This is clearly why the club is fighting to get a rule where we are exempt from relegation. Although the idea of watching the team getting thrashed every weak for another season because of our inability to recruit decent players will mean our crowds will be horrendous. Wont be a pleasant watch.

Without wishing to come over all flat-capper, why should we be exempt?

I've always said that Rugby League needs London more than London needs Rugby League. However, it needs to be done properly, with a London team that's challenging for the game's honours. Unless this is a stop-gap to allow that to happen from 2015, what's the point?

Yes it needs to be done properly. However it isnt a level playing field as we all know and if they gave us the ncssary London weighting to attract the quality players we still need to have the means to pay it. A new investor prepared to do the job properly (including marketing) is required. Have we got one? Im sceptical myself or we will just keep propping up the rest.

I'd love to see it happen, not only for us but more importantly for the sport itself, which I feel is going backwards at a rate of knots.

Quote ="Snoopy"However it isnt a level playing field as we all know and if they gave us the ncssary London weighting '" You do know that LB has a 10% London weighting allowance don't you. Quote In recognition of the higher living costs for London Broncos players due to their location a 10% London cost of living weighting allowance is applied to the Club’s maximum aggregate First Tier Liability (£1.65m in 2013) is available in addition to the Elite Representative Squad dispensation, subject to the combined value of both allowances being capped at the 10% weighting allowance. '" See 5.13.4 in section E1:5:13 here... www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/rules/i ... section=E1

Quote ="Snoopy"However it isnt a level playing field as we all know and if they gave us the ncssary London weighting '" You do know that LB has a 10% London weighting allowance don't you. Quote In recognition of the higher living costs for London Broncos players due to their location a 10% London cost of living weighting allowance is applied to the Club’s maximum aggregate First Tier Liability (£1.65m in 2013) is available in addition to the Elite Representative Squad dispensation, subject to the combined value of both allowances being capped at the 10% weighting allowance. '" See 5.13.4 in section E1:5:13 here... www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/rules/i ... section=E1

Quote ="Torbreck"You do know that LB has a 10% London weighting allowance don't you. See 5.13.4 in section E1:5:13 here... www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/rules/i ... section=E1'" Interesting, so given that is in place, how would people feel if other struggling teams released all their players and then asked for the rules to be changed in their favour so they were able build a new squad ?

Quote ="Torbreck"You do know that LB has a 10% London weighting allowance don't you. See 5.13.4 in section E1:5:13 here... www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/rules/i ... section=E1'" Interesting, so given that is in place, how would people feel if other struggling teams released all their players and then asked for the rules to be changed in their favour so they were able build a new squad ?

Quote ="Torbreck"You do know that LB has a 10% London weighting allowance don't you. See 5.13.4 in section E1:5:13 here... www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/rules/i ... section=E1'" Yes I do and we arent going to get any quality players down here for an extra 10%. If players rent was paid by the club and kept seperate from the cap and we could just rent acomodation on a 'like for like' basis against say St Helens of Hudds it would help. However there are other social factors working against us like disrupting kids from school, wives have jobs up North which they dont want to give up, closeness to family support. All thigs which a transfer between Northern clubs don t get affected by. I dont blame them myself. Id be the same.

Quote ="Torbreck"You do know that LB has a 10% London weighting allowance don't you. See 5.13.4 in section E1:5:13 here... www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/rules/i ... section=E1'" Yes I do and we arent going to get any quality players down here for an extra 10%. If players rent was paid by the club and kept seperate from the cap and we could just rent acomodation on a 'like for like' basis against say St Helens of Hudds it would help. However there are other social factors working against us like disrupting kids from school, wives have jobs up North which they dont want to give up, closeness to family support. All thigs which a transfer between Northern clubs don t get affected by. I dont blame them myself. Id be the same.

So why do so many other Northerners manage to work in London ? This is hardly the reason we find ourselves in the current predicament.

I came to London in1980. I was leaving Uni soon but couldn't find a job up north where i lived and prefered to be. I was interviewed on the Uni 'Milk Round' and a London firm offered me a job. I accepted but delayed moving in the hope of finding work locally but in the end had no choice. It was move or stay on the dole up north. It was expensive even then and i never thought id own a flat never mind a house. But at least i had a job. Its simple isnt it when you talk about 'other Northerners' but they arent RL players, RL players have a choice which is damned cheaper and they keep the living structures around them to keep that quality of life without HAVING to move out of their house. They can move to any club along the M62 and never move house. If London was the only place they could play RL in then they would have a tough decision to make.

That is your story but being from the North myself I don't buy it as an excuse for our situation.

Me neither. One can see why an older player with a wife and family wouldn't move to London but the younger lads would. I'm also a northerner and have lived in London on two occasions. It has a lot of attractions if you are paid a decent wage (as pro RL players are - far more than I ever made).

And which forward was it that had to move back to Leeeds as Hull was too far away?

Perhaps some of them just can't accept being a small fish in the big pond.

https://twitter.com/adam_rhinos/status/ ... 7810312192 Is Dixon the next out of the door?

https://twitter.com/adam_rhinos/status/ ... 7810312192 Is Dixon the next out of the door?

The good doctor eying KD up as a potential jockey - sort of Billy Slater in reverse!

If they played their cards right and were good enough they would stick out for a four / five year contract and buy a house in the south instead of renting. Maybe the club could help a little here as part of a recloaction move like other business's do. When they return north they can have a mansion. Im from the north and as long as your children are settled into the school of your choice for uninterupted secondary education there is not much of a problem. There is a lot to do in the south and they can have a good standard of living. Believe it or not there is employment here for their wives if they want it and they can build a new circle of friends with nursery schools and work and still maintain a very heatlhy relationship with long standing friends. We are talking 300 miles distance not 3 million. However we need to be sure we do not sign players who are incapable of cutting the apron strings and have to return home due to homesickness as has happened in the past. :

Asset stripping continues!

The answer to the original question of who's left of our 2013 squad is pretty much all of them! And the ones who are left give no cause for optimism6.

Sorry, original thread title was ambiguous, so I've now changed it. "Who's remaining of our 2013 squad?"

Skolars announce the signing of Jamie O'Callaghan officially on Twitter.

I'm a bloody pedant!

Not convinced he is good enough for Skolars.

Little bit surprised. He looked like he wanted to be just about anywhere else when he played for the Skolars this year.

Blah de blah