But the announcement is talking about 2012 onwards and the players contracts for that period.

Therefore Sammut is off quota. At least for the 1st year

yep thats what I said isnt it?.

jolly good, room for mark gasnier now

“Protecting player welfare is of paramount importance to us,” said RFL’s Chief Operating Officer Ralph Rimmer, 2 days after the Crusaders players who are owed 480k and not paid this month were told they were all out of a job in September minutes before everyone knew.

He'll be registered with the RFL and a copy of the contract will be with the RFL. It's not like it's going to slip under their radar but for that one post on RLFANS that blew everyone's cover.

phew, cheers pal, thought adey was gonna be blaming me if it came out

but good news hes not gonna be taking a quota place

its looking good

Other crusaders players are looking less of a gamble now, Chan for example?

right lets have a good quality forward on quota please.

would think crusaders agents phones will be going mental in wake of this announcement. hopefully hood has at least enquired about witt/hanbury and chan would be a good call for the impact prop role. assuming witt and hanbury are snapped up by other clubs wonder if we've burnt our bridges with herbert. Given now free quota spot a sammut/herbert halves pairing with gale and jeffries as backup looks a lot more balanced to me.

no vbfg, I am sure you are wrong, and the same applies to the Salary cap too, they go to Warringtons supporters blog, see from the postings there that they aren't over the cap, it must be the truth, so no probs!!! Keeps the cap admin costs down.

its really good fortune, lets hope that we can make the most of it.

I am not vbfg.

im not either

i am spartacus

My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius !!!

my name is minimus dickius

Antonio Kaufusi has been mentioned for quins and is def looking. Big strong no nonsense prop and may be able to find a quota loophole. is he worth looking at?

Connor now posted on twitter

"In the wake of the RFLs announcement on Crusaders players, Bulls are seeking clarification on Jarrod Sammut's quota status - Uncertain at the moment"

Thought he'd already been announced as a signing by quins?

Sammut will only be off quota for 1 year, makes you wonder whether Bradford would have given him a longer deal with hindsight?

Can see the RFL not allowing Sammut to be off quota. If they dont cant we just offer him a new deal?

If they dont let him be off quota then offering him a new deal wouldnt help as he'd be signing it as a bulls player not a crusaders one. The dispensations are only for crusaders players signing their first deal for another club. Presumably we've already registered his contract with RFL before announcing the signing. If we'd known the dispensation was pending then presumably we'd have at least put an option for extra years in the contract. Would be petty in extreme of RFL to not grant the dispensation to sammut but I won't be at all surprised if they dont.

Obeying their own rules is not "petty". When you buy something and are happy with the price, but next day there's 33% off, would you go back to the shop saying how unfair it all was?

The RFL may give the Bulls a special dispensation for the dispensation, but the fact seems to be we signed him pre-dispensation so the rules as they were then do apply.

It does add fuel to the fire of which way the Bulls are thinking, though, if we must now presume that they signed him on the basis that he WOULD take up a quota spot.

It all depends on the wording of the dispensation. IF it was phrased as players signed for crusaders for 2012 season at the time they withdrew their license application then we're probably ok. If it was players under contract at time dispensation was announced then we're not. Pretty certain we werent aware of the dispensation otherwise we'd have put an option for further years into the contract.
Nothing to stop us getting same advatage as other teams though if theres anyone in crusaders squad who would improve us and would otherwise need a quota spot. hanbury,witt and chan spring immediately to mind.

Have the Bulls missed a trick here by only signing Sammut for 1 year?
If he has a good year with you next season then you will re-sign him but he will then be one of your quota players

Would it have been a gamble worth taking in offering him a 3 year deal?

Maybe he only wanted to sign for a year, plan to go home or see what else comes up?

dispensation wasnt announced until after we'd signed him.