Many are calling the Melbourne Storm salary cap breaches the biggest Australian sports story ever. After ranking them, JON PIERIK agrees.

01 Melbourne Storm salary-cap scandal: 2010

Talk about a 10 on the Richter Scale. In an unprecedented move in Australian sport’s history, the National Rugby League stripped the Storm of its 2007 and ‘09 premierships, $1.1 million of prizemoney and all of its 2010 season points after it was found to have rorted the salary cap by $1.7 million over a five-year period. Guilty club executives even faced criminal convictions, while the club itself faced an uncertain future. As News Ltd chairman John Hartigan lamented, ‘‘this club has had rats in its ranks’’.

02 Bodyline: 1932-33

The fall-out of this famous Ashes series in Australia even had diplomatic consequences after England captain Douglas Jardine and his two fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce developed the ‘‘fast leg theory’’ to intimidate and combat Australia’s batsmen, particularly Sir Donald Bradman. The controversy reached its peak during the second day of the Third Test when Australian captain Bill Woodfull was felled by a bouncer, later complaining to the English team manager: ‘‘There are two teams out there, one is playing cricket’’. Australia refused to retaliate and England won the series 4-1.

03 World Series Cricket revolution: 1977

Angry that his Nine Network had been overlooked yet again by the Australian Cricket Board for the broadcast rights to Test cricket, media mogul Kerry Packer had one solution - buy the best players from around the world and start his own competition. In a move which would ultimately shake up cricket for the better, Packer staged his own Super Tests and introduced a ground-breaking limited overs competition with players even wearing colored clothing. The warring parties eventually united with Packer finally winning the battle to get his hands on official international cricket.

04 Cathy Freeman 400m gold at Sydney Olympics: 2000

This was so much more than just a feel-good story or even an Aussie winning a gold medal. Freeman, indeed, had carried not only the weight of a nation for years, particularly since her silver in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but she had also been an inspiration for Indigenous Australians and gave hope to the downtrodden.

05 Phar Lap’s death: 1932

The champion horse who captured the public’s imagination during the early years of the Great Depression hemorrhaged to death on a north American visit. Theories abounded, with many believing the Melbourne Cup champion and national icon had been poisoned by US gangsters fearing the horse would inflict huge losses on their illegal bookmakers. But a Melbourne Museum report in 2008 found Phar Lap’s behaviour in his final hours wasn’t consistent with ‘‘acute arsenic poisoning’’.

06 Shane Warne’s banned diuretic: 2003

On the eve of cricket’s World Cup in South Africa, Warne - the flamboyant but trouble-prone superstar - tested positive to a banned diuretic and was sent home. He later blamed his mum for giving him the tablet, and denied he took it to mask performance-enhancing drugs. Warne was banned for a year but, despite the absence of the greatest spinner of all-time, Australia still managed to claim successive World Cups.

07 Wayne Carey’s departure from North Melbourne: 2002

Carey was ‘‘The King’’, on and off the field, through a glorious era for the Kangaroos, guiding his club to premierships in 1996 and ‘99. But all that changed when an affair with Kelli Stevens, the wife of his vice-captain, Anthony, was exposed. Carey left the club in disgrace and the Kangaroos have never really fully recovered.

08 America’s Cup: 1983

The longest winning streak in sporting history - 132 years - ended when Australia II, skippered by John Bertrand and bankrolled by businessman Alan Bond, claimed the seventh and final race of an unforgettable series against Dennis Conner’s Liberty. Few probably believed a boat race could transcend sport, but Australia’s ultimately successful quest to become the first visiting nation to take home the cup surely did. This group of men truly did ‘‘come from a land down under’’.

09 Shane Warne/Mark Waugh betting scandal: 1998

The Australian cricket stars had been fined on the eve of the 1995 tour of the West Indies for accepting money from ‘‘John the bookmaker’’ in return for pitch and weather information. The incident had been kept a secret by the then Australian Cricket Board, now Cricket Australia, until an investigation by The Australian's Malcolm Conn lifted the lid. The pair escaped further sanctions but the controversy was a precursor to the match-fixing scandals that were finally exposed two years later.

10 Super League revolution: 1997

Many supporters believe rugby league has never recovered from the News Ltd-led breakaway competition, sparked by the media company’s unsuccessful bid to purchase the pay television rights to the then Australian Rugby League. After a protracted legal battled, Super League was staged alongside the ARU for a single season in 1997 before the two merged and formed the National Rugby League.