Sideline Sid - Sports blogger Sideline Sid is a local sport fanatic. Not only is he a classic rugby bloke but he has views, opinions and knowledge on all sports played in the Bay of Plenty.

Like just about all sports 'nuts' in Australasia, Sideline Sid has watched the Melbourne Storm salary cap saga unfold in the last week - so here's my two bobs worth.
The way I see it is that the Melbourne Storm have cheated - pure and simple. Just like athletes taking performance enhancing drugs, the rorting of the salary cap (by a massive amount) is taking an unfair advantage.

The Storm set out to build a team of superstars by renumerating them more than was allowable under the salary cap. This gave the Storm the luxury of a high number of game breakers that weren't available to the other NRL teams.

However, only the most naive would think that other clubs haven't breached the cap. It is just that they haven't been caught and I reckon there are a number of NRL club chief executives that will be shaking in their boots.

The Bulldogs lost a heap of competition points in 2002 for the same sin. There was a flipside for the Warriors, who won the minor premiership, when the runaway leaders were removed from the title race.

Just a couple of years later the Warriors were pinged early season points for breaching the cap. The loss of points ultimately cost the Warriors a place in the playoffs at the end of the season.

Arrogance and the pursuit of glory by any means, drives the actions that have led to the Storm forfeiting two NRL championship titles. What really gets me going is the Storm are now claiming that they have been unfairly picked on. Many of the Storm supporters seem to think that their only crime was getting caught

In my humble opinion, they should have been kicked out of the NRL - full stop. By allowing them to continue to play this season is going to create an uneven playing field. The Storm will have an undue influence on the results, while not being eligible to win the competition.

The Warriors copped the Storm backlash last weekend when they were thrashed 40-6. It was a game that no matter who the Storm faced, they were playing with sense of injustice that would have taken them to victory against anyone.

There is a real telling difference in the way that the NRL and professional rugby in New Zealand are run. The NRL is owned by commercial interests whose bottom line is to make money.

In New Zealand the overall ownership of the game of rugby remains with the unions and clubs, who are mainly administered by volunteer boards and committees.

On the local club rugby scene Tauranga Sports are laying down the gauntlet to all the other contenders (or is it pretenders) in the Baywide Premier championship title race.

The Tauranga Domain based side are chasing a new record of four successive championship crowns after winning the top echelon prize in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

They are well on the way to the unique feat in 2010 with an unbeaten record after the first five rounds this season

Seeya at the Game.