Rugby league football is one of the most popular sports in Australia,[1][2][3] where it has been played since 1908. It is the dominant winter sport in the states of New South Wales and Queensland as well as the Australian Capital Territory, which together comprise around half of the country's population.[4] In 2009, it was the most watched sport on Australian television, with an aggregate audience of 128.5 million viewers As I said, "For all intents and purposes Rugby League is Australias National sport" en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_le ... _Australia

Rugby league football is one of the most popular sports in Australia,[1][2][3] where it has been played since 1908. It is the dominant winter sport in the states of New South Wales and Queensland as well as the Australian Capital Territory, which together comprise around half of the country's population.[4] In 2009, it was the most watched sport on Australian television, with an aggregate audience of 128.5 million viewers As I said, "For all intents and purposes Rugby League is Australias National sport" en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_le ... _Australia

The fact it is onlY popular in half the country means it is not Australia's NATIONAL sport.

It's popular all over. When NRL teams play in Perth or Darwen or somewhere (thousands of miles away!), they attract very decent crowds indeed. All the more so when you consider few local fans will make the trip because of the cost and distance. Bigger crowds than Wigan or Saints would attract if they staged games in London, Southampton, Glasgow, wherever.

That's because those cities are full of ex pats. Imagine 550k wigan ers and St. helens folk living in the outer Hebrides and taking a SL game there. RL gets very little attention and is well down the sports pecking order in half the country. It is not by any stretch a national game, yet, never mind THE national game.

You mean those places are full of people interested in RL?

Plenty of ex-pats in Perth, I wouldn't have thought there were too many in Darwen. But no real reason why many English ex-pats are likely to be league fans, though.

None of the major sports give a cr*p about Darwin except to pick up the odd indigenous player. RL is big in NSW and Queensland, a bit player in Melbourne (easily the second biggest market in the country) where AFL rules, and nowhere at all in Adelaide or Perth. By comparison AFL has two sides in Queensland and NSW, and rules Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

However, the NRL dwarfs SL - financially, number of players at a high level etc. Its also been helped a lot by the financial problems in RU. Its not that long ago that the ARU was raiding the NRL for talent - Sailor, Tuqiri, Rogers etc. They would have continued that game forever and a day had they not run out of cash.

My main issue with increasing the Salary Cap is that the very first thing that would happen is that existing players at all the teams that could afford to pay more would get pay rises - for doing nothing at all more than they already are. Basically we'd see wage inflation for precisely zero benefit to the sport as a whole. You also cannot and should not allow clubs to bankrupt themseleves, so SL should definitely retain elements of the cap aimed at keeping clubs solvent.

Rather than an across the board increase, I would look at marquee player allowances (plus potentially homegrown player discounts).

Sydney Roosters have in 2013 and 2014, and they will again in 2015.

Fortunately sport is about much more than the top tier professional clubs. Pub teams matter as well..... The Victorian Rugby League (VRL) is pleased to announce that 2014 has been the most successful season for player participation levels in Rugby League within Victoria, increasing player registrations by 17 percent in the past 12 months to surpass the record participation level set in 2013. www.playnrl.com/record-year-for- ... by-league/ “In 2013 we had a 19.3 per cent increase in registrations, which is the biggest year-on-year rise recorded in any state,” says John Sackson, chief executive of the WARL. “Coming off such a jackpot, we thought this season it would be hard to maintain, but we’ve actually gone ahead and are up another six per cent. “We have the highest number of players outside NSW and Queensland. This is despite the fact that Victoria has an NRL team and eight development officers, and we obviously don’t have an NRL side and have just three development officers.” rugbyleagueweek.com.au/wa-mad-footy/

Fortunately sport is about much more than the top tier professional clubs. Pub teams matter as well..... The Victorian Rugby League (VRL) is pleased to announce that 2014 has been the most successful season for player participation levels in Rugby League within Victoria, increasing player registrations by 17 percent in the past 12 months to surpass the record participation level set in 2013. www.playnrl.com/record-year-for- ... by-league/ “In 2013 we had a 19.3 per cent increase in registrations, which is the biggest year-on-year rise recorded in any state,” says John Sackson, chief executive of the WARL. “Coming off such a jackpot, we thought this season it would be hard to maintain, but we’ve actually gone ahead and are up another six per cent. “We have the highest number of players outside NSW and Queensland. This is despite the fact that Victoria has an NRL team and eight development officers, and we obviously don’t have an NRL side and have just three development officers.” rugbyleagueweek.com.au/wa-mad-footy/

Based on the first game of the NRL season, it looks like Brisbane are miles behind Souths too.