RFL NEED TO TAKE A LEAF OUT OF RFU BOOK

[warrior till i die]

Just been thinking what can rugby league as a whole do to keep our talent from union clubs. Because of the salary cap its pretty much impossible for wigan to meet the demands which ashton wants.
So now before all rugby league talent decide to cross codes the rfl need to do something. Rugby union payed money to farrells contract to get him over there. Rugby league either need to drop the salary cap, which will not happen. Or the rfl need to meet upto 50% of the players demands. Otherwise rugby league can kiss all the talent goodbye...What do you people think?

[robjoenz]

warrior till i die posted:
Just been thinking what can rugby league as a whole do to keep our talent from union clubs. Because of the salary cap its pretty much impossible for wigan to meet the demands which ashton wants.
So now before all rugby league talent decide to cross codes the rfl need to do something. Rugby union payed money to farrells contract to get him over there. Rugby league either need to drop the salary cap, which will not happen. Or the rfl need to meet upto 50% of the players demands. Otherwise rugby league can kiss all the talent goodbye...What do you people think?

Where do the RFL get the money from though?

Doing away with the salary cap isn't a sensible option either. Although, ammending it to omit home grown players from the cap limit of £1.8m, whilst keeping the part about not spending more than 50% of turnover, would be a step in the right direction.

[cpwigan]

The RFL has no money.

I would abandon the salary cap altogether

[Panchitta Marra]

warrior till i die posted:
Just been thinking what can rugby league as a whole do to keep our talent from union clubs. Because of the salary cap its pretty much impossible for wigan to meet the demands which ashton wants.
So now before all rugby league talent decide to cross codes the rfl need to do something. Rugby union payed money to farrells contract to get him over there. Rugby league either need to drop the salary cap, which will not happen. Or the rfl need to meet upto 50% of the players demands. Otherwise rugby league can kiss all the talent goodbye...What do you people think?

Its a hard task to follow as the RFU get funding from their internation match revenue. Whilst the RFL international stage remains as poor as it is, we will always lag behind. Club to club crowds and revenue is probably as good in League as union, however the difference on the international stage plus European gains, puts RU well ahead.
We are also a poor player in the terrestial TV ranks. The BBC funding to union is often ten times of that given to League. Rugby League must become more proffessional, have people put in the right places to enable a true showing and advert for the game (stopping blinkered opinions from opposing sports), and build on the international stage.

[damien morrissey]

Panchitta Marra posted:

warrior till i die posted:
Just been thinking what can rugby league as a whole do to keep our talent from union clubs. Because of the salary cap its pretty much impossible for wigan to meet the demands which ashton wants.
So now before all rugby league talent decide to cross codes the rfl need to do something. Rugby union payed money to farrells contract to get him over there. Rugby league either need to drop the salary cap, which will not happen. Or the rfl need to meet upto 50% of the players demands. Otherwise rugby league can kiss all the talent goodbye...What do you people think?

Its a hard task to follow as the RFU get funding from their internation match revenue. Whilst the RFL international stage remains as poor as it is, we will always lag behind. Club to club crowds and revenue is probably as good in League as union, however the difference on the international stage plus European gains, puts RU well ahead.
We are also a poor player in the terrestial TV ranks. The BBC funding to union is often ten times of that given to League. Rugby League must become more proffessional, have people put in the right places to enable a true showing and advert for the game (stopping blinkered opinions from opposing sports), and build on the international stage.

Chicken or the egg me thinks.

[FROM A TO B]

Problem is if you drop the cap, then we will end up like it was 15 years ago. Clubs with the big backers (such as us) wining everything in sight and we turn up to see how many points we'll win by this week.
However, the RFL does need to put things in place so as to reward development of young players.
Not rocket science, but my thoughts are.
1. For every player a club is under the overseas quota, they get an additional 5% to spend on british players (overseas being born in or parents from NZ / Oz)

2. Players brought through a clubs academy given a 50% salary cap discount on wages (ie contract for 20k, only 10k goes against the cap). Up to say 22 - 23 years old and only if you play for the club that put you through the academy.

Surely if the above 2 were in place, it would encourage development and also reward clubs if they were under the oversea quota.

[DaveO]

FROM A TO B posted:
Problem is if you drop the cap, then we will end up like it was 15 years ago. Clubs with the big backers (such as us) wining everything in sight and we turn up to see how many points we'll win by this week.

The only clubs who are successful are those with big backers or money in the bank. And that is with or without a salary cap.

The reason Wire have the squad they do is because their chairman is prepared to back the club.

And this idea we only turned up to see how many points we win by is another urban myth. Look at the results in the record books for some epic closely fought contests. We actually won the championship on points difference one season!

Yes we handed out some beatings but what do you call Wire's loss to Saints last week? That is what Wigan used to do and are now slated for. The press are raving about Saints and they are starting to be as dominant as Wigan were.

It drives me round the bend that people generalise to the extent they do about the period of Wigan success and blame it on a lack of a salary cap. We only won every trophy on offer one season and we were not the first club in the history of the game to do it either.

Saints have just done the equivalent in the modern era but this is apparently a great achievement and gets them BBC team of the year. Now where have I heard that before!

They could very well do it again but I guess that will be OK because they will have done it in a salary cap framework and dominance alone isn't the problem (or should I say won't be because it isn't Wigan doing the dominating).

However, the RFL does need to put things in place so as to reward development of young players.

There are some new proposals (see the salary cap FAQ)but thye doon't go far enough.

One ting the Aussies recently introduced was that long serving players actualy come off the salary cap altogether. This is addressing the problem of experienced players being forced out of clubs and may mean in the UK players like Fletcher are not available.

If we did the same then it may make it easier to hold onto players like Faz.

Dave