Something needs to be done - currently we have a shrinking sport that is struggling to finance itself. Even Leeds is a tiny business in revenue terms and it is one of the biggest clubs.

The RFL is not fit for purpose and needs more dynamic management and a clear vision for the sport - I can't see SKY paying the same monies if the current trends continue.

The key is a greater pyramid and greater opportunities to make a full time career in the sport - this has to start from the grass roots. Increase participation perhaps through nines or touch to begin with?

Reduce SL to 10 teams return to franchising and make the championship the Queensland Cup/NSW feeder to the elite level. Clubs are funding 25 players make sure they are playing every week when they are not injured/rested

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That's pretty much what I'd do too.

IMHO the lack of player movement between the ‘big clubs’ is solely down to the Salary Cap. There just isn’t the budget to shell out on ‘big money’ players while managing to retain your existing ‘big money’ players.

By effectively keeping a static SC has painted RL into a corner with no real way out. As HIM suggests, upping the cap at this point will simply increase players wages.

A massive hike in the SL is also unrealistic as a majority of SL clubs will would struggle to meet the new wage bill meaning that the top earing clubs with have an even bigger monopoly on the best players. The knock-on effect being that there would be less reliance on the big clubs produce their own players as they would basically be able to pick and choose any players from the lower earning clubs, again widening the gap between these clubs.

The RFL have grossly mismanaged the SC limit and should have had a system that is based on the previous year’s league positions; the clubs at the bottom of the league being able to spend more than those at the top.

Unfortunately we are now way too far down the track for any major overhaul of the SC to take place. Every club has now tailored its finances and revenue streams to suit the current SC which means any changes the RFL make will have to be progressive and implemented over several years. But as the RFL can’t seem to see beyond next Thursday it’s doubtful anything will change real soon.

you could have just admitted you were wrong. 'Insult-quickly change the subject' isnt tricking anyone.

I dont think a removal of the SC would see the top teams pull away from all those at the bottom. So no contradiction.

In fact one thing the SC does brilliantly is preserves the status quo, it keeps the top clubs at the top and keeps the lower ones lower.

There is nothing to say that an SC or even any financial limits are the restrictions that are needed. We can have other restrictions on squad make up.

how many players that the bigger clubs want to keep are leaving for the lesser clubs now? its not a significant figure.

Leeds own a huge asset in the middle of headingley and makenearly a million pounds profit without really trying.
Leeds could, pretty easily. Les Catalans arent far away from us. Koukash wanted to do that, he could afford it and he gets nothing but vitriol and criticism. Simon Moran has been happy to invest when necessary and has made hundreds of millions personally and billions for his business selling big names.

give it time. In another example of RFL brilliance the marquee allowance was implemented after the big names in aus had all moved last year.

And lets look again at the marquee allowance. Kallum Watkins costs leeds £100k on the cap. He would cost Salford £175k. Thats a pretty substantial part of the cap anyway. Lets not pretend it has been put in place with the expectation most clubs will use it to bring in a big name. Its a tool to keep the big players where they are.

You say here that we need to get people interested in RL first, then list a lot of things that arent really going to interest people.

You know what wil get more kids and adults playing all over the country better than anything the RFL can do? More big name players, more big games, more media interest, more heroes.

this is similar to what i thought. But i dont think we have the time for such a slow build. We have been left behind by the NRL and by RU and there is a point where we reach a 'critical mass' and we have simply lost The best players go elsewhere, the value of the product falls, the money coming in falls so more of the best players go, so the value of the product falls and less money comes in and we are stuck in a vicious cycle.

We need a paradigm shift, a seachange in outlook and presentation. We cannot continue to be seen as the game where the best players leave and play RU or the NRL, we cannot be continue to be seen as the second best league in our sport and the second best rugby in our country. If we want the big TV money, the big sponsorship money to pay these big players not only do we need to allow our owners to invest, we need to be the be the best rugby league of any code in the world.

simple answer. Join the NRL as another conference and merge the competitions.

Agree Simon Moran has plenty of coin and Catalans will and do shell out very very generously to our antipodean cousins. Some other SL club owners may not have quite As many real assets As their public appearance would suggest or be willing to spend their own money

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/35916596[uJosh Charnley to Rugby Union[/u[/url

That's where they go when they aren't good enough for the NRL.

Salary Cap [iausterity[/i by plenty!

SL dying a slow death.

I stick by what I said on another thread...

[iThe salary cap in its current guise is a policy of enforced austerity. It isn't working in the economy as a whole and it certainly isn't working in SL. It's killing the game just like it's killing the economy. The only one's benefiting are those few at the top.

Leeds can thank the salary cap for all that silverware they've won during the past decade more than any other reason. They've benefited more than any other SL club from austerity. There's no player transfer market between the top clubs (Peacock to Leeds and Fielden to Wigan being the most recent transactions in 2005/06), hence why Leeds have been able to hang on to all their best players for so long during the past decade paying them sod all.[/i

Yeah i'm sure the likes of McGuire,Sinfield,Peacock,Hall,Watkins etc... are/ have been on sod all for the last decade or more.

