Think you need to do your research on the Segeyarp saga because it’s nothing like the Gale situation. Segryaro wasn’t injured he left the club for another team....for arguments sake say we bought a Cas player this week he wouldn’t be on your cap for this year.

One very important thing is that we didn’t ask for dispensation to sign Parcell, we just had enough spare to still sign him because we always usually do leave some breathing space if we need to make s mid season signing, Lee Smith, Lautiiti for example. Even Cas last year clearly had cap space as they signed Watts a few Rounds in.....so all that’s happened here is Cas have spent all their cap this year without any room for manoeuvre if something like this happened. That’s just poor management of the cap and shouldn’t get dispensation, you took the risk to not leave yourself wiggle room with the cap.

And here I was thinking it was just Wakefield that you knew everything about!

So boring

I was beginning to think I had wasted my breath, or fingers.

I'm gonna have to go slightly against the grain of most Cas fans on here. If it was another club we'd be jumping up and down saying that's what squads are for and it shouldn't be allowed. Yes Gale is a big loss, but we have other halfs in the squad and so we need to get by and we will. I'm not saying that we'll make the top 5 without him, but we should do OK. We'll miss his goal kicking more than anything, which is worth a few games a season. I'd rather see the other lads step up and pull together for the team than get dispensation to go out and sign a journeyman. I'm more worried about our right edge than a position that we have cover options in.

It's a "live" cap and indeed was back then. As soon as Leeds stopped paying Segeyaro, they could then start paying someone else. Although as Printer points out, it's doubtful we were at full cap in any case.

Not fussed in the least about Cas getting their dispensation though. I'm pretty sure it's in the rules and has been done before, albeit not by Leeds AFAIK.

This is just made up though. Segeyaro wasn’t made exempt from the cap because he didn’t need to be because his contract was terminated before the season even started so we weren’t paying him.

Here’s an idea, if Cas want a new HB in so badly, well their’s still a few weeks before the season starts so why don’t they sell one of their players from another position to make cap space?

Remember that for salary cap purposes, the season starts on 1st December. The money that Leeds paid Seyayaro between then and when his contract was terminated was not counted on the cap for that season, even though he was paid it. And just to point out, that was clearly the right thing.

I don’t really see the complication in this. If Cas deregister Gale for the season, he’s not a registered player and therefore wouldn’t count on the salary cap as long as he doesn’t play all season. As soon as he’s registered though, his whole salary would (and should) be counted on the cap regardless of how many games he plays, so Cas must be pretty confident he’s out all year to consider asking for an exemption.

Think you need to do more research on the salary cap. You honestly think that if you go and sign a HB THIS week from Leeds or Saints or wherever that it will still count on there Cap for this season.

Also Segeyaro had failed to and refused to return to the UK back in November, so we won’t have been paying him in December.

The complication that you don’t want to see is that you’ll STILL be paying Gale week in week out throughout the year. Like I said why can’t Cas sell a player to make space? They want their cake and eat it.

I've not read this whole thread but surely Ben Roberts could fill the void could he not?

Roberts, Ellis, Trueman, Aston, McShane, Millington, Mata’utia, Milner, any lads in the academy

They’ve got plenty of guys who could play in the halves, they don’t need a HB, they just want one, that shouldn’t get dispensation. It’s not like football when teams runs out of fit goalkeepers and get dispensation to sign one because it’s a specialist position.

I would liken this more to when Wire signed Joey Johns. They were over the overseas quota so they deregistered Graham Appo. He was still on contract and still paid by Wire, but not allowed to play for them during the play offs.

but gale would still be paid would he not? taking cas over the cap.

I don't know as Powell actually does want one, he's already said he's going to assess his existing options over the warm weather camp. Although young, we also have Jake Sweeting who showed up well against Fev the other week (granted he didn't have much opposition). We should be looking at it as a chance to see who else can step up. No panic here! I'd swap out a back rower for an outside/utility back everyday at the moment rather than bringing another half in.

That was 14 years ago, imagine how many different versions of the salary cap rules weve had since then.

I mean they could also just sign someone for 100k/175k and designate them as marquee and they don't count on the cap at all...

I’m struggling to think of a time where this has been done before.

It would seem a bit of a silly anomaly if allowed. If Gale had played in round 1 and been injured then presumably this couldn’t happen. Seems a bit daft to me. Either all players who are injured can be exempt from the cap or none.

Also I’d say if a team deregisters a player and so making them exempt from the salary cap, I think they should be able to be signed by other clubs without a transfer fee.

In 2016 we lost Shenton for the season 27 minutes in. There was nothing we could do. If the RFL do allow us to do this and we can bring someone in then why the hell not. Look at the shambles that is hardakers drug ban and maybe scrutinise that and compare that with other cocaine users in recent years.

That said, I legitimately don't see us signing anyone. We couldn't get a proper full back from the October before the season so how the hell will we get a first choice 7 4 weeks before the season?

What’s drugs bans that aren’t set by the RFL got to do with this case?

Fair enough Cas having the cheek to ask but the RFL shouldn’t even be considering it. They actually should be some exemptions in case of long term injury such as injured onInternational duty or picking up a serious illness or stuff away from rugby like being hit by a drunk driver or beating attacked by a group of guys outside a club. But picking up an injury in training is just part and parcel of sport.

Also as previously mentioned, Leeds and other clubs usually leave some cap space in case of such a problem. Cas not doing and helping them out is just rewarding poor cap management.

The only thing setting this injury apart from many others before it is the timing. It's happened before a ball has even been kicked so Cas have time to salvage the situation.
But I still think other clubs will be annoyed if dispensation is granted. Danny Addy missed all of last season for Hull KR and they just dealt with it. Walmsley missed a hell of a lot of last season for Saints, Manfredi for Wigan, even Albert Kelly was absent with concussion for a while with Hull FC.
My point is that serious injuries are part and parcel of the sport and the timing of an injury should not determine how disadvantageous it is to the club in question.

So i think Cas have really gamed the system.

They've been given dispensation but aren't using it now, instead swapping Wardle for Rankin. That is dodgy for me.

Why are Huddersfield so desperate to get Wardle back?

We're not making many friends at the moment are we?? If those are the RFL rules and we are just playing by them then fair enough but, even as a Cas fan, I don't agree with it. I don't care what anyone says about 'we are close to the cap', we always leave a little room in case we need anything mid season. Swapping Wardle for Rankin (if it turns out to be true, but the rumour is gathering pace) and replacing Wardle with Clarkson balances our squad more anyway. We have 4 other half backs that we can call upon, plus the likes of McShane, Millington that can play in the halves in an emergency. We shouldn't need cap dispensation. Let's say one of the other half options performs really well and makes the place his own, then we go out and sign someone of quality in a different position. What happens then? There will be uproar with people saying we have cheated the system and used the cap dispensation for another position. I'm not comfortable with it at all. The best thing we can do is to thank the RFL for allowing it, but state that we won't be using it. As always, only my opinion!

I wouldn’t worry about it Caslad . If the rule exists then utilise it , I’m sure fans of rival clubs commenting on Luke Gale and Castlefords situation would want their club to do the same , should it happen to one of their players .

The RFL have done clubs favours in the past , they show no consistency in the rules , So I wouldn’t feel guilty if I were you . Best of luck for the season .

I shouldn't worry about it really, and when the season gets underway theres other things to worry about, but I just believe in whats right is right, thats all. I'll be happy enough with Wardle gone and Clarkson/Rankin in.