The players of disgraced Australian National Rugby League club Melbourne Storm said they will not pursue an appeal over their NRL premiership points ban this season.
Scrum-half Cooper Cronk said owners News Limited and the Rugby League Professionals Association (RLPA) had persuaded the Storm players to forgo any attempt to appeal that part of the club's punishment for cheating on their salary cap.
The Storm players are now resigned to finishing the current season in last position with no points to play for in their remaining 17 games.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"There'll be no appeal," Cronk told reporters.
"A lot of emotions run around your head, but we've got football to concentrate on now and the only thing we can hang our hat on now is playing football."
The players' acceptance of their penalty comes after News Ltd chief executive John Hartigan told them there would be no support from the owners for an appeal despite the wishes of many Storm fans.
The Storm thrashed the New Zealand Warriors 40-6 last weekend in Melbourne in their first match since being stripped of two premierships, losing the right to play for points this year and fined 1.6 million dollars (1.4 million US).
The NRL cracked down heavily on the Storm after they uncovered a five-year 1.7-million-dollar systemic cheating of their salary cap last week.
The NRL has also threatened to throw the team out of next year's competition if they cannot meet the salary cap, which is likely to force them to ditch one or more of their stars -- Greg Inglis, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith or Cronk.
The league has capped total salary costs for the top 25 players at a club at 4.1 million dollars (3.8 million US) per year.
