I don't sympathise with them at all. The salary caps are in place to prevent clubs being ruined by their owners. You had that great bastion of RL, Wigan, sold to Dave Whelan for a fiver and it's historic ground made into a Tesco car park because there was no salary cap. Without one, the likes of Salford, Leigh, Wigan and Warrington would spend at irresponsible levels and before you know it their owner would suffer financial problems or be arrested or lose interest and all of a sudden RLFC Salford of Swinton and Wigan 2017 RLFC would appear in the top tier of the conference, robbing their fans of their club.

Koukash has no excuses for Salford being unable to compete, it's his own fault. Wigan keep bleating about it because their history is built solely on spending more money than anyone else and not through being better. Leigh moaning is a joke, all they had to do was beat the teams from the Championship to set up a one off game to get into SL and they couldn't even manage that. So why should they be allowed to spend hundreds of thousands more than anyone, just so they can do well? This is the same Leigh that a couple of years ago was going through awful times financially.

The other reason for a cap is a level playing field. What fun is a league where success is based not on youth development, squad development, commitment and talent, but instead on how much more than anyone else the owner was willing to lose on the undertaking.

I agree with the view that we'd see which owners / directors are good, if RL in this country just scrapped the salary cap completely. Clubs with wealthy backers would go bust now if they walked away anyway. Over time, would encourage wealthy RU club owners to set up RL teams. Scrap the salary cap at all levels. The control should just be automatic relegation if a club suffers an insolvency event of any kind.

So you're in favour of handing out trophies at the end of the season to the owners who were able to spend the most to assemble an all-star squad?

So multi-millionaires like Simon Moran for example could just dip into their pockets to buy a "Dream Team", easily absorb the personal financial loss that comes as a result, and bask in the glory. Congratulations, you've just turned rugby league into a smaller budget example of the FA Premier League.

You're assuming he (or anybody else) would want to do that but, if they do, fine by me. Would be exciting to see new stars coming into rugby league either at existing or new clubs.

Scrap the salary cap and the Big 4 clubs might have to agree on holding back players' salaries over drinks at the golf club rather than holding back the whole game as at present (via an official salary cap), just to save themselves a few quid.

Leigh could have a case that either form of collusion to restrict wages (however it is dressed up) is illegal.

BTW, not doing Chelsea much good as compared with Leicester City at the moment as you brought up the PL.

As soon as you introduce a system where SL teams have to play off against Championship teams that's blown out of the water.

The 'level playing field' only exists within the specific league you are in, and that isn't the system we've got.

Actually the majority did, especially after beating Salford and Wakey in the cup. Both Salford and Wakey forum were infested with gloating Leigh fans.

Now they can't take it after realising you can go only so long poking the hornets nest without being stung.

Really, about how many would you say, about 2000? I think you will find it was nearer a dozen.

To resolve that, rather than allowing Leigh to spend many multiples of the amounts the other clubs that are more successful than them in the 8s do, why not have a franchising system. Under that system teams with ambitious owners could make a case for being promoted, rather than having to do it by spending more money than the other sides. Oh hang on, haven't we just had that and weren't Leigh deadset against that as well? Presumably because they needed to put together a viable business plan and couldn't?

My glasses are tinted Red, Amber and Black so franchising would fairly inevitably put us back in the top flight and would be utterly fine by me!

We can debate the pros and cons of the system in place and its shortfalls. However, the rules as they stand are the ones the Clubs have agreed to and must stand by. Owners have the right and should try to come up with solutions to potential problems, but abiding by the rules until they don't suit you is not the answer.

Agree Butcher:
then you get this "Beaumont has written to a leading sports QC for advice and clarification on the matter of the cap."
(today's M.E.N.)

I take it Leigh are in the last chance saloon tomorrow lose and thats another dream put to bed for another year

They are getting a helping hand by Silverwood who is penilising Bradford for a rule not used anymore leading to the try

While Leigh continue with what looks like a big choke, it's worth pondering on whether, without RL, Gareth Hock would have spent a lot of time in prison. Mind you, the Leigh No 2 looks like he's a chip off Hock's block.

Quite glad we won't be seeing those particular characters bringing that sort of thuggery to SL.