Yes there's no shortcut to sustainable success we need to be doing everything possible to sign the very best kids on either side of the pennines.

If the marquee signings are a no go should the Doc not be looking to invest in quality young players and a state-of-the-art rugby academy that offers education and living accommodation?

There are still RU players who may be an asset to RL, but the main attraction of RL to Union players in the old days was money. Now we are the poor relations because there's far more money in RU than any SL coach can dream of.

Similarly with Aussie players. When we played different seasons, English clubs could attract the top Aussies to play for us in their off season. Now that we in England have fallen into line with them, the only Aussie players we can expect to get, on the whole, are those who are past their best or those who didn't quite make it. There are one or two notable exceptions to that, but on the whole, that is the case.