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Message: [QUOTE="Kooly87, post: 3031464, member: 9326"] You honestly don't think the greatest salary cap rort in the history of the game has anything to do with Melbourne's success over that period? I'm fine with Melbourne being rightly acknowledged for their success over the last 5-7 years or so. I think Bellamy is a masterful Coach and I think their ability to time and again identify talent both up and coming and also in guys who other clubs could not see that talent. I think they run a terrific match day and member experience and their front office do an outstanding job in undoubtedly the toughest market in the game. They are arguably the benchmark of professionalism both on and off the field and for that they should be rightly applauded. All that said though, there is absolutely no doubt at all that their systematic cheating of the salary cap gave them a significant advantage over their opposition which they were able to exploit ruthlessly effectively. They happened by chance or skill or a combination of both upon one the most outstanding combination of players in history at Norths in Smith, Slater, Cronk and Inglis. Bellamy and his staff were no doubt were instrumental in nurturing those guys into the stars they are today, but it remains an undisputed fact that they would simply not have been able to retain that talent within the same squad had they not been cheating the salary cap. It's the success that the organisation achieved over this period, granted that the history books have now wiped, that regardless still influences our memory of Melbourne during that time and still helps to shape the perception of that club today. I'm not in any way saying that they are only successful because they cheated. I'm also not disagreeing that they are the benchmark club in the game today in terms of how to run a football club both on and off the field. I cannot however, for even a moment accept that there is not a sizeable portion of the success they enjoyed and the reputation and perception that they hold within the game today that they do not owe to their systematic cheating of the salary cap rules. It's been almost a decade since they were busted now and in the fullness of time, I actually think you could mount a reasonable argument that for all the shame and disgrace they bought upon themselves at the time and rightfully should hang over them always, that perhaps it might still have all been worth it for the way it helped steel the resolve of the people at the club, the success and aura that people still associate with them subconsciously today, and the subsequent success that it helped to create for them which they are still bearing the fruits of today. [/QUOTE]

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