[url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/leeds-rhinos/poll-cap-just-doesn-t-fit-insists-rhinos-sinfield-1-6970265[uDid Kevin Sinfield tell you to say that?[/u[/url

[url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/leeds-rhinos/exclusive-super-league-s-quality-could-take-nosedive-if-salary-cap-restrictions-are-not-eased-believes-peacock-1-3442534[uOr, how about Jamie Peacock? Did he tell you to say that?[/u[/url

[url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/leeds-rhinos/danny-mcguire-paymasters-must-step-in-to-halt-talent-drain-1-5645245[uDanny McGuire perhaps? Did he tell you to say that?[/u[/url

just because players decide to turn down more lucrative offers elsewhere doesn't mean they are on peanuts HTH

Love it, it's now austerity's fault that Leeds have dominated SL for the last 13 years.

Which lucrative offers were those then?

Bet they weren't from another top SL club.

There isn't a transfer market between the top SL clubs as I've already highlighted.

It's dead. It's been crushed by Salary Cap enforced austerity.

The supreme irony of course is that Leeds success over the past decade is primarily a consequence of the salary cap as they've been able to hang on to their players for just a few bob. They may well require the salary cap to be increased substantially or scrapped altogether in order to fill those huge talentless gaps in the squad and get back on track.

Bottom of the barrel now William, i expected better from you.

Didn't think you could provide evidence of those lucrative offers Leeds players turned down, or those super salaries you allege they've all been earning at Leeds.

I understand, I really do.

Forget what Sinfield, Peacock and McGuire opined in those links above.

You'll trade the possibility of a better quality competition employing some actual star players for salary cap enforced mediocrity any day of the week provided Leeds continue to pick up some silverware as a consequence.

One-club supporting mentality at the expense of the game as a whole defines the sport.

Can't be bothered William, but i do know if the likes of Charnley and Sarginson can get their agents to find theM RU and NRL clubs then the majority of the Leeds squad over the past decade could.

Maybe they were on excellent money AND enjoyed playing form the club, just a crazy thought i'm putting out there.

The bitterness is strong in this one

"I've never attended a fans forum but I'd like to ask Ian Lenegan why Leeds can keep hold of the likes of Hall, Watkins and Hardaker while we continually lose so many players. If they'd come through the Wigan system no doubt they'd all be in the NRL by now."

Taken from a poster on the Wigan forum William. It is Really strange how Leeds keep hold of ALL their players on sod all, and the Wigan players are leaving every season.Maybe GH has something over them we don't know about?

Most seem to agree that the current standard of Rugby League in this country is at perhaps its lowest level of quality. The game here badly lacks big star names and those few that we have are gradually being tempted away as for some time now we have been unable to compete financially with the NRL and Union. Charnley and Sarginson are the latest defectors.

IMO we have to raise the salary cap with perhaps more encouragement for the marquee idea which should be used more often. There is a dire need for more sponsorship money into the game both at RFL and club levels. When the current Sky deal comes to an end (2016?) we should be talking to the BBC, BT sports and ITV as well as Sky to negotiate a better deal. We still have the advantage for part of the year of being a summer sport. We would have a big problem if Union were to move to the summer.

Having said that we are in something of a catch 22 situation because to bring more money into our game we have to offer a better product that we currently do yet to improve our game we need extra funds!

Some have argued that the SL and therefore the SC has saved clubs from ruin because of the perilous financial state of the game before SL. Whereas this has some truth, I would argue that it was more likely the Sky money that saved us rather than the SL and the SC.

Since the original Sky deal Rugby Union has dramatically progressed as a professional sport and now attracts the BBC, ITV, BT Sport and Sky to fight over the TV rights. They get almost as much as SL just for the England international matches.

One thing we could do to improve the spectacle at no cost would be to revisit the way the game is being refereed. This will need some changes to the laws for example to stop the nonsense of the so called "wrestle" at the breakdown which slows down the game to an unacceptable level - even Union is faster now at the breakdown.

As Sarginson/Wigan have said that money has had nothing to do with his long held desire to play in the NRL I'm not sure allowing clubs to run up a wage bill only covered by the largess of wealthy benefactors is any sort of long term solution either. Pretty soon Wayne Bennett will be able to select a starting England team from the NRL comp and that IMO will be no bad thing for our chances.

Hasn’t the NRL salary cap shot up in the past 2-3 years almost doubling what we offer in SL now? Whilst that’s happened there has been quite an exodus of the best British talent.

I’d suggest that if that disparity had been the case from 2004 onwards Leeds would’ve lost more players to the NRL.

Heard an interview with Bennett and he seems to put all the England players in 2 camps (an NRL playing English player and a none NRL English player). He also said he trusts the NRL ones and the Super League ones have to be looked at to see if good enough. His ideology, rightly or wrongly, is clear to see.

As expected.

In all honesty though, i can't think of anyone right now in the NRL who is english who at least wouldn't make the squad on merit.Sam Burgess and the twins are certainties. Hodgson has been great so will get in probably as starter.Widdop i think is over rated personally but will get in, Cooper doing well good squad man. Reed probably best centre we have right now with Watkins out of form, Whitehead improving all the time and figured well last series.

Only doubt is Joe Burgess due to lack of game time. Like Tvoc said, several of our top stars playing NRL certainly won't harm our chances on the international stage.

No Bullseye, that can't have been a possibility under any circumstances because Leeds players are motivated primarily by loyalty. They play for the love of the club, a guarantee of silverware and, according to Biff Tannen, very decent salaries indeed whilst the esteemed CEO still manages to operate a parsimonious salary cap with plenty of wriggle room for further signings if and when required. It's the best run club ever and no player ever wants to leave.

Please don't indulge in destroying that myth.

Meanwhile in the real world of salary capped austerity, there is no player movement and no transfer activity whatsoever between the top SL clubs since 2005/06.