Wakefield never held payments from the squad. They just said that they couldn't pay the players unless they sold Tim Smith. Nowhere does it state that the players were paid late does it?

I think you will find that this sentence is key to the whole argument.

Exactly. Is there evidence which states they had to provide proof of this? If not then your whole argument is based on assumptions rather than the evidence which is there.

The Crusaders exemptions were because their players wouldn't have a club to play for next season. That was known. There were no two-ways about it. Their club was without a SL license.

That is not the case for Wakefield. They do have a club with a SL license. They're just skint. Bradford players moving on didn't get any exemptions IIRC. I don't think it has anything to do with it.

Has Chase been rules out yet as the one not on the list? Again, being an England international you'd think he'd be exempt!

Not quite. The exemption was forced because players had moved countries to make a career under the premise of the old rules. So they kept the quota rule also to keep overseas numbers down. It's effectively, as you say, the transition of the two systems coming together.

Eventually all the exemptions will run out (it's been nearly 6 years since it came in so many will be coming to the back end of their careers) and the quota system will no longer be needed. But whilst there are exemptions, there needs to be a quota.


Tim Smith joined the competition mid-way though 2008. The rules for non-fed players were in place when he signed. He cannot be exempt for the same reason that a player like Willie Manu is.

The rules however DO allow for a player to leave and come back (Aaron Heremaia being an example). But Tim Smith is not in this category as he was never exempt to begin with. (Not that I agree with the exemption sticking once you leave the country, as it defeats the original point!)

I still reckon it's Chase. Perhaps he is classed as fed trained as soon as he pulls on the international shirt?

One of the most brilliant things I've ever read, although I doubt it's what the author intended.

So the signing of Lama Tasi takes Salford to a total of 7 seemingly non-exempt non-Fed players. Do they know something we don't?
Tasi
Chase
Smith
Sa'u
Mullaney
Rapira
Puletua.
With McGoldrick, Meli and McPherson exempt.

Apparently (can't remember where I read it) one of the proposals of the RFL's policy review is to increase the number of non-feds from 5 to 7

Salford need to hope the proposal is accepted then, or they could have a big problem.
It will also look like the RFL simply change the rules rather than enforce them properly if a club breaches them.

Gotta feel for Nottingham Tiger. Spent Weeks on the Salford forum telling us Chase wouldn't get a visa and has now desperately moved onto this.

So now we know.

Or rather now we have a better idea!

Can anyone advise who are the 5 overseas loaves and the two non-federation fish?

Disappointed they will only have 10 overseas players in the squad, hopefully they can sign a couple more before the season starts.

Classic Noble I'm afraid.

This.

He's been hiding behind a persona of intelligent debate, and to be fair, is much more welcome than the average name-calling jokes we normally get. However, there's a scale as to when debate turns into obsession. Credibility starts to wane. His cautious, but strong line on all things law related, backed-up with supposed knowledge in the field helped his slow-burner attempts at unsettling ideas and attitudes. Now that this argument did not stand-up to scrutiny (Although I'm sure he will swear blind that his were just opinions based on what was known and not actually being in the know) further attempts to quell his Salford obsession are being met with a little more derision. Rightly so. Actual points of debate are marred by continual picking at something Salford has done or doing. Anything that may be valid for debate is met with ever more apathy as his crusade is starting to subdue any argument of worth.

What's his next move? Koukash has been using chemical weapons??