Just focussing all your posts on an overrated scrum half is boring.

yes it is too hard to believe. There are ways around the salary cap, and having a wealthy owner who has other businesses that arent obliged to be audited by the rfl (I believe this is the case) allows team to make payments to other individuals should they choose to. of course you could just get a SOO centre to take the same money as a winger and youd have no bother.

Aye, it's pure coincidence that clubs that look to have squads beyond the means allowed, also happen to have wealthy backers.

As with any set of rules, there will always be ways around them. Without accusing any specific club of doing that, I think it's naive to assume that it's not possible to do so.

I think wire fans get wound up by the hypocrisy of other fans (not usually your lot by the way). They all scream that king must be earning about 200k a year and when he more than likely leaves at the end of the season the same fans will question how we have got any money to sign top class players. Anderson, carvell, clarke and solomona will also probably be leaving at the season end as well. The simple fact is that wire have always spent big, we just used to pay high wages to pretty average players (rauhihi, johnson, reardon,etc). Now we use our money wisely. Plus we have a pretty good coach.

Third most assists in SL according to Sky... 4th after the weekend after checking on SL website and three tries in 9 games - that's 15 out of 44 tries he's been involved in. Other parts of his game could do with improving but after being injured at the beginning of the year he's hardly going to slot straight into such a pivitol role, especially with a team that has undergone so many changes and has been far from settled... His stats seem to be better than Deacs, whom some would have had us re-sign as well and not that bad compared to Brough - both of whom play with teams who are performing better. I know you can't always get the full picture from stat's alone but he's not as bad as some make out.

Not a stand out player thus far but not the worst either. Hopefully the bloody team will start to gel and perform soon so we can get a better picture but still too soon to judge a new player in a new country in a new team in a new league... and after watching the NRL highlights at the weekend I'd be tempted to say new sport.

He'd add something to our current side but he isn't going to be leading us to SL titles anytime soon.

We aren't going to be winning SL titles anytime soon.

He'd be a step in right direction.

He'd just be another 'ok' type of signing for me. If the club are serious about challenging for Silverware then we probably need to be aiming higher though IMO.

Herbert is doing the job for us atm. He isn't anything special but give him time he will mature. He tackles hard, takes the line on and also short kicks are great. - That is the type of Scrum Half we need right now and we have got it.

A Stand Off - we need someone who can take pressure off Herbert who has a decent long kicking game and a decent long pass, they need to stand back and just distribute.

When the history books come to be written, and the autobiographies come out, I suspect we will all learn more about just how effective the salary cap was at capturing all payments to players. I have previously posted various means by which the salary cap could be circumvented by an owner with the financial means. It will be interesting to learn the extent to which any such circumventions did or did not take place.

Yeah, i know what you mean. But it will probably be the same as this year. No one that good is available for the right amount. I imagine the club will be cautious as well after the Orford scenario.

I'd like us to sign him, if we had a few more real quality players.


I'd still be happy with the signing atm, I certainly wouldn't complaon, but I think the cap needs to be used for real quality for the 2012 season. Thurston please

Indeed - isn't there a live cap in Australia too? It didn't stop Melbourne did it? When was the last time Warrington were outbid by another club in the hunt for a player? I'm pretty sure there were other big clubs after the likes of Morley, King, Myler, Atkins etc. I can't think of a more star-studded squad in SL that has been largely assembled on the basis of signings as opposed to youth development (the basis of every other successful side in SL). Despite the attitude of some Wire fans I doubt these players signed on simply to work with Tony Smith (who has a rather limited reputation outside SL) or to be part of some all-conquering Warrington side that has been promised for years but never materialised. It will be interesting to see if Warrington go through the same phase of being forced to lose promising homegrown players (assuming they actually start to develop decent ones in any quantity) that the likes of Wigan, Leeds, Saints and Bradford have over recent seasons. If not, I'd suspect something dodgy is going on with the cap.

Morley, King, Monas, Carvell, Anderson and others were all signed by Paul Cullen, anyway. And why should it be the case that imported 'stars' rather than local stars will demand the highest pay? Are we to assume that Leeds are over the cap as they can afford to pay for England internationals Sinfield, Burrow, Maguire, Peacock and the rest as well as your imports? I suppose Buderus and Webb came to Leeds just for the honour of being coached by McLennan and play for peanuts? As for youth development, Wire more-or-less closed down the youth teams while struggling to survive financially in the late 1990s. More recently, we've seen Harrison, Riley, Evans, Williams, Blythe and others come through the system to reach SL standard. Take a look at the Valvioline Cup table to see which team currently has the best Under 20s squad. You can 'suspect' all you want but it says more about your attitude to the arrival of another side threatening to disturb the old status quo, if you ask me.