Two clubs stung over cap breach

REPEAT offenders Canberra have been fined by the NRL for breaching the salary cap over the last two years.

The Raiders, who have broken the rules in five of the last six years, were yesterday fined $16,037 for breaches of the second-tier and NYC caps from last year in addition to a $68,073 fine for breaches of the NRL and NYC caps in 2015.

The club’s poor record prompted the NRL to fine them 150 per cent of the breach amounts, in contrast to Canterbury who were given a discount for self-reporting after going over the NRL cap by $81,965 last year.

The Bulldogs will be stung with 75 per cent of the overpayments or $61,474.

NRL chief operating officer Nick Weeks said that the breaches were all at the lower end of the scale but would still result in financial penalties for the clubs.

Canberra’s chief executive Don Furner said “unforeseen circumstances” were to blame for the variety of breaches over the two years.

“Due to changes to the club’s rosters during this period and injuries which forced squad changes, the club was forced to make some unplanned player movements which have forced minor breaches of the salary cap,” Furner said in a statement. COACH Paul Green is being coy about Johnathan Thurston’s availability despite the star playmaker travelling with his North Queensland squad ahead of tomorrow night’s NRL clash with Cronulla.

Green said Thurston flew to Sydney to film a TV commer-