I've been undecided about whether scrapping the cap or implementing the "golden ticket" idea is the best way forward for the game.

Having looked at the way the Aviva Premiership works I've noticed each club has £240k available in "academy credits".

Basically, if players are trained by the clubs academy the first £30k of their wage doesn't count on the cap up to a maximum of eight players (£30k x8 being £240k).

This would not only create extra spending power for the clubs to bring superstars over but would also encourage them to ensure homegrown talent are given first team opportunities.

The perfect scenario being a club like Leeds making full use of the academy credits and thus being able to make an offer to players like Cameron Smith, for example.

I'd be interested to see what people thought of that......

I like it

I think the salary cap needs to stay roughly where it is, but I think some exemptions would really help matters.
IIRC in the proposals for the structure next season there's an exemption for academy produced players, whereby each academy product would only ever count at a max of £100k on the salary cap. So for instance, Leeds could pay Kallum Watkins £400k but it would only count as £100k.
I think that's a better way to go than the AP credit system as this encourages you to produce quality players rather than just a few average/poor ones. It also makes clubs better able to keep their quality players.

I'd also like to see a marquee player exemption, but NOT the Doctor's Golden Ticket idea as I don't agree with the idea of a rich club buying other club's tickets off them.

The SC has been at roughly the same level for nearly 15 years now. In terms of spending power that is a huge cut and it hasn't made the comp any more competitive.

Massive discounts for academy players simple ensures the perpetuation of the status quo. It will, along with the new system pretty much guarantee a lack of movement between the groupings.

It would though encourage clubs to develop academy players!

Also all non European developed players salary should count at 125% on the cap IMO, again encouraging clubs to develop home grown players. The salary should raise annually at CPI or RPI whichever is the greater.

it would encourage some clubs to develop their academy players, and only those who were looking to spend more than the SC.

So yeah it would encourage Leeds, Saints, Wigan, Hudds, Wire etc to develop more academy players but they invest in youth development anyway. The clubs who need pushing in the right direction arent spending £1.8m, realistically it doesnt make any difference to them.

If we really want to push clubs to develop youngsters then we should pay them to do it. Cut the tv funding to £1m and get £50k for each development product who plays 10 games in that season for you, and £20k for any player you developed who plays 10 SL games for any other side.

Smokey's hit the nail on the head with respect to many clubs not spedning anywhere near the cap right now. Any exemptions will gneerally only benefit the rich few clubs. Having said that, if exemptions encourage the richer clubs to spend more/maintain spending on youth, and if they can help retain star players then its a good thing. What SL cannot do is be pulled down to the lowest common denominator on the cap in the vain hope of 'equality'.

For me there should be more reward for producing your own players especially the really top quality ones that are going to be targeted by RU and the NRL.
I do like what Him suggests re-100k only counting I'd also add some kind of time at the Club in 1st team RL "bonus" as well where say after 5years only 80k counts if that player goes onto international honours etc.
Given the increase in t.v revenue there is also a valid call for an overall increase in the set SC.
However it pans out the SC needs looking at because we will just end up pricing ourselves out of keeping our elite players it doesn't have to go daft but at least give clubs a competitive chance of keeping their own.

The number of clubs spending is irrelevant. The comp should not be held back by the minority. The new structure picks out the weak anyway and drops them after a number of rounds.

For what it is worth though, according to statements at start of season, only Castleford, Wakefield, Bradford, and London are unable to spend the full cap, and London and Bradford were for obvious reasons.

The salary cap has been fairly static for over a decade now. Many clubs can now spend full cap. If clubs haven't got their club in order enough to compete then they have had their chance. They slid nut hold the game back in this country.

Some good ideas on here and I'm sure other people have plans too.

I think a list of proposals so be discussed between the clubs and a vote taken on which ones to adopt.

The problem is that too many people in decison making roles within the game appear to have the opinion that "everything is fine, it's staying like it is".

One thing's for sure; that attitude isn't going to drive the game forward and give it the exposure it deserves.

Might be wrong here but I'm sure I've read somewhere that Cas are spending the full cap this year.

Whatever the alternative is, it's not (or at least shouldn't be) a Koukash-style free-for-all where rich backers can buy up all the talent for their clubs.

It would be quite nice if the good Dr actually shut up for a bit and concentrated on making a success of his own club, before telling everyone else how to run theirs.

He does seem to want to play it like a game of Football Manager on your PC. Spend all your budget and sign up all the players you can. If he had is way Salford would have a different team each year, as it appears the spending is what he likes. Like a women in a shopping mall.

I thought that at first but then I was told his modus operandi is to ensure Salford are in the press as often as he can, given how hard it is for them to get any media attention in Manchester. If that means he has to spout off now and again then no publicity is bad publicity etc.

I guess as Leeds fans we can get a bit complacent as we're a large club, big media operation and people will come to us for stories. I recall Douggie Laighton saying something similar when he joined us. At Wides, who were far better and more successful than Leeds, he would have to ring journalists regularly. When he got to Leeds, who were a bag if sheeyite in comparison to that Widnes side he couldn't believe how much media attention he got.