League: Warriors tackle turmoil head-on

Board member John Hart (left) and captain Steve Price yesterday. Picture / Brett Phibbs

There was a refreshing air about the Warriors' training session yesterday, despite the stink of the salary cap saga.

Afterwards, captain Steve Price and vice-captain Ruben Wiki, the two players whose contracts are suspected of having pushed the club way off the line, both spoke about the situation.

They said they had no knowledge of the club's position, were not aware of what others were being paid and were in no way responsible for the situation in which the club finds itself, four points down before a kick-off.

Warriors board member John Hart was there to take all responsibility on behalf of management and to reiterate that it was not a matter for the players.

But Price and Wiki answered all questions, in stark contrast to previous episodes of drama in the club's history.

Best comparison was what went down when Daniel Anderson was sacked as coach: The players, led by captain Monty Betham and star Stacey Jones, fled to their cars offering no comment, cellphones were turned off, messages went unanswered.

It is the players that fans most want to hear from, not the management. When the media is shunned, it is the fans who are biggest victims.

Given their lack of knowledge of the ins and outs of the cap breach, it was fair enough for the players to say they all as a team had to cop the points deduction on the chin and move on.

The team were in good spirits, Price said, and he knew that if they got on with the job and enjoyed themselves it would still be a good season regardless.

Talk about him and Wiki being at the centre of the overspend was speculation because they were the two who signed last year, he said.

The main issue now was fans getting behind the side and everyone pulling in the same direction.

Hart said the club would make representations to the NRL about the points deduction, which it regarded as totally unfair, once official notification of the breach had been received.

But he accepted that two years ago the league had warned all clubs that it would deduct points for future salary cap breaches, and that "I take it they have drawn a line in the sand".

The Warriors are the first club caught since that warning was issued. They were working through options with the NRL to get their 2006 spend under the cap, Hart said. They would honour all player contracts and the Warriors would run out on March 12 against the Storm under the cap.

Coach Ivan Cleary said he knew he'd have bad times in his career "so they might as well start early".

He still believed he had the squad to win the 14 games that will likely be required to make the play-offs. The points deduction would narrow their focus more on game-by-game results but it would not change their approach to individual matches, he said.

It would be good to win a few early and to win in New Zealand other than at Ericsson, which they have yet to achieve, when they play the Eels in Hamilton and the Tigers in Christchurch.

In Australia, sports psychologist Alex Gilandas, who worked with the Bulldogs players after their points loss in 2002, was quoted as saying that 20 per cent of the Warriors might feel that their season is over before it starts and that sense of hopelessness would come through in their game.

He said it was up to Cleary to weed those people out.

Aussie bookie Centrebet installed the Warriors as favourites to win the wooden spoon, paying A$3 ($3.36), with Canberra and Souths next-best at A$4 then Cronulla and Penrith on A$13.

Competition favourites are the Dragons at A$5.50, closely followed by Parramatta and the Roosters.


Salary cap breaches

Salary cap breaches from 2000-2006 by NRL clubs, with the breach and penalties incurred

2000
* Knights A$369,108 (fully disclosed) fined A$73,800
* Knights A$85,000 (undisclosed) A$85,000
* Warriors A$221,000 (disclosed) A$100,00
*Panthers A$404,489 (disclosed) A$80,900
* Bulldogs A$167,445 (undisclosed) A$50,000
* Eels A$40,000 (undisclosed) A$40,000
* Storm A$121,641 (fully disclosed) A$24,300
* Roosters A$42,067 (undisclosed) A$12,800
* Sharks A$34,450 (fully disclosed) A$6,8902001

2001
* Cowboys A$200,000 (belated disclosure) A$100,000
* Storm A$177,404 (fully disclosed) A$89,904
* Broncos A$118,314 (undisclosed) A$84,1572002

2002
* Bulldogs A$2 million over 3 years (undisclosed) A$500,000 + 37 competition points
* Roosters Third party payments for 2001-02 A$149,131
* Knights A$85,000 from 2000 (undisclosed) A$85,000
* Storm A$133,396 (disclosed) A$66,698
* Wests Tigers A$117,052 (belated disclosure) A$58,526
* Broncos A$115,067 (fully disclosed) A$57,5332003

2003
* Storm A$261,912 A$130,956
* Panthers A$50,000 (belated undisclosed) A$50,000
* Knights Unregistered player A$10,000
* Knights Car (undisclosed) A$30,000
* Broncos Guarantee (undisclosed) A$20,000
* Rabbitohs Unregistered player A$10,000
* Rabbitohs Exceed 2nd tier cap A$5252
* Warriors Car (undisclosed) A$15,000
* Sharks Unregistered player A$10,000
* Panthers Unregistered player A$10,000
* Bulldogs Unregistered player A$10,000

2004
* Storm Belated undisclosed third party agreements A$120,000
* Bulldogs Breach total player payment A$82,295
* Dragons Breach 2nd tier cap A$32,286
* Panthers Breach total player payment A$25,000
* Roosters Third party agreement car (undisclosed) A$25,000
* Raiders Unregistered player A$5,000
* Sea Eagles A$5000

2006
* Warriors Close to A$1 million (undisclosed) A$430,000 + four competition points