how many overseas players did the SL champions have last year? I am presuming it was below the magical 5 and Englnd will beat Australia number?

Restriction of trade

Is it correct that in your squad of 25 you could have 8 homegrown players, 5 Australians and 12 Tongans, so with no injuries don't need to field any British players?

Yep, we're back to pre-2008 rules if the rule is applied consistently.

See Wakefield sending Cas down with 15 overseas players in their 17. Rovers must have had some high numbers during the 2007 fight against relegation too - I shall check...

Don't know whether to laugh or cry. Just keep smiling, eh?

Seem to remember a certain side fielding a team full of Aussies after merging......kettle ,pot ,black ???

When you put it like that it's scary.

As someone who's spent fortunes following GB/England around the world, this makes me exceedingly angry.

If you believed that the non-fed quota was going to contribute significantly to a more competitive England team, you're right to angry. I always doubted it - looks like we'll never know now. Can't believe that such high profile policy, whatever its merits, has been binned so casually.

But if every club is up to quota on "overseas players" then another "overseas player" would not be allowed to be employed whereas a "non-overseas player" could still be employed.



I agree with Bullseye on this, the clubs (all of them) have to take more responsibility and stick to the spirit of the rules with overseas players. The RFL are never going to be able to put together a rule that comprehensively restricts overseas players without it being potentially subject to legal action, so the clubs have to be a lot more responsible than they currently are being.

Could we somehow link Sky payments to non-GB eligible players - every time a non-GB eligible player is fielded, a small amount is deducted from the "maximum" payment?

Would soon add up for some teams.