2002 was building on salary cap breach and the rest was us managing to hold on after the scandal. It fizzled out in 2007
rubbish
to my last breath, I will believe that our 2002 team was overpaid and not that we had some unfair advantage over rivals and that is evident when you consider the squads the likes of the Roosters, Dragons, Broncos etc. had at the time... even Gus Gould at the time and still in Uncle Nick's pocket wrote in the SMH that he could have gotten our team under the cap... from memory, pre-season projections had us as a finals team but not one of the main contenders (from memory 'Big League' had us finishing 8th)... how was that possible if we had a 30% advantage over the rest of the salary cap compliant league... but in hindsight, people only remember the 17 straight wins and then simply conclude that it was because we were over the cap
and for those doubting me, seriously compare our squads with that of the talent laden Storm from 2006 to 2010
I also think you are being very disrespectful of the team building done by the club in those years... the 'Dogs club won from memory 4 Jersey Flegg premierships in 5 years at that time... we had the NRL's outstanding rookie three years out of four... we were astute with our signings including taking advantage of the Rabbits being kicked out of the comp and the Northern Eagles merger falling apart
just look at our 2004 GF squad
1. Patten - an Illawarra junior signed from the Dragons but hardly a cheque book signing as the Dragons also had is Roberts and for all the General gave us, was not a representative star calibre player
2. El Masri - local junior... played one Origin and one Test match and was great for us but again, not a star player commanding big money
3. Harris - came up through the junior grades and debuted with us... moved to the ESL shortly after the GF and did have a stint with the Cowboys from memory but not much to write about
4. Tonga - signed with us in 2004 from Parramatta for FG opportunity as he was behind representative pair Lyon and Vaealiki at the Eels... simply good recruitment
5. Utai - local junior... part of the famed 2001 jersey flegg team which included Thurston, Elsom, Asotasi, Oliver, Myles etc... NRL rookie of the year in 2002... did play for NZ but seriously, and I do not mean this as disrespect to Utai (I f*+#ing love the guy), what was his career like post 2005 when his body started breaking down and he was being targeted by the opposition with kicks?
6. Anasta - one of the big money players in our squad and we benefited from Souths being kicked out of the comp and our relationship with George Piggins who did not want Braith to sign with the Roosters... had already won the 'LeagueWeek' most overrated award twice by 2004... was not essential to our success... one of the players we clearly overpaid
7. Sherwin - quintessential 'Dogs player... junior, debuted with the club, on his day the second best halfback in the comp and yet, was behind Johns, Kimmorley, Barrett, Orford, Finch, and Gower for the NSW Origin halfback spot... we are not premiers in 2004 without Shifty
8. O'Meley - astute and fortunate recruitment given that the Northern Eagles merger fell apart
9. Perry - with all due respect, would not have gotten a FG spot at any other NRL club
10. Mason - scouted from the Newcastle comp and debuted with us in 2000
11. Maitua - an astute signing from the Rabbits that had been kicked out... could play second row, lock, five-eighth, and left centre and his ability to start the GF in the back row helped us cover for the loss of Price
12. Ryan - signed from the Eels for the 2003 season and was an Origin player already... fair enough
13. Grimaldi - from memory, he debuted with the Dragons but played very few games for them before coming across to us and was part of the club when we made that finals run in 1998... went to England (?) afterwards before coming back to us in 2002-2003
14. Hughes - part of the Hughes clan, debuted with the club, part 1998 run, and another player that got more of a run and undoubtedly more money from us than he would have from any other NRL club
15. Asotasi - part of the great scouting and recruitment the club had in NZ at the time... came up through the grades and debuted with us in 2002 from memory, and re-signed with us for less money despite strong interest from the Storm
16. Thurston - recruited from Toowoomba (?) and came up through the grades including that great 2001 jersey flegg team... debuted with us in 2002 but only started a season in FG in 2004 and we lost him straight away to the Cowboys for 2005
17. SBW - much like Asotasi, scouted and recruited from NZ (was our then NZ scout called Ackland?), came up through the grades, debuted for us that year due to a shoulder injury in 2003 and he actually missed 2 months of the season in 2004 due to an ankle injury... great junior development
18. Price - debuted with the club in the mid-90's, won two premierships, played Origin and Test matches, and captained the club
apart from overpaying our players which I am not trying to downplay and for which we rightly had our points stripped in 2002, we were powerful and did so much right in that period as a club and were successful as a result
and you do a disservice to the club labelling it as simply the result of cheating
