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GREATER forces were at work in John Cartwright's resignation than whether he can coach or not, as is usually the case.
Cartwright is a victim of economics as much as football nous.
Few know, but the Gold Coast don't spend up to the salary cap. The Titans can't afford it.
This immediately puts Cartwright and his players at a disadvantage.
CARTWRIGHT QUITS AS TITANS COACH
Rather than spend $300,000 on a good quality first grader, the club's self-imposed spending limits means it is forced to fill that position with an $80,000 minimum wager who is good for taking his place when all other troops are down, so long as you don't mind him letting in too many tries.
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Gold Coast Titans Coach John Cartwright resigns at a press conference at the Gold Coast Titans Centre of Excellence. Source: News Corp Australia
Over time, this beats down on a football team.
While underdog stories are the magic dust of sport, the cold reality is that the Cinderella's of sport burn bright and brief.
Players can get up for a game, they can go on a run through a season, but it can't be sustained for any long term.
Almost every week Cartwright and the Titans go out with the odds already against them.
It led to defeat more often than not, which affected enthusiasm, which affected results, which eventually cost Cartwright his job, as it did on Tuesday.
The NRL has serious financial concerns out there in clubland and it is important not to get sidetracked.
For example, last week's results.
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The Raiders copped a 54-18 hammering to New Zealand and the Tinkler-less Knights went down 50-10 to South Sydney.
It forced some to question whether the NRL could really sustain two expansion clubs when quite clearly there was not enough talent to spread across the 16 teams.
Poppycock.
Blowouts have nothing to do with available talent and everything to do with the spread of talent.
Anybody with even an average eye for horsetrading can throw an eye across the NRL and tell you that some clubs seem to be able to make their $7 million salary cap go a lot further than the $7 million being spent at others.
Why is this the case, if every coach knows they are only as strong as their roster?
If the key to success is retention and recruitment, why do some clubs seem to retain and recruit better than others?
Right now the NRL has two salary cap investigations ongoing.
The NRL wants to talk to Anthony Milford about his Broncos contract. Source: News Corp Australia
The Broncos are under investigation after a Broncos Leagues Club whistleblower told the NRL there might or might not be a slush fund operating to top-up payments to players. The NRL Integrity Unit wants to interview Anthony Milford this week regarding his Broncos contract, but Milford is under no obligation to attend.
It will still be some weeks before the investigation is complete.
The Titans are being investigated are self-reporting salary cap concerns that occurred years back when the club was more financially viable than it is today.
I believe some clubs are cheating the cap.
I have no hard evidence to provide, just the knowledge of a thousand off-the-record conversations with players, managers and the odd official happy to talk because it was under the privilege of off-the-record.
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In other words, you could tie me over an ant's nest and have Robbie Farah and Gorden Tallis sprinkle honey on me and I still won't reveal the detail of those off-the-record conversations.
But it is happening.
The best news is that the NRL is about to have a "line in the sand" moment with salary cap cheating, like it did recently with gambling.
It will come at season's end, where rather than the anaemic dollar-for-dollar fine system currently being implemented for those caught cheating, the game will get tough and clubs will be penalised competition points.
But the NRL still needs to do more.
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Gold Coast Coach John Cartwright with Titans staff after a he announced his resignation. Source: News Corp Australia
The League realises the difficulty of catching the cap cheats, many payments of which are made in cash and so leave no trail. Therefore the threat must equal the risk.
There are three parties involved in every transaction: the club, the player, and his manager.
The clubs should not only be fined, but deducted significant competition points. Enough to impact on their finals campaign, and not just for one season. This will make the beancounters nervous.
Player managers need to be accountable, facing sanctions stiffer than the players.
And as for the players, if an athlete can be suspended a mandatory two years for drug cheating, why not for salary cap cheating?
He knows of it, is complicit, and his advantage is every bit as significant as the drug cheat.
All this is too late for Cartwright today, of course.
But you would be surprised how much better a coach he would be if it was already in place.
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