Quote: Fuzzy-Duck "So the grand final is once again Leeds v Saints, if the salary cap was supposed to even the playing field it hasn’t worked.
Clearly the only defining measure that keeps Super League continuing to get the same results is the strength of the academies.
The strongest academies always produce the grand finalists, capping spending on players has no affect.
Is it time for a new look at how the best youngsters are scooped up by the biggest teams?'"
The salary cap only affects the first team playing squad and the biggest teams employ more coaches and generally have more money to invest in their academies, so are able to scoop up the best young talent?
With that in mind, as Wire fans, shouldn't we be asking why after 20 years of being one of the strongest clubs financially in the league, why we have struggled so much to match the Wigan/Saints/Leeds academy systems?.. Surely, it should just be a case of setting up an identikit arrangement similar to anyone of those 3 club's set-ups and then reap the rewards of doing so?... Have we simply not employed the right people, or have the people at the top totally underplayed the importance of producing homegrown talent?
Also, as a bit of an extra, and with salary cap being mentioned here, one of my main questions and it's one that leaves me baffled, is why, as a competition as a whole, the salary cap has stagnated for so long, especially now in a time when actual economic inflation is skyrocketing?... If you view the playing squads as an 'employee', then it's fair to say that their wage structure as been awfully abused and the actual job of a RL professional isn't exactly an attractive one to want to either become, or stay employed as?