I'm not, but given the experience of salford, london and Gateshead I don't see a new team bettering current teams and therefore don't throw these to the wolves (pardon the pun) on a fantasy trip.

A better bet would be to look at Widnes /Leigh, Bradford and possibly revisit Cumbria. With Cumbria it needs somebody up there with a vision that the fans of the area might latch on to rather than the RFL suggesting mergers which will then be resisted.

The debate around the impossible problem has been around for decades, literally.

The salary cap is still relevant IMHO. If you just let nature take its course, yes Leeds might be competitive but you're looking at a 4-5 team Super League.

If you want more fans across the game, each side must be competitive. There is no magic formula to increase revenues significantly by traditional means.

Like I've said before, the game simply cannot afford in-fighting and a lack of vision. How do you fix that? United governing body for a start, and I've suggested a closer link with the Australian game too.
It is in everyone's best interest to make the international programme meaningful again, and let's face it we've been off the pace for as long as most of us can remember.

The game won't die in any case, but it can decline a fair bit still. We're already starting to look like a feeder competition for the NRL.

The clubs have voted unanimously for the cap to remain as it is.

Sensible outcome. No need to "Dumb down" the competition artificially. If the club owners don't want to (or can't) spend the cap then that's fine. Leeds have already said they will not operate up to the cap next year.

The biggest mistake in terms of cap has been the removal of the 50% of Turnover limit. RL needs clubs that grow their revenue to develop financial independence and improve their position to invest in grass roots and youth, as well as strengthen the negotiating hand for the future TV deals. It's clear with all the exceptions granted, those that run the game recognise the cap limit is too low in real terms.

I was taking to a former Fax fan yesterday. Says when super league was introduced Fax were told to merge or fold, to accommodate the French team at the time. The game thus lost a massive heartland area.
Absolutely crazy imho. Think we need to stop looking at Toronto etc as the future, and go back yo grass roots...

Unanimously is interesting, considering that last week it was 6-5 in favour of lowering it.

Highly likely that the Yorkshire clubs were won around by the threat of the league splitting and then being left in the bottom half, where there was less money?

The way this unfolded, especially with Wire waving their wallet about in the middle of it, with the signing of Inglis, certainly strongly suggests this?

how come they did neither then?

Has GH said that or did he mean it would be hard for most clubs to operate on the full cap?

I'm sure I saw it on a twitter post from Peter Smith, perhaps in the article itself. Seemed to be "quoting the club".

I suspect this is why he eventually folded on the Cap limit topic, didn't really matter if he knew he couldn't drag everyone else down to his level...

Halifax Blue Soxs were amongst the original teams in Super League other teams that have since slipped into lower divisions are Oldham Bears, Sheffield Eagles and Workington Town plus Paris folded.

You don't half talk some cra@

If you don't think the unveiling of Inglis at that particular time wasn't a statement of sorts, to certain people within our game, then you are very naive.

Quite. The club went bust several years into SL, sadly. The idea that they were forced out is rubbish.

The play off game vs them in 1998 was one of the more heart-stopping moments we had under Graham Murray. At half time in that game we had gone 120 minutes without scoring against them, after the nilling the previous week. Fortunately we turned it around but going to Thrum Hall, later the Shay, was always daunting, even in their ill-fated final SL season when, moderately humourously, they had the two points they actually won on the field deducted for a salary cap breach. Who could forget the furore over Francis Cummins' innocuously raking his boot across the face of some prone 'Fax player?

Any split that didn't involve Leeds would see the splitting clubs facing some quite big financial pain quite quickly - they're Sky's no. 1 rating team, similarly Hull. Lose those two and suddenly Sky's £££ offer wouldn't be very attractive.

Some clubs have already realised that they have space on the cap with the reductions, so majority of the clubs will be able to bring more players in.

I think any breakaway would obviously include Leeds and Hull. I was thinking more of the likes of Wakefield, Huddersfield and Hull KR, who would be seriously under threat from any league breakaway or restructure.

I think they would have been quickly brought to heel if mention of any split was made during any discussions.

And the rest of the cra@ you wrote

McManus 1 hetherington 0

I thought Leeds were a big club? Trying to compete by limiting what your opponents can spend? How utterly embarassing

Actually it’s Hetherington 4 McManus 0

Has McManus recovered yet after calling a ref bent because his team couldn’t win yet another final?

Oh dear Him uve just reacted the exact way the troll wanted you to. While the rest of us showed restraint you couldnt resist. Youve let the side down.

As a Leeds fan I think it's embarrassing yes, but the penny pinching at the club has been gong on for years.....

No. Leeds, who have just spent £25m on the stadium following £15m on the stadium over the previous 20 years followed by spending huge amounts, for the first time, on marquee players and significantly expanding the back room staff and employing Sinfield on no doubt £100k a year, have been anything but penny pinching over the past couple of years.

Hetherington has always been prudent, and has always driven a very, very hard deal. In the context of how the club has been run through Caddick-Hetherington era the fiscal extravagance of the past two seasons has been eye-opening.

yes its been going on for years , that is the obvious reason we won so many Grand Finals



And if we were penny pinching why pay a fortune for Merrin and Hurrel .

Oh dear...

Nonsense

How much have we spent on the new stands?

We have also had over the last 20 years the most successful period in the clubs history and had some pretty big signings along the way.