, when some extra $s were required to keep Nick Cummins in Australia, the ARU showed no interest and immediately announced the Hunt saga.
Do you remember when the Force had 11 Test-experienced players in the Wallabies' squad??
It's pretty easy to see Wallaby top-ups in the range of $50k - $100k+ per year + Test payments.
So on this basis, and with the big payments paid to so few, its easy to see that TOTAL Player Payments to the Waratahs, Reds and Brumbies squads could be easily $2 million - $4+ million per year higher than for the Force and the Rebels.
In my view this is unsustainable.
It also reinforces to me just how well we did last year and that we shouldn't be so hard on our boys (including the coaches). AND how well Mark Sinderberry and Michael Foley have done to create and maintain a competitive squad and team.
Maybe all the other TWFers already know this.
Maybe it's the reason why I see comments such as "that I'll be happy when the boys play as well as they can" instead of having totally unrealistic expectations.
I reckon we have to rally to create some people pressure and get behind the WF to try and fix this situation.
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Originally Posted by Alison
