So your argument is based on one player out of a squad of ... how many, exactly?

Leeds are paying them exactly what they deserve. If they think they deserve more they can go elsewhere. To a poorly run club that will pay them more than they deserve. A club that will fail to compete because of this.

yes, there is, its called Seeking Your Value on The Open Market.

A player is paid what his employer thinks he deserves, if the player disagrees they go elsewhere and find someone who will pay them an amount which is acceptable to the player.

Except if your a Rugby League player, where strangely Gary Hetherington cant pay Lee Smith what he thinks he is worth as he is limited in what he can spend because his competitors dont have a lot of money

Which they're quite entitled to do.

It seems they'd rather be paid less to play in a tight knit squad of winners, though, so all this blather about the importance of a few extra quid is ringing little hollow.

25, but it isnt based on one player is it, its based on the hundreds playing RU, football and other sports that dont play RL

we dont only count the ones we lose, but the ones we never attracted as well,


as a game, we simply dont have the quality to allow players like Lee Smith to be leaving

except they cant, because we dont have an open market

I guess the key question here is, where does the sport of Rugby League get this money that the players 'deserve'?

I absolutely believe that Rugby League players are the most dedicated athletes on the planet and I wonder what Peacock and Sinfield feel when seeing Premier league players on £200k a week

The problem is the sport cannot afford to pay the players more than the sport earns - we have to live within our means the same way as any organisation that wants to remain solvent does

The Cap may not be paying the players what they deserve but it is keeping the sport alive

You specified one player - Lee Smith.



"we" do no such thing - because "we" know you can't "count" something as utterly indefinite as that.



Smith could have played for another club. He didn't, he went to RU.

Smith wanted to play RU more than he wanted to play RL, simple as that.

I'm not aware of a true open market in [iany[/i sphere of business.

so they deserve exactly this amount, and also more, strange!

it shouldnt be an either or situation, it shouldnt be you can be paid your value or you can win things, you should be rewarded for winning things

its arrogant and niave to pretend that players should be thankful just to play our game for our entertainment and not expect to be properly rewarded because the owners want more money and you want to pay less on the turnstyles,

its not Jamie Peacocks job to keep Leeds Rhinos a sustainable business, its his job to provide for his family and do his job to the best of his ability, thats how it works,

But you can do all you can to tend towards one.

They can go and earn more, but [ithey[/i have chosen not to. They want stay with their mates and play for the current top club, rather than look for a new challenge. Fair play to them for this solidarity - it has earned them the great memories Sinfield talked about.

If I could earn a bit more elsewhere, but I'm happy and comfortable where I am, I'd probably do the same. I'd not expect any sympathy for that decision, though.

yes, i used an example, good job on noticing that,



why not? there are hundreds of athletes who could play our game, hundreds who would make it, hundreds who dont, these are things we know,

we also know that RU and Football both have more british players playing, a higher profile, and better athletes, they also pay more money to thier players,



or he could have just wanted to earn more money in a very short career that will likely wreck his body!

maybe an offering of the same wage would have kept him in RL,

So why doesn't he go and play RU ?

It does indeed seem that way, well for the moment at least.


Well apart from Lee Smith who has gone...........who's next?

Here's a thought, scrap the CC, pay the players their open market value and they might stay together for longer. Surely it cannot be that simple.....I must be missing something eh?