League: Gasnier contract raises cap queries

News that a lucrative deal was being thrashed out in a bid to keep Mark Gasnier in rugby league was unlikely to have gone down well at Warriors HQ.

Having been hammered in the recent salary cap saga, they must have viewed events with some disbelief considering Gasnier stood to earn large sums from a third party exempt from the salary cap.

Reports out of Australia suggested Gasnier would receive a significant sum from Channel Nine on top of the A$400,000 he earns at the Dragons to match the A$750,000 a season he's being offered to switch to rugby union.

But Nine Network boss Eddie McGuire yesterday said the network was "not in the business of being an adjunct to the salary cap".

"There won't be a cheque coming from us," he told The Weekend Australian.

The Dragons were still confident of retaining Gasnier, with nothing stopping them arranging another third-party agreement.

The Warriors would presumably take a keen interest in developments. Among the breaches they were punished for was an employment offer for Ruben Wiki once he retired from playing that was not considered in the cap.

Former Kiwis captain Hugh McGahan said the offer of employment to Gasnier was a double standard.

"It's a joke," McGahan said. "I think the Warriors will have their noses out of joint and rightly so. If the NRL is going to do something like that, then they need to do it across the board, not pick and choose their favourites."

Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah refused to be drawn on the argument. "As long as the NRL are consistent and all players and all clubs have the opportunity to do something like this, then we don't have an issue with it." Scurrah recently proposed at a meeting of the 15 club CEOs that a plan to allow each club one marquee player above the salary cap should be revisited.

It's a proposal supported by player agent and former Kiwis coach Frank Endacott.

"If you can get a third party agreement that is passed by the NRL to keep someone in the game, then that's great," Endacott said.

"But it's a fine line - where do you draw the line and how many times do you do it?

"Each club should be allowed a marquee player above the cap because no club should get an unfair advantage over another."

Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie dismissed claims Gasnier's talks with the rival code were simply used to boost his asking price at the Dragons.

"He's done a lot in rugby league already and I think he's looking for a challenge," McKenzie said. "I don't get the impression this is necessarily a money thing."

As for any possible last minute play by the Dragons to keep Gasnier, McKenzie seemed non-plussed.

"There's probably only so many television contracts you can hand out to your players," he said.

McKenzie said he was impressed by the level of Gasnier's interest in switching codes and his possible role with the Waratahs - there has been talk that Gasnier will play at centre.

"He's definitely been watching and had some thoughtful questions about the game and how he might be able to contribute," McKenzie said of his meeting with the 24-year-old. "He was quite clear in how he thought he could play the game. I know other people think he'd be a winger but I think he definitely would be playing in the centres and I think that's a position he'd be looking to play."

Gasnier has made it clear he will only play for the Waratahs if he does in fact switch codes, something McKenzie puts down to his organisation's proven track record with fellow-converts Mat Rogers and Lote Tuqiri.

"He sees us as an organisation that's worked well with these guys in transition," McKenzie said. So in terms of making the transition as quick as possible he thinks we can facilitate that better than anywhere else because we've done it already with a number of players."