North Queensland Cowboys chairman and Townsville property developer Laurence Lancini has denied property deals done with Cowboys players constitute a breach of the club's salary cap.

Rumours spread on Tuesday that the North Queensland club is being investigated by the NRL for salary cap breaches arising from property deals made with several high-profile Cowboys players.

The NRL's head of football Todd Greenberg and its Integrity Unit boss Nick Weeks flew into Townsville on Monday on what the NRL said was a routine visit.

In a statement released by the NRL on Tuesday afternoon, Weeks said salary cap auditors had reviewed some of the matters raised by reports and had determined that no further action was required.

"As any new information becomes available it will be reviewed by the auditors," Weeks said.
Fairfax Media has reported 10 high-profile Cowboys players have bought property from Lancini's companies over the past seven years.

It has been alleged the players, reportedly including State of Origin stars Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott and James Tamou, acquired the properties at prices substantially under the market value.

But Lancini said the properties were sold at market price and denied any of the deals had been done to get round the team's salary cap.

"I dispute anyone claiming that there has been any untoward deals done with our players," Lancini told Fairfax.

Lancini also denied it was a conflict of interest to be giving players advice on buying properties in which he had an interest.

The Cowboys are running second on the NRL ladder following a 46-4 thrashing of Parramatta in Townsville on Monday night.

Any clubs found to have breached the salary cap face huge fines and the loss of competition points.

Melbourne Storm were stripped of its 2007 and 2009 premierships and fined $1,689,000 for salary cap breaches from 2006-10.

The NRL announced last week it was investigating allegations of undisclosed third-party payments to Parramatta players over a five-year period reported to exceed a million dollars.

Parramatta was fined $465,000 earlier this year for salary cap breaches committed during the 2014 season.


0 nhận xét Blogger 0 Facebook

Post a Comment

 
Top