KEY POINTS:
Lurking behind the headlines about the tailend Ruben Wiki's career and the future direction of Sonny Bill Williams' is the cut-off of the salary cap.
The Warriors paid NRL top-dollar to secure Wiki and Steve Price - higher than top-dollar, considering they are props - so they have to look to get top-notch return from both.
If Wiki cannot produce the form to extract himself from reserve grade, the club will wince every month when his salary comes out of the bank account.
This is the time of year when Super League clubs open their wallets and the Warriors would not be unhappy if a below-form Wiki followed his stated intention to go to England earlier than planned, even if the new club does not meet all his pay and they still have to top it up as per contract. There would be money left over to spend on a new boy.
Several NRL players have already been granted mid-season release to go to England, including Canberra's Michael Dobson, and Bulldogs wing Cameron Phelps.
Rumour also has wayward Eels half Tim Smith and 2007 Kiwis halfback Jeremy Smith who wants out of Souths. Eels hooker Mark Riddell and Tigers fullback Brett Hodgson are among the colourful characters leaving at the end of the season to play 2009 in England.
Poor old Sonny Bill Williams, just 22 and on a A$400,000-a-year contract that runs through to 2012, has watched this and seen the likes of Timana Tahu, Craig Gower and Andy Farrell switch to union for more than any player of the oval ball is worth and decided he wants more too. That's not going to happen, for two simple reasons.
The Bulldogs have told his new manager Khoder Nasser they will not deal with him on an NRL contract because he is not an NRL accredited agent and they intend to sue for A$3 million if Williams walks; and the club cannot afford to pay him more because it would skew their cap and he'd be a one-man team, surrounded by journeymen. All because of the salary cap.
Say the Doggies: pay Williams $500,000. What does test-playing captain Andrew Ryan get? State of Origin lock Reni Maitua? So you could spend A$1 million on three players. You need 22 more to fill the standard NRL squad and you have $3m left to spend, minimum wage A$80,000. What are former Kiwis wing Matt Utai, local veterans Luke Patten and Hazem El Masri worth? You may have got Kiwis five-eighth Ben Roberts cheap but he's going to want a big upgrade soon, or he's going to go the way of Mark O'Meley, Braith Anasta, Roy Asotasi, Nate Myles, Willie Mason and others who have moved on.
There has to be a balance.
There has to be some reality too. The game's "take" is shrinking - or at best static - in a time of rapidly rising costs.
Parramatta's long-serving CEO Denis Fitzgerald said this week that the cap should be cut back by A$100,000 a year over five years, to A$3.5 million. Mason responded that it was the most stupid thing he'd ever heard and that more players would leave the game.
Big Willie really is full of spunk, but as usual he's firing blanks.
You can't pay people money that doesn't exist - ask the Western Force and the Brisbane Bullets.
The contrast between the way Williams and Wiki have handled themselves over recent days is marked. The image being taken on board by the public? That the former is verging towards the greedy and disloyal, in danger of damaging one of the biggest "brand names" in Aussie sport by making the sort of outlandish statements of Anthony Mundine - another represented by Nasser - while the latter remains a man of honour, a man of his word, someone worthy of respect.
He'll go and play with the Vulcans if that's what the club wanted, Wiki said this week, because he's a club man. And he'd enjoy himself, he said. Though he must be hurting to be sent to reserve grade where he hasn't played since his career opened in 1993.
Wiki is not the type to drop his head in the face of adversity, to walk away when the going gets tough. He will not want to let anyone down.
He will not go to England early unless there is no other option. He won't quit the game here early unless there is serious concern about injury damage.
Some might say there would be little sadder in Kiwi sport than to see Wiki, epitome of the word "warrior", play his last games for the Auckland Vulcans on suburban grounds like Otahuhu, Mangere, Northcote, Mt Albert or Glen Eden.
Others would regard it as an honour to watch the holder of the world record for test appearances and the New Zealander who has played the most games in the Aussie premiership bow out on the grounds where his career began.
The man himself feeds off the enthusiasm of the young players coming through, he knows he's a legend but never gloats on it, always happy to help the rookies.
No doubt, whatever happens, he'll go out enjoying doing just that.
