You didn't read any of it then. Most likely Leeds, Saints, Hull, etc. will still be at the top because being able to spend half of what you earn. They have highest attendances, high merchandise sales, etc.

Seems you are doing a very good job of looking at the negatives here.

The salary cap shouldn't be scrapped, infact I think its very good for the league to have things restricted in this way, and it stops clubs with the money being able to gain an advantage over others. The related to income is a possible idea but would have to be very closely monitored to ensure that clubs didn't have "mystery" donations to increase their income.

On the overseas players - I have no problem with overseas players coming into Super League when they can offer something to the game and when they aren't coming over for a "final payday" before retiring. But we are at a stage now where we are lucky to have so many future prospects coming through the system at a number of clubs which has to be good for the clubs and the game in the long term and if we didn't have limits on overseas players (especially if as you suggest we scrap/change the SC) then these players would often not get their chances which would inevitably have a (bigger) negative effect on the International game, hopefully these young players getting their chances will finally see us being halfway competitive on the international scene.

i am a big fan of the NFL system. and think it can work in RL too. to the benefit of all.

essentially ticket sales are your own. but all merch is sold via the RFL all be it by your club shop etc then all money is pooled and at the end of the year is split between all the teams so the massive clubs have no financial benefit. same with TV rights.

it sounds a little extreme but its a valid system and works well, and lets face it would be easy to put into the contract of applications for SL licenses.

and if anyone from a big club asks why they should in effect subsidise smaller clubs the answer is cos we are not all glory seekers who want to hog all the trophies

I say stick with what we have for the next 10 years, we could potentially have a league like the NRL which IMO is now really exciting. If it has not worked by then, a new plan must be worked out for the future of the game in this country.

I could go off on a massive post about what I think now, but I dont see much point in going into all the arguments, its been discussed before and afterall what can we do? I will say one things though, its a long term thing.

You sound like a Goon Damo.

The 'communist cap' isn't unfair and it isn't levelling an otherwise uneven playing field. That theory is all nonsense.

As ever with salary cap discussions, the obvious example is Wigan. They weren't particularly successful but made the decision to go fully professional and spent a hell of a lot more than anyone bar possibly Leeds (Coming 1st out of 2 is not that amazing an achievement). Their success wasn't based on doing things better than other clubs, but purely on spending more than anyone else. They then got to the stage where buying the title year in year out wasn't sustainable and they went incredibly close to disappearing completely. Were it not for Dave Whelan's football team needing a 'multi-purpose' angle for his stadium planning application, Wigan RL would not now exist.

The proof of this pudding was the instant fall from grace Wigan suffered when SL began. Now they weren't able to spend way in excess of everyone else they disappeared off the map completely and the well-run clubs like St Helens, Bradford (Bullmania era) and Leeds came to the fore.

St Helens are loss making with the cap, so explain to me how they could spend more without going into financial meltdown? Don't tell me an extra 9,000 people would turn up to the mess of a ground we have now just because we had a few more star players???

If they removed the salary cap we'd see an enormous gap in quality at the top. Leeds, Wigan and possibly Warrington would be mega-teams and the rest would be scrapping for 4th from the go. The cap in this country is working, slowly. In a few years we will see the errosion of the 'top 2' as we have of the 'top 4' (Saints/Wigan/Bradford/Leeds) and we will end up with a competition where the team which develops their squad better that year and has most luck with injuries wins the comp, as it is with most of the clubs in the NRL.

The league now is basically organised by how well the clubs are run, with the youth development work done at Leeds and Saints the main reason they are consistently at the top and why clubs like Wigan and Warrington are consistently languishing near the basement despite their stature.

If you abolish the cap you are basically just turning the league into a 'Who's willing to spend the most?' list instead of a list of how well the clubs are run like it is now.

SL is fantastic, all we need is money. In this country money=hype and we have none.

i'm pretty happy with it, clubs like wakey, cas, hudds and kr have improved dramatically, the league is alot more even, more young players are getting there chance, no game is a certainty (ie quins and salford beating leeds away and saints nearly losing to celtic), no ones going bust, no ones cheating the salary cap and the standard of imports is generaly improving. Pretty much what we have aimed for (even if things arent happening as fast as we would like).

A wigan fan that cares more about the sport than his team-well done that man.

well said Sir. Possibly longer than any of us may appreciate right now, but you're exactly right - its about laying down a platform and building upwards from that foundation.

we cant put a roof on a house when we're only laying the slab!

And there lies the main problem, some fans don't want to wait, or to look to the long term they want to see results immediately.

Yes.

slighty off topic but with regards to cap. is there a minimum salary for a signed player? other than the minimum wage. the salary cap will only work if there is a floor. lesser players will just be squeezed out the bottom of the wage scale to accomodate bigger players pay. there needs to be a safe guard for "journeyman" players

Yes. Next year I expect Crusaders and Salford to make big steps forward, with the bottom of the table being a nightmare and less points between top and bottom.
*If* Salford and Crusaders don't improve over the next couple of years we may need to work out why Franchising works for some teams and not others.

