Won’t be coming back here.

The current meagre Salary Cap and club finances, are a major deterrent to clubs having a proper reserve team competition.

ALL clubs just play their fringe squad players combined with their best/older Academy players in the reserve team.

Players are then loaned-out to Championship clubs to expose them to better/tougher games for their development.

The fact that the Reserve and Academy games are scheduled on alternate weekends so that they don`t clash, facilitates clubs` playing their Academy players in the Reserve League and is deliberately designed that way.

I agree that we need a much better reserve league on a similar level to the Queensland/NSW Cup competitions, but it`s not going to happen here for a while, if ever?

Totally agree. I would hope that Lindop becomes a first choice centre at some point this next season. In order for the pack to compete we need a genuine break out season (not just a bit of promise) from one, or preferably two, from Wood, Thomas & Okoro.

Having watched PNG v Cook islands I'm even more baffled by the signing of Russell. I'm just hoping he's carrying an injury, because if his last 2 games for them are a true reflection of his ability he's getting nowhere near our first 17.

It’s why I like to hope the coaches see something us fans have not. But given what some have seen and what a lot of us have read of his record it is a worry and more so because it’s a quota spot.

The operational loss won't stop us spending the spare money we have on the cap. And we have spare money available to bring another player in. 2 seperate things.