I've not read this whole thread but surely Ben Roberts could fill the void could he not?

Roberts, Ellis, Trueman, Aston, McShane, Millington, Mata’utia, Milner, any lads in the academy

They’ve got plenty of guys who could play in the halves, they don’t need a HB, they just want one, that shouldn’t get dispensation. It’s not like football when teams runs out of fit goalkeepers and get dispensation to sign one because it’s a specialist position.

I would liken this more to when Wire signed Joey Johns. They were over the overseas quota so they deregistered Graham Appo. He was still on contract and still paid by Wire, but not allowed to play for them during the play offs.

but gale would still be paid would he not? taking cas over the cap.

I don't know as Powell actually does want one, he's already said he's going to assess his existing options over the warm weather camp. Although young, we also have Jake Sweeting who showed up well against Fev the other week (granted he didn't have much opposition). We should be looking at it as a chance to see who else can step up. No panic here! I'd swap out a back rower for an outside/utility back everyday at the moment rather than bringing another half in.

That was 14 years ago, imagine how many different versions of the salary cap rules weve had since then.

I mean they could also just sign someone for 100k/175k and designate them as marquee and they don't count on the cap at all...

I’m struggling to think of a time where this has been done before.

It would seem a bit of a silly anomaly if allowed. If Gale had played in round 1 and been injured then presumably this couldn’t happen. Seems a bit daft to me. Either all players who are injured can be exempt from the cap or none.

Also I’d say if a team deregisters a player and so making them exempt from the salary cap, I think they should be able to be signed by other clubs without a transfer fee.

In 2016 we lost Shenton for the season 27 minutes in. There was nothing we could do. If the RFL do allow us to do this and we can bring someone in then why the hell not. Look at the shambles that is hardakers drug ban and maybe scrutinise that and compare that with other cocaine users in recent years.

That said, I legitimately don't see us signing anyone. We couldn't get a proper full back from the October before the season so how the hell will we get a first choice 7 4 weeks before the season?

What’s drugs bans that aren’t set by the RFL got to do with this case?

Fair enough Cas having the cheek to ask but the RFL shouldn’t even be considering it. They actually should be some exemptions in case of long term injury such as injured onInternational duty or picking up a serious illness or stuff away from rugby like being hit by a drunk driver or beating attacked by a group of guys outside a club. But picking up an injury in training is just part and parcel of sport.

Also as previously mentioned, Leeds and other clubs usually leave some cap space in case of such a problem. Cas not doing and helping them out is just rewarding poor cap management.

The only thing setting this injury apart from many others before it is the timing. It's happened before a ball has even been kicked so Cas have time to salvage the situation.
But I still think other clubs will be annoyed if dispensation is granted. Danny Addy missed all of last season for Hull KR and they just dealt with it. Walmsley missed a hell of a lot of last season for Saints, Manfredi for Wigan, even Albert Kelly was absent with concussion for a while with Hull FC.
My point is that serious injuries are part and parcel of the sport and the timing of an injury should not determine how disadvantageous it is to the club in question.

So i think Cas have really gamed the system.

They've been given dispensation but aren't using it now, instead swapping Wardle for Rankin. That is dodgy for me.