Im happy with Super league, Its great to see Hull KR up near the top, hopefully there are some play off "shocks" and maybe in the grand final to. Hopefully in a few years it won't even be called a shock because the teams will be on even more of a level playing field. Some of the players coming through are great.

I would love to see top quality players of both codes playing in Super league as it would give mass appeal to the competition. Sadly thats not to likely at the minute but until then i am very happy to see the players which are coming through do well for club and hopefully country.

I think the field has been levelled pretty well, and makes games better to watch with the odd unpredictable result being thrown up.
I can understand the no relegation policy will help new clubs to get stabilised, and see the sense in it, but it's a massive shame for a club like Fax who would probably otherwise end up with a SL place next year.
How about, if a club gets promoted, it gets a year's grace to sort itself out, and the lowest place SL club which is already in SL at the start of the season loses it's place to the winner of the Championship?
And stop this obsession with expanding the game artificially! Sure, give new clubs all the help we can, but let's be realistic. Some areas just aren't going to support a SL club overnight. Get them into the Championship and let them develop naturally, building support etc as they grow. If they grow.

The only time I'm REALLy bothered about SL is when it is on the box! As an entertainment it really takes some beating.

I would like to see the development teams do well for the good of the game but it's not a model I, amongst others, am truely happy with.

I can't believe in a system that rewards FAILURE and that is what SL in it's current form does!

Eh? Apart from possibly Gateshull (I don't know their history) and Paris years ago, when has this happened?

Celtic follow your pattern and have grown on their own and Catalans have decades of history behind them as UTC, it's not like either were wet behind the ears when they won their place in SL.

I understand your post though, Fax should be in SL without doubt. The likes of Wakey, Salford and even Saints should make way for them should the promises of new stadiums fail to materialise.

Whats Super league ?

Although superleague is a closer competition this year, my opinion is that its gone boring and is now nery similarly to the NRL from 5 years ago.

With the 5 "wrestle tackles" and then a kick, I,m not sure if we are going to see any skills developing sufficiently to compete at international level.

Also this season we have enormous pressure on the referees by the players and the subjective rule interpetration, which results in games that do not flow and appears to generally favours the weaker team.

4 years ago we saw some fantastic superleague, this season I,m struggling to think of any "truly classic games" so far.

So the question....is the level playing field the result of the salary cap working or has the game changed and becoming sterile.

Never mind Super League, top flight Rugby League's better than ever IMO. And the Championship sides are getting their acts together because they know the bar's been raised considerably. Sure, there's a really long way to go but I get the sense that whilst there'll always be those that moan about absolutely everything, the majority of true fans (and I guess you have to [ireally[/i ask yourself whether you're a fan of the game and not just your club) are forward-thinking enough to keep the momentum going and develop with the game.

I'm be no means on my own when I say I'd like to see a slight reduction in the number of SL games and some real priority investment in developing the home nations, but then that doesn't just magic itself out of nowhere. I think it's about time some 'fans' stopped putting everything down and gave the game a chance to fulfill it's true potential with their support.

Maybe I would say it as a Wigan fan but I think the quality in the league is dire and I think this is reflected by the standard of the national team.

Wigan have been average at best for the last two seasons in my view but yet FACT IS at the end of the play offs we have been nearest behind Saints and Leeds at winning the Grand Final. That says it all to me - if I think we have been average what does that make the rest of the league?

We still have far too many overseas players, most of which I think offer nothing bar the exceptions of rare gems like Michael Dobson and Matt Gidley and I agree with the post by "Judderman". I too cannot remember a classic game from this season that I've seen on Sky.

Maybe it's just me but the league seems to have gone more power and less skill and this does not make for as entertaining a game as say 5/6 years ago.

Of course Hull KR fans will think different, its a generation since they were top of the table but for me compared to 5/6 years a go the league the quality is not the same.

1st year of Licencing and we have seen a certain amount of "leveling". The CURRENT top 8 sees no Wigan, Wire or Bradford and I for one think this is a good thing. Last year at this stage, these teams were 5th 5th and 6th.
I am sure that at least 2 of these teams will be in the mix come the end of the season, but for now, I think the cap, together with the knowledge of no relegation is making for a more competative league.
As for the standard of play, this has more to do with coaches watching the RLWC and adapting the tackle technique used by the Anzacs and less to do with the cap.

I don't see why tou find it necessary to bracket Salford with Celtic. They're not doing too bad for a newly promoted side. They are 8 ponts above Celtic, a point above Bradford and only 4 points behind Hull FC who are in 6th place. Could it be a vain attempt to dilute the fact that Celtic are well adrift of the rest?

the entire contents of the Atlantic ocean couldn't dilute that fact


Celtic have been off the pace all year, but if they can keep the nucleus of their squad for next year and add a couple of decent marque players, they will be a different proposition next year.
As for Salford, I am delighted for them and they seem to be getting better with every game......

Its going to be Leeds and St Helens battling for the top two spots this year and it has been for the last two years and probably will be for year and years.

Just imagine what the score line would have been today if Greg Eastwood was over here playing. Hull KR turned out to be great pretenders.

Nope the state of SL is still bad for me!