It's incredibly disapointing. The players have already carried far too much of the burden for the game's poor commercial performance in the last 20 years (something that Hetherington has himself called out) and whilst it's no suprise to see some club owners and chairman expecting them to carry even more, it's disapointing to see Leeds being one of them. The salary cap is around £1m less in real-terms than it was in 2000, and that's pretty shameful even before you consider any attempt to cut it further.

Hetherington has generally voted against rising the cap in the past as he felt Leeds had a competitive advantage - at the time the club had been very good at developing a lot of first-team ready young players who could fill the squad cheaply. Crucially, unlike the likes of Wigan, they were even better at convincing those players to stay. Whether it was down to culture or some other reason, Leeds have retained their top talent in a way that Wigan seemingly couldn't, and Hetherington used the salary cap to press home that advantage.

I can understand that logic from a competitive perspective, even if I can disagree with it from the point of view that the sport should generally be looking after the players better than it is. But even from the competitive perspective, the case for voting along similar lines today seems to make less sense. Yes there is a good set of young players at Headingley, but nothing that I doubt other top clubs could replicate and certainly nothing like the class of 2002-03.

If Hetherington is worried about the sustainability of the business post-COVID and the recession that is going to follow, then cut the cloth accordingly - Leeds can do that without imposing similar cuts on those who may be able to maintain their current level of spending. However, it isn't a good look for either the club or the sport for it's most commercially successful club and the club that has been most successful in the summer era to support this sort of proposal.

As a Leeds fan I think it's embarrassing yes, but the penny pinching at the club has been gong on for years.....

No. Leeds, who have just spent £25m on the stadium following £15m on the stadium over the previous 20 years followed by spending huge amounts, for the first time, on marquee players and significantly expanding the back room staff and employing Sinfield on no doubt £100k a year, have been anything but penny pinching over the past couple of years.

Hetherington has always been prudent, and has always driven a very, very hard deal. In the context of how the club has been run through Caddick-Hetherington era the fiscal extravagance of the past two seasons has been eye-opening.

yes its been going on for years , that is the obvious reason we won so many Grand Finals

And if we were penny pinching why pay a fortune for Merrin and Hurrel .

Oh dear...

Nonsense

How much have we spent on the new stands?

We have also had over the last 20 years the most successful period in the clubs history and had some pretty big signings along the way.