Dave Smith has praised Brisbane’s handling of potential salary cap breaches despite them threatening to take gloss from the game’s historic State of Origin showpiece.
Barely 24 hours after a plaque was unveiled at Suncorp Stadium commemorating Origin’s 100th game on Wednesday night, Smith joined guests and fans for Maroons great Mal Meninga’s statue reveal at the ground on match day.
However, Smith had little time to savour the moment before facing questions about the NRL’s investigation into Brisbane after the club alerted them to potential irregularities by the Broncos over three seasons totalling $450,000.
Smith said he was told by the club on Monday that it had received information from an external party about possible breaches of the game’s strict salary cap rules over 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The issue came to light publicly on Tuesday after the club’s operations manager Andrew Gee resigned. There is no suggestion he orchestrated a salary cap rort.
In 2006 the Warriors were stripped four competition points and fined $430,000 for breaches that totalled more than one million dollars.
But Smith insisted another salary cap controversy could not steal the show from the game’s marquee event and backed Brisbane’s actions.
“These things are going to happen from time to time. It’s the way you deal with it, not the headline,” Smith said.
“An issue has come up that we are going to look into.
“You can’t lose the sense of perspective around the 100th Origin and the fact that we have just unveiled a statue for Mal.
“I have to stress that these are allegations. You have to work through the detail of what may or may not have happened and then do the right thing.
“I don’t deal in anecdotal comment. And it doesn’t matter what club it is – fans can be sure that we will do it in a considered way.
“But the Broncos have been terrific so far. They have been very open; they have given us all the documentation.”
Smith did not know how long the investigation by the NRL integrity unit and salary cap auditor would take and would not discuss potential punishment.
Earlier on Wednesday, Brisbane chief executive Paul White said they would cooperate fully with the NRL.
“We are on the front foot here. We have opened up our organisation; we are comfortable and confident with the process that we are going to follow,” White insisted.
Asked if he was confident Brisbane would not be found guilty of cap rorting, White said: “I am very confident that where we sit, we are in control of the investigation.
“The aim of the investigation is to impartially investigate the facts, not rumours, and then determine a final outcome.”
White said as a publicly listed company, the Broncos had a number of internal checks relating to the salary cap including a full audit process.
But he said he felt obligated to report the potential cap irregularities to the NRL and spark a league investigation.
Reports have speculated that the irregularities relate to third party deals for certain players, but White refused to comment on which individuals might be involved.
He also did not want to comment on why Gee resigned.
Their publicly listed company Brisbane Broncos Limited (BBL) later issued a share market alert about the NRL investigation.