The Wests Tigers could be forced to shed a player from their roster in the four months to fit under the salary cap after the NRL enforced $639,000 in sanctions against the club for breaches. The Tigers breathed a sigh of relief on Friday when their $750,000 fine for failing to declare an ambassadorial role offered to Robbie Farah in 2016 was halved and Justin Pascoe's deregistration abandoned. The joint-venture's highly-regarded chief executive will be allowed back to his post on June 19, with the NRL deciding to apply a six-month ban back-dated to December due to his acceptance of fault. But the Tigers will still face roster challenges after the NRL decided to impose the $639,000 offer made to Farah as a deduction from the club's cap spread across the next two years - and not four as the club had hoped. As such, the Tigers will have $319,500 stripped from both this year and next year's cap. The Tigers have 29 players registered in their roster underneath their adjusted figure for 2019. However they may not have room for the minimum salary of a 30th player, with the situation complicated by the NRL refusing to register Zane Musgrove's contract until an indecent assault charge he has denied is finalised in court. It may mean a slightly higher-paid player will need to be moved on to complete the roster at the NRL's cut-off by the end of June. It comes after the NRL uncovered evidence showing the Tigers used the ambassador offer as an inducement for Farah to leave the club for South Sydney and clear up cap space at the end of 2016. It's understood that if the NRL were aware of the offer at the time, they would have told the Tigers such a proposed payment would have to have been included in their salary cap. The NRL were also frustrated that the Tigers later applied to the NRL to have cap relief on Farah's exit payment because they claimed he was a destabilising figure. The club on Friday accepted the sanctions, but insisted they didn't attempt to act against the rules of the game by not disclosing the offer to Farah. "Our initial instinct that the club had not breached the cap was not correct after assessing all of the compiled evidence alongside the NRL rules," the Tigers' board said in a statement. "We now accept that we should have declared the ambassador agreement as part of the salary cap. We apologise to the NRL for our initial response." The Wests Tigers have had their $750,000 salary cap fine halved and been allowed to welcome provisionally deregistered chief executive Justin Pascoe back to the game in June. The NRL on Friday handed down their final ruling on the Tigers' punishment for failing to declare an ambassadorial role offered to Robbie Farah. As part of the sanctions, the Tigers will also have $319,500 stripped from both this and next year's salary cap to meet the $639,000 offer to Farah, which was not disclosed to the NRL. It means the Tigers will likely have to release one player by June 30 in order to fill their 30-man roster and fit under the cap. However no player will need to be immediately moved on before the start of the season, with their current 29-man squad under the salary cap ahead of their round-one clash with Manly. That may be partly due to the NRL's refusal to register the contract of forward Zane Musgrove, who is fighting an indecent assault charge. Yet the news was largely positive for the Tigers, as Pascoe had originally been deregistered by the NRL when the original findings were announced in December. His ban will now be just six months backdated, meaning he can return to his post as soon as June 19 following the mid-season representative round break. The NRL says the penalty deduction and Pascoe's reprieve come after the club accepted their fault in the dealings. According to the NRL's investigation, the Tigers had used the ambassadorial offer to induce Farah to leave the club at the end of the 2016 season. The club on Friday accepted the sanctions, but insisted they didn't attempt to act against the rules of the game by not disclosing the offer to Farah. "Our initial instinct that the club had not breached the cap was not correct after assessing all of the compiled evidence alongside the NRL rules," the Tigers board said in a statement. "We now accept that we should have declared the Ambassador agreement as part of the salary cap. We apologise to the NRL for our initial response. "We look forward to welcoming back our CEO Justin Pascoe in June and would like to acknowledge the strain this has placed on him and his family." Australian Associated Press
