I don't think it would directly raise the quality of the national team all that much (I think it probably would a bit if that team was composed of better players), but I'd like to have a situation where we had produced 30 or 40 players who were good enough that the NRL clubs were clamouring for their signatures.

G1 with his legal head on will probably be able to confirm, but my understanding in that case was that the judge ruled it a restraint of trade, but not an illegal one as Harris had received consideration for agreeing to it (the right to early termination of his Leeds contract).

Spot on.

You've hit the nail on the head. A restrain of trade clause can be enforceable if there's some extra inducment to agree to it. Leeds agreeing to release Kallum early would fit the bill, IM(not so)HO

It didn't seem to have that effect on aussie standards when their player came to England in the past. Hopefully fewer run of the mill aussies will come over thus increasing the player pool of england qualified players.We shall see.

remember wembley 95 and the anti merger protests


mainly from the old pit villages , was never going to trouble us though was it............................

Back in the days of yore, we had the dominant league, we poached the top talent from Australia and they had to adapt, bring through more players, get clubs making money so they could hold onto their star players and drastically improved the coaching and playing standards. Admittedly, not over night but they did it.

Boots on the other foot now.............

I remember seeing a hand painted banner pinned to the gates at Post Office Road that read "Fev is Fev, Cas is Cas, you can stick your merger up your a*s"

and 10,000 Fev fans marched through the town to protest against any merger with Cas. Only 2000 of them turned up to the next match.

Wow that really impressive, according to the 2001 census Featherstone had a total population of 10,382. I wonder what the other 382 were doing that day.

Except that's not really how it worked.

Very few of Australia's top players ever actually relocated to the UK, and those that did tended to go back again after a few years to continue their careers down under.

When the UK still had a winter season, it was more common for Australian and Kiwi players to come over here on short term contracts during their off-season as a way to supplement their income.

I'm struggling to think of too many current internationals who upped sticks and came to play solely in the UK over the period I have been watching the game.

By the time we had Aussies and Kiwis coming over for short term deals our comp had already fallen behind the ARL.

Before then when the likes of Brian Bevan, Lionel Cooper, Pat Devery, Arthur Clues, Eric Harris, Jack Mclean were playing over here 40s, 50s, 60s we genuinely did have the best comp and the best players. These blokes were here long term.

The change that put the Aussies in front of us seemed to occur in the late 60s and early 70s.

The day's of yore that Swarcliffe was referring to was pre war and 40s and 50s.It was in the50s that the Aussie's brought in the ban on English clubs signing their player's.There were quite a few did make this country their home Arthur Clues for one

More RU that concept

Funnily enough the current situation where overseas players become too expensive and the remaining cheap foreign players being not good enough could be the catalyst that all clubs need to stop with the quick fixes and put proper resources into the junior systems.

There's never been a better opportunity to play first team rugby for a young British SL players.