Be mad, be mad at your club for not playing the salary cap game well enough.

I like the salary cap. It does a good job of spreading the talent throughout the NRL.

Other sporting leagues around the world that lack a salary cap are dominated by the rich, the haves and the have-nots. This is why it's so hard to win back to back NRL Premierships, or even win two in three years as most Premiership winning teams are soon dismantled, thanks to the salary cap.

There's enough room in the salary cap for the best players to get paid what they deserve.

The salary cap is small enough that it requires skill and rugby league nous to really make the most of it.

What I really like about the salary cap though is that it's a game.

Rugby league is a game and we get our weekly fix of that game each and every week.

Juggling the salary cap is a game which sits under the surface. The club that wins this game, usually wins the ultimate prize. Winning games of footy and winning the salary cap game might not be directly related, but winning the salary cap game will likely see that NRL team go on to win the Premiership.

It's a game, within the bigger game, or is it the other way round?

The players try to cheat on the field during a game of rugby league, every week. They flop all over a tackled player, they get a head-start off their defensive line and they send decoy runners through to obstruct a defender.

Some cheaters on the field are caught, some aren't, every team and every player does it.

Just like every NRL club is apparently cheating the salary cap.

I heard many times during the crux of the Parramatta Eels salary cap saga that every club was cheating the salary cap. No shit.

The salary cap is a game and some clubs are good at it, some aren't.

Some players are great at slowing down the play-the-ball, some aren't.

Those who aren't good at slowing down the play-the-ball get the ref all up in their ear.

Clubs like the Eels, who aren't good at making the most of the salary cap, get caught.

I won't name clubs that I suspect are 'cheating' the salary cap, but there's definitely clubs who have too much talent for their own good. Maybe these clubs have already been investigated by the NRL and the NRL found nothing wrong.

That's obviously because there's a conspiracy at work here, right?

Yeah, nah.

The NRL found nothing wrong, because either nothing was wrong or because that club is skilled in the art of pushing the salary cap to the limit.

Whether it's juggling third-party deals or an intricate web of lies, it takes a well run organisation to really pull it off. Hence I'm not surprised it's the Eels who got caught, they are possibly the most shambolic club in the NRL.

The salary cap levels things out in the NRL, the evidence is there. The NRL is highly competitive each year and a dynasty is near impossible, the salary cap must be doing something right.

Despite 'every club rorting the cap' we still have an extremely fun competition.

You're only ever punished for rorting the salary cap if you're silly.

Soooooooooo basically there's no dramas about the salary cap or other clubs skillfully making the most of the salary cap.

Just don't be silly.