Former Canterbury Bulldogs, Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers five-eighth, and current player agent and media personality Braith Anasta has suggested the Sydney Roosters were also over the salary cap in 2002.
Anasta, in his first NRL contract with the Bulldogs, where he played 110 games between 2000 and 2005, was part of the 2002 Bulldogs squad found to be over the salary cap.
The Bulldogs were found to be over the salary cap in the 2001 and 2002 period in the middle of that season, with the club stripped of all of its competition points.
At that point, the Bulldogs were on track to take out the minor premiership with 17 wins under the belt, and they finished the season with 20 - it would have given them the minor premiership by a staggering seven points.
In their absence, the New Zealand Warriors won the minor premiership, and the Sydney Roosters would go on to beat the Auckland-based side 30 points to 8 in the grand final.
Anasta, speaking on The Bye Round Podcast with another former Canterbury player in James Graham, suggested the Bulldogs were also over the cap.
"2002 - 17 wins in a row. Almost unbeatable," Anasta said on the podcast.
"That made us hungry, and because we worked hard as a unit, we needed to win a comp. It was at that time where we were red-hot, we were always in the finals, it was us and the Roosters for about three or four years going toe to toe.
"The Roosters went on to win that comp. It was like a dagger. We were that far ahead of everyone that year and who knows who would have won. The Roosters still may have beaten us, you can't possibly predict that but we would have been very hard to beat.
"And... Mate, as if they weren't cheating the salary cap. Like, please."
The former half, who now hosts NRL 360 on Fox Sports, said it wasn't a case of the Bulldogs being victimised by the NRL despite his claim.
He also said the players had no idea that the club was over the salary cap.
"Not victimsed, because they got caught red-handed. It is what it is, we were way above the cap. The players didn't have any idea, so to us we weren't over the cap, but we were," Anasta said.
"There was no 'poor us'. We kind of copped it, so it was a good indication of what the team was like. We went on to win a premiership in 2004 and we had dramas at the place over that time, but again, it did make us stronger as a unit.
"I think we would have won anyway over that period. I don't think it was the salary cap that won us 2004. We could have won more, in 2002 we probably would have. It is what it is, but it definitely added to the power of the group."
The Bulldogs went on to win a competition in 2004, with Anasta leaving the club at the end of the 2005 season for the Roosters, where he played 147 games between 2006 and 2012.
