www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... _1_3815261 Fair assesment?

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... _1_3815261 Fair assesment?

fair assesment?

yes... he obviously has an in depth knowledge of the workings of english RL and their finances... oh hang on......

doesn't he suggest wigan should have 'given' charnley to Hull KR because he was 'that good'.

sorry clint....stick to playing.

No.

didn't hear him complain about his hefty salary whilst playing over here too! maybe he should've given some of it to these needy youngsters

He brings up some good points but makes some awful ones too. For instance, the suggestion that transfer fees for young players should be scrapped is awful. The suggestion that the RFL should be independently audited is a very good one IMO, the RFL should be doing more with the product they have IMO.

"Clint NEWTON has never been frightened to speak his mind"

Neither have I. What an load of garbage.

My favourite line is 'Newton, 30'

What a tool. If Hull KR wern't throwing money at average Aussies, they could afford talented Brits you moron. It's like Turkeys voting for Christmas.

If Newton's that bothered about the game then why doesn't he get stuck in to playing for the USA?

Talks a lot of sense. The rfl need to do more to increase income levels so ALL clubs spend to the cap, that way parity is restored which will breed
Interest, increased sponsors and TV revenues. It's a bit catch 22 at the min.

Regards transfer fees, there are two sides to the story with clubs not being happy at losing their kids for nothing having spent £'s developing them.

The Salary cap situaition is a joke. Until they bring in a miminum spend then there really is no point.

“Sometimes I get embarrassed to play in the comp’, not because of the quality of the players but because of the way it is run"

He was here for a good few years , can't have been that embarrased or was the money better than what was on offer down under?

Re Charnley - “But Wigan could ask for a 15 or 20 grand fee as well and suddenly it becomes a lot more expensive"
So if Charnley was earning such a small wage add 15 or 20k Rovers would have had a good buy. Bad bit of business on Rovers part in that scenario IMO. Some of the money wasted on the Mason signing could have bought Charnley and a few others.

Probably because there wern't any offers down under, apart from the Toyota Cup.

You are aware he has signed for an NRL side aren't you



I though he spoke a lot of sense TBH, the game in the UK is a great product, but run by rank amateurs at the top.

Clint always has a lot to say, and much of it is valid. However, he loses the argument with his comment about transfer fees. Wigan have put thousands into the development of Charnley and have every right to reap back a profit on that investment, either by hanging onto the player (as they have) or extracting a fee which acts as compensation for thier investment (ala Cas getting 150K for Westerman).

His personal touch points with RL allow him to compare the capabilities of the people running the RFL, I feel he is spot on in his observations.
He will not have the historical culture of the sport in the UK so will struggle with the transfer system or P&R, but he understands we must get the heartlands sorted first and then build

Yep, Penrith Panthers, those well known Grand Final regulars.

If in doubt, bag the RFL.

Has Clint been reading RLFans on his days off? He sounds like the sort of disaffected soul who blames the RFL for all the ills their club is suffering, of which the VT has more than its fair share.

In the week where Keith Senior has shown without argument that players should really keep their mouths shut and stick to what they know, it's nice to see he's not on his own.

He's totally right. Why should he shut up about it just because his opinions aren't positive and because they don't fit your fan boy viewpoint?

The sport in this country has been run appallingly by the RFL.

Appallingly you say?

If you think this lot are appalling, wtf did you make of the shambles that preceded them from the likes of Lindsay and Oxley?

The RFL is a much more stable, productive organisation now than it has been at any time since I started watching the game in the early 70s.

That doesn't mean it's well run.

Is the playing field as level as in the NRL? No. Is the standard on the field improving? No. Are the finances of the clubs improving? No.

As he says in the article it's time the RFL brought in an external body to do a review of how things are done.

How are any of those things the "fault" of the RFL?

If clubs are stagnating, or going backwards, through poor management what is the RFL supposed to do for them?

It exists to look after the health of the game as a whole, right up from under 6s mini/mod league to the international game. If you genuinely think the sport hasn't made big strides forward under the current management structure then nothing I say is going to influence your opinion, but I suggest you're in a minority.

Your opinions.

Every single one of those points could be debated.

The RFL need to be working towards the grant = the salary cap then insist all clubs spend max salary cap. Only then will we see an even comp. May mean some hard decions about cutting the SL back to 12 clubs but that should be the goal imo.

They really couldn't. The RFL do the bare minimum in keeping the sport ticking over and nothing more. Crusaders has been an unmitigated disaster and so has the entire franchise system. I'll bet that has cost millions and has resulted in clubs like Wakefield, Castleford, Salford and Harlequins remaining in Super League.

In place of who, exactly?

If those four clubs you mentioned were no longer in SL, who would replace them?

Leigh? Barrow? Halifax?

Aye, the sport would be much, much stronger with those big names dining at the top table.

If you're advocating getting rid of them and running with a ten-team elite competition, ask yourself why SL is currently 14 teams and how much input the RFL had to that decision?

Correct Andy.

But you can look at things in perspective, unlike Saddo.

I'm not interested in the politics. Get rid of the chaff.