yes, remember the Welsh RL team of the 90's, it was competitive and drew a crowd, why? Because of RU converts. If we want a better Int competition then we need to be strengthening the UK (&Irelnad) teams and France, RL isn't producing the amount or quality of jnrs so lets convert the best RU players to help out.

If clubs can afford it then why not?

In terms of NRL, again I say yes as long as they are pacific Islanders, PNG or South Africans.

Wouldn't this just be abused in a similar way to quotas e.g. Sam Tomkins goes to Orrell, Danny McGuire goes to Carnegie, 5 minutes later say they don't like it and want to return, bingo on the salary cap.

Or what if Union approach a player, e.g. Eastmond at Saints, should Saints then be able to exempt him to stop him changing codes ?

Instead of them just being exempt to the cap, why not have them on central contracts to the RFL as well?

This would mean that RU players wouldn't become the new Kolpacs as the RFL could but sanctions on what players from RU could be signed to these contacts eg x number of international appearances and things of that nature. We'd therefore get better players crossing codes AND be able to compete with the money of RU

Well wasn't this already done back in 2000 or so? I'm sure there was a story about certain RL's having their wages subsidized by the RFL so they wouldn't switch codes

For a couple of players, (and not a great return on Cunningham for GB caps) don't know how if fitted with the salary cap though. Maybe every club should be allowed a joker, one player exempt from the salary cap. It may favour the clubs with more money but stop the best players from switching codes or attract major talent from the NRL or union.

Would also add, in regarding abusing the system, you simply put in a rule that says that a convert who has played RL cannot become salary cap exempt unless his initial switch was over 3 years ago.

i still think that points system being proposed in Aus is the way to go, it is the most transparent system, and would allow exemptions like this without the potential to have the system abused

Could you give us some more info about this point system smokey?

thanks in advance.

Players are given a set number of points depending on experience, rep status, quality etc. A team can only field a 17 that are worth a certain number of total points. The downside to the system is that A) it is somewhat subjective how many points a players value is B) Unless total points are allocated to a squad a team could stock pile decent players in case of injuries.

having some sort of duel contracts between union and league ?
imagine Ugo Monye trying to keep his fitness up by playing for Quins RL as well as Quins RU. Couldn't see the harm especially in Quins case they need all the help they can get.

Better still have a 10 mile rule, anyone born within 10 miles of the team they play for is exempt from the cap or at least on a different beneficial rate

did'nt liam botham have a dual contract @ leeds?

One player maybe yest if they were an international, but definitely not every player signed

Quote: pyeman "Could you give us some more info about this point system smokey? thanks in advance.'" www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 10l50.html

Quote: pyeman "Could you give us some more info about this point system smokey? thanks in advance.'" www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 10l50.html

A percentage of salary (e.g. max 50% exempted from the cap) and max of one player per club.

At Leeds it almost certainly wouldn't work anyway, as Hetherington has imposed a wage structure which means a fair few players are on less than they could earn elsewhere. Bringing in a very highly paid union convert into that mix would destroy the very team spirit that has helped push Leeds to where they are.

To answer the original Poster....NO!

What this does raise is the pi55 poor state to out RL Development programme across the UK. 14 SL teams, with one based in France means that (at 27 men squads) we can't find 351 players good enough to play Rugby League from the UK. Take into account that at present, and not counting Hull Kingston Australians most clubs have 5 overseas players then that number comes down to 299.
What is being proposed here is that we can't find 350 odd players in the UK without having to go overseas or pinch someone from another code
If you remove Quins from the equation, then this number comes down to 324!

The Population of the cities, towns and villages along the M62 must be about 6 million people and what we are saying here is that a sport with over 100 years of heritage and tradition can't fins 324 players good enough to play in Superleague? WTF?

If someone WANTS to play League, let them come on the wages on offer. Look at what is happening to Wendyball? ALL the clubs lose money and some of the bigger ones are in real trouble. Do we want RL to go down this route? The cap is working and in time, the expansion of the game will help the development of players, but some people want it all and they want it now.

The RFL have a plan. Just because we don't agree with parts of it doesn't mean we should abandon it. Rugby League fans do seem to spend a little too much time worrying about what other codes are up to rather than worrying about the long term future of the game.

So no. If a player can't be tempted to League on the salary on offer, let them stay with Union. Stop trying to score points against Union. We have the better product, we have more skillful players and we have a growing audience........union will always try to cherry pick players, but so be it. As I always tell my Union loving mates......yes, England did win the RWC in 2003, but you would never have done it without a league defensive coach and a league try scorer