The Rugby League World has spent the last fortnight in a state of uncertainty as the World Club Champions, The Melbourne Storm, were stripped of 2 major and 3 minor premierships for breaching the National rugby League Salary Cap.
 
The salary cap in force in Australia is designed to ensure an even playing field for all NRL teams. In previous years the Canterbury Bulldogs were denied a spot in the final after being stripped of a full years points for overpaying their players, but the both the scale and penalty of Melbournes breach is much larger.
 
The Storm kept two sets of books for 5 years, often going several hundreds of thousands dollars over their alloted player fees. As punishment the club, but not the players, have been stripped of their titles and being made to repay all prize money.
 
While several executive heads have rollen, the players are also being punished by not being awarded any competition points for this year until the club is back under the cap. This has caused the most controversy.
 
Other areas of uncertainty surround who will be awarded the minor premierships for the 3 years the Storm were deemed to be cheating, and will the storm face consequences from the R.L.I.F over the World Club Challenge? The biggest question, however, is will rugby league survive in the Aussie Rules mad Melbourne, once they have lost several of their star players, and a lot of shine?

Mardo Gray, Rugby League Correspondent