If this got brought in for this season think the only people you'd look like being able to get for this year would be returning RU players such as Ashton or Eastmond or ones in RU that would be making the switch to RL, no big name NRL player is going to be released from his contract for this season.

I'd quite happily take Ashton back as still looks like a fine athlete and with the right coaching his RL skills wouldn't be a million miles below the surface and I still think we are a back light in the make up of the squad.

also forgot to mention Marwan please name and shame the people who are really holding this super league back its been going on to long. If he has a genuine chance of signing sam burgess back and some chairmen/rfl officials are stopping him they don't deserve an opinion. Sam burgess= a stronger super league no matter if you whip people all season.

Wigan more or less had an exemption for Tomkins the past few years he was there, agreed by other SL clubs at the time, so he would stay in SL. Be interesting if they voted against this now.

I'll be pleasantly suprised if the exemption rule is granted this season, if at all.

Here's the problem though: there are probably 3 or 4 clubs who could afford Sam Burgess if the rules were different. It's a week before the start of the season (after the start for 2 clubs) and squads have been recruited within a given set of rules. You can't change them unilaterally now for one club because somebody hasn't flashed their chequebook in the papers for a few weeks.

If the rules are going to change, it has to be thought through, it has to be sustainable and it has to be applicable to the whole league.

The good doctor's enthusisam is admirable, but he can't keep agitating for a change of rules in the papers before his new regime has even had a proper season to bed in.

The point for discussion at the moment is not some relaxation of the rules for Salford (like those that other clubs have had in the past), but a marquee dispensation for everyone. It's just that Salford are being quite vocal about it and have identified who they think they can possibly keep in the game.

Surely any move for Burgess at this stage by anyone (RL or RU) would be for 2015 anyway.

If this is true I hope we can attract someone of reputable status or we will look like fools after all the big talk and fist table banging.

Win win situation for the RFL in having the marquee exemption to pass. If Koukash can sign someone like Burgess/Slater then it will obviously be a boom to Super League.

On the otherhand, if Koukash can't deliver a top level signing it will be another nail in his credibility.

I can't imagine many high quality players would want to carry the burden of being classed as a marquee player. Money aside I think it will just add extra pressure with the expectation of being or doing something more special than your teammates. Furthermore I think it will just make these players easy targets for opposing players and supporters to verbally abuse if they make a mistake or aren't playing to their full potential.

What are the others? The odd Twitter outburst and a bit of sailor talk in the media?

Aslong as all clubs are eligible for a marquee player, I'm happy with that. I disagree with the comment regarding only certain clubs able to afford the likes of Burgess etc the idea behind this is clubs show some initiative and get additional sponsors onboard to cover wages. I'm sure even the likes of Wakefield could attract major sponsors etc should they dangle a SBW size carrot infront of them.

Let's not forget the foresight and ambition shown by Wakefield back in the 1980's when they astonishingly signed Wally Lewis on a short term deal.

Saving a club from extinction, recruiting at considerable expense a vastly superior squad to the one he inherited, a squad that has most people tipping the club to reach the play offs, appointing a former GB coach as head coach, creating a level of publicity never previously seen at Salford and rarely, if ever, seen in rugby league.

Balanced against a couple of cringeworthy statements. Yeah his credibility is shot.

Nails? come on the Doc is guilty of putting his mouth into action before his brain sometimes, but I'd imagine that he is only showing the balls to say out loud what other owners have been muttering under their collective breaths for a good while.

I would find it highly doubtful with all the networking he has been doing within RL circles since he bought the club if feelers aren't out with every big agent in the game and that at a minimum for 2015 he has someone lined up that will be a signing of the likes we at Salford haven't seen since we signed the then worlds best full back in Gary Jack.

It the marquee player change is introduced do you think it should just be limited to new signings only or do you think they will allow an existing club player to be promoted? (Freeing up space on the cap)

Clubs should be given the option of having one player whether that be an existing or new one off their salary cap and paid whatever salary needed. For example, had it been in with Wigan and Tomkins he could have been their marquee signing.

Wakefield have never been guilty of abandoning long term team devlopment for short term gain ...cough cough ...

Aye, but come on mate, the funny name, the swarthy appearance. He's pretty much guaranteed to get bored and walk away. Guaranteed.

I've got a sneaky suspicion he's foreign.

Shocking. You'll be accusing him of being a crook, next.

Outrageous that. They come over here, buying our failing rugby clubs...

He's not a real Doctor!!

Wow,that's a blast from the past !

Yep, once he's thoroughly fed up it's back to the GP practice in St Helens!!

He IS a proper doctor. The medics stole the term to raise their profile.