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Enough with this set spending limit and dull and boring, trying to make it an even, competition. Its time for a change. The NRL needs to evolve and expand into untapped markets. Money needs to start pouring in from the sponsors. The salary cap has to go. The teams that can promote the game, bring in the fans and sponsors would succeed and the teams who can't keep up should merge or go away. Let the teams decide their own fate in the years to come.

dismantle broncos before they ruin the game in qld

You're not concerned? The NRL WILL produce star players for sure. But who, exactly are the real 'star' players right now - and I'm talking here about those with some kind of profile outside of the sport itself?

I'd say - Lockyer, Thurston, Slater, Inglis (maybe add Folau), Marshall, Mason, and erm.......

And when exactly would you hit the panic button? Not that I have BTW but accepting these losses when there is money available to sponsor real stars is ridiculous. If third party payments keep Inglis in the game then why not? You could still allocate some space on the cap for such players (i.e. take it off the total) at an assumed amount, so nobody could stockpile loads of them.

In The Courier Mail yesterday there qwas again a list of NRL players and how much they might earn in Frog RU. It gives an awful impression of the sport IMO. We should be talking about how great these players are, not just sighing when another leaves.

And BTW the obvious difference between this and SL is that in SL you'll get playes like Matt King being the highest earbner at their club when in NRL they weren't. The difference isn't that great for a lot of players. The amounts being touted by French Union are huge.

I wouldn't be surprised to see SBW come back with his tail between his legs TBH, as whilst a Gower might enjoy doing sweet FA and swanning round French golf courses, living in a country where few speak English isn't everyone's cup of tea.

sonny bill''money bill''williams contract is in euro $$. thats huge

I agree, BUT WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING TO COME FROM????

Sydney clubs are struggling with the new pokie tax. Parra, Wests, Canterbury even Penrith with their hundred million dollar Leagues club turnover are crying poor. St George couldn't come up with a third party sponsor to pay 100K a year to keep Gasnier. Even your Sea Eagles are tight for cash and Max pays plenty for them.

We do not have billionaires falling over themselves to give out money hand over fist. Rusty paid 3 million for 75% of the Bunnies with the fan's approval - so the Rabbits fans only think their club is worth 4 million.

I don't know what the answer is, but open slather isn't it. Open the cheque books, and we'll have a four team comp in next to no time.

Matt King isn't the highest earner at Warrington. The speculation in the Sydney press about his salary was absolute horse crap.

I disagree, take one good season add a healthy dash of media 'beat-up' and you have yourself a recipe for the next batch of Superstars.

Not overly

Off the top of my head you could add - Prince, Hunt, Rodgers, Bowen, Hayne, Stewart, Minichello, Smith, Anasta, Asotasi, Wing, Gidley, Price, Petro to your list. And there's a plethora of young blokes waiting for their chance such as the exciting 7's making a name for themselves Sandow, Wallace & Pearce.

Look, without a doubt it sucks when the NRL loses a big name. I just can't be sucked in to all this dooms-day talk that the game is in crisis. All the drama helps sell newspapers. Rupert's men are hardly likely to play that down are they?


LOL, the game seems pretty strong in QLD at the moment. Especially the last 3 years running
I say get rid of St George so the wealth of junior talent coming from the 'gong is stifled by mediocrity. Long live the Steelers

It is a couple of players that is all. So the NRL will be fine. TBH I don't think that SBW has been quite the the player (apart from the odd game) he is touted to be, mainly due to injuries. Same goes for Willie Mason - a legend in his own mind - he is a long way from ever being Steve
Price! Anywy I digress

Dollar Bill is a special situation - he has a contract with NO get out clause.

With the IRB refusing to acknowledge the issue they are ignoring the ramifications any subsequent ruling could bring. This has the potential (if it goes in the players favour) of being the Rugby equivalent of the Bosman ruling.

What next clubs offering only pay if you play contracts? - and if one code does it, the other will follow...espcially for huge slary based players?

the NRL/SLE could offer a dispenation for cross code changes - how would the All Blacks feel (again) if a star face player switched to league (Dan Carter anyone).

AND befroe any union apologists bang on about what has gone on before. IT IS NOT THE SAME. League players were banned from playing Union by the Union authorities...salaried players v boot money...etc. etc. etc.

sbw french team wants too payout bulldogs contract play on sbw in france

You've got Sydney clubs struggling to survive. And the game only has a few star players. I suggest you're hopelessly exaggerrating to suggest that new 'stars' can be manufactured that easily.

Citing the following as 'stars' is exactly my point:

Prince - behind both Lockyer and Thurston in glamour stakes
Hunt - possible in the future - one of QRU's main targets
Rodgers - ancient
Bowen - can't even get in the Qld Origin side.
Hayne - could be but certainly not yet
Stewart - nope
Minichello - retired
Smith - Cameron? A hooker as celebrity. Hmm. No. Next please.
Anasta - you are joking I hope?
Asotasi - solid workhorse forwards are NOT and never have been stars
Wing - sinking without trace along with the rest of Souths.
Gidley - righto.
Price - solid workhorse forwards are NOT and never have been stars
Petro - solid workhorse forwards are NOT and never have been stars

That's a hard-core league fan's view of 'stardom'. That isn't a list of names to excite a sponsor in the way SBW/Gasnier could. You really have to look beyond the actual playing ability here. If ability was all that mattered league would have wiped Union out in Australia years ago.

I'm talking about players who neutrals/non league fans might get off their butts to watch. SBW may/may not be as good as he can be. Marshall has been injured/poor for a couple of years. Mason's a big lump who hasn't set the world on fire recently. And yet they are stars. If you accept losing these players then you're down to watching a personality-free sport acting as a feeder for Union and SL.

The impression at the moment is of a moribund sport. We are a few months away from the World Cup. Supposed to be a big celebration of the game, and yet two of the biggest stars in the sport are leaving BEFORE it happens. Can you imagine the same thing happening in Union?

In any event, I simply have no problem at all with clubs being able to use third party payments to keep players. The only reason they can't is because of a fear that stars would all end up at the same few teams. A way around that (to a degree) is to still have the cap but subtract a preset amount for the player regardless of what they earn from outside.

BTW - if Matt king is not the biggest earner at Warrington (or close to it) then his agent's useless. Fact is he'll be on WAY more than he was at the Storm.

Also, from what i read yesterday the ARU (and certainly QRU) are not supportive of SBW either, as they know the same could happen to their players. I doubt whether anything can/will be done to stop him mind you.

Seems a lot of the Sydney press actually think of a number between 1-9, then add as many zeros as they like at the end of it when speculating over a player's wages. Might explain why they thought he was getting over $1 million, when in fact our maximum salary cap in SL (last time I looked) is £1.8. You do the maths even with the exchange rate.