Absolutely. I was hoping he'd bring Hansen into it. He even represented England at academy level in the past, was born and raised here, and has spent his entire rugby career with Wigan.

So there's only 6 players who Wigan have got who are really quota, still 1 too many but not as bad some. I think it also helps that the standard of those 6 is pretty good, the only one i'm not sure of is Finch but that's because i haven't seen a huge amount of him.

Just before Hudgell signed up to this in summer 2007, reported in The Independent:
"Super League clubs have agreed to wean themselves off their dependence on overseas signings. Several sides regularly field up to 12 overseas players, taking advantage of the Kolpak ruling, grandparentage and European passports but now the Rugby Football League are to act to close the loopholes.

From next year, at least five members of a first-team squad of 25 must contain players who have either graduated from a club's academy system or are aged under 21. This will increase by one player each year until 2011, when a squad must have at least eight homegrown players. During the same period, the number of overseas players must be reduced from 10 to five.

Nigel Wood, the RFL's chief operating officer, said: "This new rule fulfils a long-standing objective to encourage clubs to develop young talented players. By giving them greater opportunity at the top level, it is likely to improve standards not only on a national level but also internationally. Over time, the number of home-born players in a squad will increase whilst the number of players who are not academy, Super League or National League club-trained will be reduced."

The 12 club chief executives passed the proposal at their two-day summit in Perpignan."

What a load of bollox.

Yep I think there has to be some immediate, short term penalty to clubs for fielding overseas players since they obviously don't care about the long term damage to the sport. Maybe make overseas players count 20% more on the salary cap? So an overseas player paid £100k would actually take up £120k of space? Only an idea.

Interesting that the RFL's position is diametrically opposed to yours. Short term relaxation of the rules as part of a long term strategy to improve the game.

It's not bad in principle and the weighting looks better than earlier iterations. Would it though count as discrimminatory - effectively subsidising the employment of a Brit compared to, for example an 'Irishman' or 'Maltese' from NSW? Genuine question.

Also you're starting from scratch when the (admittedly fudged, flawed and delayed) system was about to become effective. They came a long way and it wasn't an easy road - then they just tossed it in.

What also needs clarifying is whether Mason has a 'special status' as the HDM says or, to quote Wood 'It's similar to any player with an islands' heritage from the Southern Hemisphere'. Either is odd.

Its not a subsidy of british employees. Its a payment for production and release of English qualified players for internationals and international get-togethers and such 2.7841796875:10