The "all-encompassing powers" of salary cap auditor Ian Schubert are expected to form part of the National Rugby League's review of the cap, according to Brent Read of THE AUSTRALIAN. Schubert, who has been vacationing in the U.S., "has returned to a firestorm" after NRL side Penrith Panthers was forced to leave fullback Matt Moylan out of its side to play the Wests Tigers Sunday "due to the enforcement of the second-tier salary cap." NRL COO Jim Doyle has been in talks with the clubs, including Penrith, over the cap and Sunday he confirmed that "changes could take place within weeks." One "is likely to see Schubert's powers reduced." Under the current structure, "Schubert is basically judge and jury." If clubs don't agree with his original decision, "they can appeal -- to him." Doyle "indicated that needed to change." Doyle: "There is no way a system should have the autonomy of any one individual. There has to be a process gone through. There is no sense in the appeals process being the same as everything else" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 6/10). In Canberra, Brad Walter wrote Doyle said that "he would seek to find whether there was a valid reason that clubs cannot have more than 25 players in their squad" if they are under the NRL salary cap of A$5.85M ($5.57M). Each NRL club has a ceiling of A$375,000 it can spend on second-tier players "but the Panthers exceeded that limit during a recent injury crisis that was so severe they were granted an exemption to play Moylan" (CANBERRA TIMES, 6/10).
