Which they're quite entitled to do.

It seems they'd rather be paid less to play in a tight knit squad of winners, though, so all this blather about the importance of a few extra quid is ringing little hollow.

25, but it isnt based on one player is it, its based on the hundreds playing RU, football and other sports that dont play RL

we dont only count the ones we lose, but the ones we never attracted as well,


as a game, we simply dont have the quality to allow players like Lee Smith to be leaving

except they cant, because we dont have an open market

I guess the key question here is, where does the sport of Rugby League get this money that the players 'deserve'?

I absolutely believe that Rugby League players are the most dedicated athletes on the planet and I wonder what Peacock and Sinfield feel when seeing Premier league players on £200k a week

The problem is the sport cannot afford to pay the players more than the sport earns - we have to live within our means the same way as any organisation that wants to remain solvent does

The Cap may not be paying the players what they deserve but it is keeping the sport alive

You specified one player - Lee Smith.



"we" do no such thing - because "we" know you can't "count" something as utterly indefinite as that.



Smith could have played for another club. He didn't, he went to RU.

Smith wanted to play RU more than he wanted to play RL, simple as that.

I'm not aware of a true open market in [iany[/i sphere of business.

so they deserve exactly this amount, and also more, strange!

it shouldnt be an either or situation, it shouldnt be you can be paid your value or you can win things, you should be rewarded for winning things

its arrogant and niave to pretend that players should be thankful just to play our game for our entertainment and not expect to be properly rewarded because the owners want more money and you want to pay less on the turnstyles,

its not Jamie Peacocks job to keep Leeds Rhinos a sustainable business, its his job to provide for his family and do his job to the best of his ability, thats how it works,

But you can do all you can to tend towards one.

They can go and earn more, but [ithey[/i have chosen not to. They want stay with their mates and play for the current top club, rather than look for a new challenge. Fair play to them for this solidarity - it has earned them the great memories Sinfield talked about.

If I could earn a bit more elsewhere, but I'm happy and comfortable where I am, I'd probably do the same. I'd not expect any sympathy for that decision, though.

yes, i used an example, good job on noticing that,



why not? there are hundreds of athletes who could play our game, hundreds who would make it, hundreds who dont, these are things we know,

we also know that RU and Football both have more british players playing, a higher profile, and better athletes, they also pay more money to thier players,



or he could have just wanted to earn more money in a very short career that will likely wreck his body!

maybe an offering of the same wage would have kept him in RL,

So why doesn't he go and play RU ?

It does indeed seem that way, well for the moment at least.


Well apart from Lee Smith who has gone...........who's next?

Here's a thought, scrap the CC, pay the players their open market value and they might stay together for longer. Surely it cannot be that simple.....I must be missing something eh?

Playing for Leeds you dont get paid as much as you might elsewhere but you do get some things money cannot buy, for some thats enough but for others it isnt

im not aware of any other industry that limits what one business can spend on its employess on what its competitors can afford

Different clubs will value them differently and therefore offer to pay them different amounts. There is no absolute value that anyone deserves for their work, simply the amount they can demand.

Leeds pay them what they deserve, what they are worth to Leeds. Other clubs may be willing to pay them more. They are free to move to those other clubs if they so wish. That they choose not to is their decision, their choice to put more value on playing with Leeds than simply their salary.

Nail on the head with an extremely heavy hammer.

no the problem is keeping CEOs in jobs they arent up to, if they cant run their business in a sustainable manner they should be allowed to fail

Or we could just let wage bills spiral like it has in football, and we can all spend fifty quid each to watch our teams play, while the smaller clubs go bust as a result of trying to keep up with the big boys.

Yes, but the whole point is that these things need not be mutually exclusive.

probably because he isnt suited to it, maybe he has never been offered the chance

maybe he is prepared to make that sacrifice, if he is great, good on him, but thats his personal decision on whats best for him

Maybe that's the case for tinpot clubs, not for the big boys.

Yes, you are missing something - in fact you are missing an awful lot

Luckily, Richard Lewis isn't and I am very thankful for that

Smokey stop confusing them with common sense. They haven't a leg to stand on and they know it.

We don't have as much money as other sports. This is unfair on professional RL players, but life isn't fair. Better to recognise this than bankrupt the sport, either financially or as a competitive spectacle, in a Quixotic attempt to right that wrong.

but they dont, the are paid what leeds are allowed to spend,

they arent paid their value to leeds, they are paid what leeds can afford under an arbitrary cap set purely to limit the amount they can earn

if the SC didnt do this we wouldnt bother having it, if it didnt stop players seeking their true worth it wouldnt be a salary cap would it?

you cant have a salary cap which doesnt cap salaries