It’s fair to say the £4m loss is a very rough estimate that could be way off the true figure. It was put out there before asking players to take wage cuts and season ticket holders to donate their refunds, it was made public to influence decisions. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with that, just that’s what’s happened.

It was put out there so ST holders wouldn't ask for refunds - I doubt corporate sponsors will have been quite so forthcoming!! The players even taking a 15% pay cut would only scratch the surface of a loss of this size c£300k. This is more about setting a benchmark for future negotiations. I saw Craig Harrison on a podcast with idiot Gledhill and I have seldom seen him so negative about the sport - it seems he knows what's coming. RL cannot be immune to what is happening in wider society. There are going to be significant reductions in full time playing staff. This will used to get players wages down i.e. you are lucky to have a job!!

The wage cut argument can only be a short term one, unless the NRL come online with something similar all you’ll see is our good kids going there.

SL will be a full on second tier competition.

Completely agree - the Aussies want our best kids before our coaching techniques ruin them

The toughest bit here could be non rugby staff losing their jobs in the coming year.

Yep, deffo.

The toughest bit will be the number of youngsters with potential that will miss out as clubs seek to reduce costs.

Smart clubs will cut the more expensive costs and keep the kids on, knowing that a sacrifice today can pay back multiple times by giving the kids a chance to develop properly. I think we will be one of the clubs that retain most of our younger talents.

Developing kids is very expensive - the success-rate is very low 10% - you also have coaching medical support costs - the clubs soon agreed to scrap the reserves when going got tough. Most of our top kids will end up in the NRL

I dont know what makes you think that ther NRL is so much better off financialy. Yes they have bigger budgets and salary caps than us but they are all looking to shed costs too. Maybe not quite as much as over here as they aren't as dependant on match day monies but they all have been hit too

The NRL want our talent - they know the cheapest way is to get them when they are young and put them through their coaching programs. Deals like Bateman's are bad news for the Aussies

I only hope things dont get worse a second big spike could be disastrous

I know most clubs have said they are only offering amateur contracts to the current 2nd year academy players apart from the few they may have already tied up with first team contracts . The scholarship are also becoming u17s next year so that older group won't be getting paid either , so the NRL can pick up some of our young talent for free or thereabouts (not the first team contracted) .

As I've said on another teams thread we are going to lose all but a few of a generation here and the clubs will no doubt come out with the "We don't know why that happened" .

My lad falls under the 2nd year academy lot and been part of the England elite training group most years ,even he's thinking of defecting to football as he can earn enough money at National League North level ,a level he's is easily good enough for . He's wanted to play pro Rugby League since 8 years old , if he's thinking of quitting I'm sure a lot more are . Why suddenly have to train and play for free at that level when clubs can afford to splash out on overseas signings .

More than ever I fear for the future of Rugby League.

I can see player development being centralised and a draft style system being brought in. I believe work is currently going on within the game to see if a centralised youth development system would be financially viable.