Those who know me know that I am an AFL nut through and through, but in saying that, I cant help but feel that the NRL has taken a particular step with the actions imposed against the Melbourne Storm that seem to me to be a calculated offensive against NRL football in Victoria, the heartland of AFL.
This action is unjust for the offences committed by the management of the Melbourne Storm, the salary cap breaches per player averaged out over 5 years (based on 21 players) is a little over $17K per year, which when considered against the Bulldogs average of $95K versus the penalty received, there can be nothing but a conspiracy against the Storm regardless of how well it was hidden or not.
David Gallop has penalised the players, the fans and the sponsors for what should have been action taken against the club management with a view to fraud, but what he has succeeded in doing is the following:
1. Destroying the relationship between the club and its sponsors, who frankly wouldn't care 2 hoots about exposure of their product if the penalty had been against the club, but now (leads on to point 2)
2. The players have been through association been branded as cheats. The worst part of it is, the players are not cheats in the game, maybe they have accepted additional payment for playing their game, but they were not caught injecting performance enhancing drugs, they had not bribed umpires, they just played better than every other team in the comp. Now what sponsor wants to have their product splashed over a cheat?
3. The supporters of the Storm have been penalised through now watching their club play with no chance of winning even when they win.
4. The stripping of the previous grand final premierships is again a huge mistake on Gillops part, he is hurting the individual players rather than the management who made this error of judgement - stupid decision that again is addressed at hurting rugby league at grass roots level in Victoria
5. The combined decisions (this is David Gallop as well as the Storm) will now hurt my hip pocket due to a massive stadium build in Melbourne for rugby league and soccer matches and the combined commitment of repayment will not be met - so the state government will have to bail out which will be either an increase in tax on something, or the shrinkage of some other benefit in Victoria.
The NRL have shot from the hip and scored a bulls eye in their agenda to destroy NRL in Victoria with this calculated, premeditated move. I hope we never see advertising for a state of origin match in Melbourne again - yes, the ones that are played on the hallowed surfaces of the Docklands stadium, in down town AFL land and gross more in earnings than any other match on the NRL home and away series calendar. If David Gallop thinks that Victoria will forgive and forget, I think that that shot very much missed the mark
Mr!
) and well aware that each code has shortcomings. I just like NRL the least of all and this is another reason to keep it there. 
