This article certainly appears to suggest so. www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... acens.html [iLenagan revealed Wigan have taken advantage of amendments to the Super League salary cap to help keep Sam Tomkins in the game. The Rugby Football League are sticking with a £1.7million ceiling but clubs are to be given permission to make allowances for long-serving, marquee and home-grown players in an effort to prevent a drain of talent to Australia and the 15-man code.[/i

This article certainly appears to suggest so. www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... acens.html [iLenagan revealed Wigan have taken advantage of amendments to the Super League salary cap to help keep Sam Tomkins in the game. The Rugby Football League are sticking with a £1.7million ceiling but clubs are to be given permission to make allowances for long-serving, marquee and home-grown players in an effort to prevent a drain of talent to Australia and the 15-man code.[/i

About time!!!

They make amendments to the rules every year.

[i''He becomes far and away the highest paid player in rugby league.
''His package puts him alongside and in front of many other quite famous rugby union players, whether they are ex-Wigan or wherever they are"[/i

This one would appear to be quite a big one though.

Not necessarily, Wigan have lost some big earners this year (Joel, Hoffman, Deacon etc). Maybe Sam just got a large proportion of what would have otherwise gone on others? That would put him on a very sizeable amount.

Will make interesting reading when they release the new details.

Excellent news. Well done the RFL and Ian Lenagan.

Ridiculous. So Wigan are once again in a situation where they feel the cap doesn't apply to them and are allowed to spend more than the cap on players.

You know what will follow this? Announcements of other signings. It's wrong, whether it keeps a talented player in the league or not. The cap was brought in for very specific reasons and it's being ignored again.

Get a grip. The aim of the salary cap is to stop clubs buying all the talent a la Man City, and to ensure that clubs don't spend beyond their means. It's not intended to force talented players out of the game because clubs aren't able to pay them what they are worth.

There is no point having a salary cap if you are going to let clubs exceed it. Most cannot afford to, which will further imbalance the competition.

So what happens if Wigan find another homegrown, marquee, long serving player who is being sought by Union? Are they allowed to offer him a record deal as well, or is this limited to one per club?

Disgraceful by the RFL yet again, its no longer a level playing field for everyone. They can pay other players more because part of ST wages don't appear on the cap.

If the RFL are so worried about the best players leaving, why not give out central contracts?

surely you can see that the new rules will be allowed by all clubs and will allow teams to keep there best home grown talents and loyal serving players.

I think the new rule is for the best. To be honest, I think the Salary Cap rules are being gotten round anyway.

The sooner we bring in some sort of points system in the better. I think that home-grown players, brought through the academies and into the first team, shouldn't count on the cap at all.

If we start losing the likes of Sam Tomkins to RU, we really are in trouble. The quality of the players being lured over to the dark side is getting better. It's bad enough losing our best players to the NRL, but at least they can still play for England.

If there are clubs who can keep our best players in Super League, then we must accept a certain amount of compromise when making salary cap rulings.

Yes I can, but it wasn't quite the point I was trying to make. If the RFL want to keep the best players in league and have a fair salary cap then central contracts are the way to go imo. If, for example, a Wigan or Saints provide 4 qualifying players to the squad and Castleford/ Wakey only 1 each, then Wigan and Saints will potentially have a lot more 'spare' money to open an even further gap between lower clubs.
This 'system' is wide open to misuse, creative accounting and just pure abuse.

We are quite obviously 216486816 billion pounds over the cap.

and well done to the clubs for producing players!!!

For too long the quality has been diluted to the point where are today. The rest need to raise their standards in youth development etc not the other way round.

Not sure we are at the stage where player production rates could sustain it yet, but eventually I'd prefer to see the cap slashed with home-grown players not being counted against it at all.

How is it being diluted?

If you allow clubs with sugar daddys to spend millions developing players, then allow them to break the cap to keep them then RL will be in a poor state in 10 years.

My main point though is of central contracts, it would allow clubs unable to spend to full cap to keep their England stars, plus topping up the 'top players' wages to keep union and the NRL away.

Have the specifics of this change been announced yet?

Could completely change SL, depending obviously on the details of the new exemptions. If Sam Tomkins is marquee surely Ryan Hall is now too. James Roby, Rhys Evans at Warrington. Josh Charley, Hardaker, Lomax, the young Cas hooker who is wanted by several NRL clubs. Just how far will it reach and how many will each side be allowed?

Wigan thumb their nose at fairness and equality, again.

we should'nt be keeping the NRL away

It does, on the face of it, appear to be a rule that will help the big clubs spend more money on wages.

I cant see many of the small/middle tier clubs getting much of an advantage from this ruling.... most cant spend up to the cap anyway.....

May as well just scrap the cap and let everyone get on with it.

That's the whole point though, they are. It's not just Wigan that have got this.

Most people have been calling for a system where home grown players, or international stars etc etc only count for a certain amount on the cap.

Just because Wigan have been the ones actually suggesting this to the RFL doesn't mean that it is any less beneficial to every other team in the league (If they got their s in gear).

The main problem with this is that instead of the RFL announcing it properly, explaining the rules to everyone etc etc, its come out as a bi-product of Sam Tomkins new contract, making it look like Wigan are doing something wrong (which they aren't, the RFL have agreed and it is new laws that will apply across the entire league).

If this new rule means that Jonny Lomax (for example) can recieve a much bigger contract to keep him away from Union in 2 years time, will you still be moaning about the fact that it took the genuine threat of Tomkins going elsewhere to make it happen?

This is a good thing, and shockingly enough the clubs who will benefit most are the ones who produce their own players who go onto international success.

You obviously know that's not true.