The Nadir of English Rugby League

Quote: Saddened! "You seem to have picked my idea apart on the basis that Saints would benefit. Saints would benefit from the status quo and from that and from pretty much any other situation you bring up. Saints aren't successful because they've played the rules or manipulated them. Saints are just better than everyone else. Better at identifying talent, better at developing it and better at coaching it. There's absolutely nothing stopping the other clubs matching Saints. You'd have to ask Wigan, Warrington, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds etc why they aren't doing what Saints have done. Having exemptions for your own produced players is important in the cap I think as it encourages clubs to develop talent. You are right it would benefit clubs like Saints, Wigan, Warrington and Leeds in the short term, but those are the clubs you want clubs to aspire to be like, or better than. What do you want to happen exactly? Clubs get a flat cap with no exemptions so they can sign players other clubs produced and so the competition just declines in quality each year? Which would benefit clubs like Leigh
Without the cap you might see Leigh at the top of the league ( highly doubt it , but its possible) Keighley had potential to be massive 20 years ago but they were massively shafted by the RFL , Sheffield could have carried on the growth . Bradford where run into the ground with a poor declining ground and what happened to them was probably fair , let that be a warning to other clubs not to do the same in future , its only unfair when you compare it to Harlequins , Catalans and the likes of Huddersfield being demotion proof for a good few years , they didn't need it , Sheffield was a bigger cub back then . Some dodgy back handers must have been taking place .

You do hit on good point though , our game is falling apart with youth and talent , but when you have cap in place and people want instant results your going to cut the cloth accordingly . It's becoming a competition where they are trying to remove as much competition as possible, a rigged system where the established top clubs benefit and they are the ones who won't argue to change it , very much like Westminster politics . Scrap the cap and I would also pull away fro Sky , there are many other options now like DAZN , prime , freesports , BT, premier sports . The clubs need to be more responsible for their marketing , there is pretty much zero outside of sky , all Leigh have done is swap a centurion's helmet for a leopard , ridiculous , if I didn't attend a match I would have no idea when the next game was . RL is the most physical game there is and it should be pitched that way , like UFC was, they have characters , stars and no cap and people want to watch successful people , this is human nature wit bread and circus.