Not sure where you get your facts from about Graham, looking at it, he is not even the best prop at the Doggies!!
Kasiano won the Dally M as the NRL best prop.

Graham was far the better of the two, he turned a number of games when he came on from the bench. Everybody here lol'd when Kasiano was named. He wasn't the best prop at the Doggies never mind in the comp.

I hate the low cap we have in SL, but I wouldn't in fact raise it because it doesn't address the core problem, which is the very poor ( in every sense ) clubs propping up our premier competition. Some people even think lowering the cap would help. Race to amateurism.

We're in a uniquely challenging situation and we need a different way to address it. I believe that no cap, but a limit of 13 players who can be paid more than 100k and a total squad limit of 26 to 30 would be ideal. If you've got the money you can bring superstars into our sport on whatever megabucks you or your sponsors want to spend, BUT you can't totally dominate the competition by stuffing the bench with superstars, keeping them away from other clubs. To run a good club, no matter how much money you have, this system forces you to run a good home grown talent conveyor belt, otherwise you simply won't have a squad to cope with any injuries at all.

My idea doesn't of course do anything about loony chairmen who decide to bankrupt their clubs. Never mind. Its a free country not a communist state.

Do you class Bradford in that category of poor clubs propping up the premier comp? Bradford were a flagship club that went bust. The British game simply can't afford full time Super League. Get more money from Sky or go part time. The player drain to the NRL has already begun and will continue - simply because there is more money over there.

The British game simply isn't big enough to compete with those kind of numbers.

But if you could match the NRL in player payments that would not be enough, you would need to pay probably 50% more just to attract the fringe stars.

Super League is never going to get a Cam Smith, GI, Slater, Cronk or Thurston in their prime.

Yes, Bradford are (for now at least) poor.

You don't just 'get' more money, its created by investing. For all the talk about better stadia etc. nothing puts bums on seats ( or viewers in front of televisions) better than star players and great teams of players. The whole thing is chicken-and-egg and I wouldn't claim that picking which comes first is an exact science, but I personally believe that hanging around waiting for 'more sky money', after which we'll be able to move forward is a death spiral. We can do better than descend into amateurism. There have been - few and far between admittedly - people who would spend money to bring great players ( and also just great PR value players such as the Henson's, Cipriani's ,etc ) into their clubs, but the cap makes it nigh on impossible. I'm not suggesting that under my suggestion we'd be an overnight commercial success, but growth is about one thing leading to another. Someone signs (say) Johnny Wilkinson (that alone would bust the cap). TV interest, 1000 new fans, a couple of new sponsors, game profile goes up a bit, other clubs get a fraction more money as a result, meaning another rich guy takes an interest in another club and brings another big name in. Profile goes up a bit more, more sponsorship, higher price for Sky, etc.

You are right in that there's no money in the game. For exactly that reason we should give wealthy people and sponsors (finding them is the next challenge) at least the *opportunity* to put some money into the game. Sure, they'd do it through one particular club, but lets be realistic, nobody is going to just give money to the sport as a whole. With a hard squad limit system we can accept such money, and the benefits it passes on to whole game through media interest, without ruining the competition.

Edited for accuracy

Any such open salary system will just lead to inequality between teams, one sided games, and any extra money in the game going to those "star" players. When the sport generates cash, the last place we should be spending it is on Henson, Cipriani and Wilkinson.

We just need more teams able to spend to the cap to equalise the competition. As we get closer and closer to any team being able to win any match, that will increase interest in the sport further. As that happens, yet more teams can spend to the cap.

I still keep hearing the same old drivel about a salary cap, My view is that we need to keep clubs going bust by irresponsible management, I don't buy the evening out of the competition as the top four will get the best players for less than the the lower clubs will anyway. We have just lost a good prospect & a half back to Wigan & doubt (but dont know) they will earn what KR would have paid? but they are chasing trophys, that is the way players should be motivated for thier own enjoyment of playing the game, all the best players would play for nothing. The money is a total red herring, yes we pay players & TV pays money but the game is not viable on its own (Gate reciepts & ground revenue) paying the wages they do.
No sports in the UK are, even soccer can't survive on its own without TV money & that could change at a whim (remember the state soccer was in in 1970's). The game can only survive by people playing the game for the love of it & watching for the same reason. If enough of us are not interested the game will die.

KR should be able to pay those particular players more than Wigan, because Wigan have used up their salary cap on their squad already. Looking at the two squads, KR should have a stack of money to spare for a couple of big stars, if they were able to spend up to the cap.

Our top players wouldn't play for free. They would be off to RU and the NRL.

The TV revenue is a complete red herring. All top level sports depend on TV revenue, and will for the foreseeable future. Selling their own internet viewing service could be an alternative in the future, but the tech isn't there enough yet.

Surely that would just reduce the income clubs currently get via SKY and gate reciepts? , even the much ' lauded ' NFL realise that with their ' blackout ' policy