I think that is the case, if not we have inadvertently highlighted what many of us have been saying for a long time- the system is flawed and has more holes than a sieve.

With regards to your last point, my fear is that if we once again move the goalposts young lads (and their parents!) will become fed up and look elsewhere, namely the 15 man code.

There is an article on sportinglife with the title " Wolves to extend winning run " . A few lines into the article it states that all Warrington players are dual registered with Swinton .

Except the 5 that have left wire to sign for swinton. They have circumvented the rules and both clubs should be hauled up in front of the rfl. This now allows wire 10th places inthe swinton side. No way have they let those players go. It might look that way on paper though. DR the whole squad is fine as only 5 are allowed to play. But now we see fake transfers happening to turn the lions into wire reserves.

Barney your comments re relegation are amusing as the only reason your chairman is playing this game is to avoid relegation.

I'm glad Wire have done this, we are constantly being told by the RFL that we are the best run club in SL and the model for everyone to follow, we were vehemently opposed to this idea so thought ok, F U and stuck two fingers up to them, good, it was a silly system they brought in in the first place.

If Warrington and Swinton have broken the rules they should be hauled in front of the RFL, I agree. If not, they shouldn't. What rules have they broken? I'm genuinely asking because I don't know.

How have the rules been broken?

Warrington didn't want the old Academy/ U21s system to cease and are just finding other ways to retain and develop young talent.

They should be applauded for investing in the game.

Exactly; Warrington are using the system to allow nine or so young players to remain in a full-time environment until they have fully developed as players.

You are missing the point here. Wire are against these changes, and what they have done 'drives a coach and horses' through the 'rules' of the new system. They are pointing out that it is not only badly thought through, but ineptly managed. No firm rules have appeared, and the new system has stumbled from one problem to the next. The last issue correctly pointed out was that SL players will cause CC salary cap to be exceeded; so they introduced notional salary values for them. But there are plenty of other issues on the horizon. How about Hunslet Hawks finishing bottom and getting relegated ( Hetherington would love that). Or the grand final between Swinton with 9 Wire players vs Fev with no DR 's ?. Or the Challenge cup draw of Wire vs Swinton.

All IMO though.

i've just skim read it.


Have we played a blinder here for our own benefit?

I'm baffled - the only thing that is of no suprise is the RL appear to have made an unholy mess of things. I assume, and sincerely hope, that if the players have signed 1-year deals then we have an option to bring them back after that. However, I confess to be mystified by the "rules", such as they are, and they certainly seem open to errm misinterpretation.

Mendieka in particular was a player the club seemed to have high hopes for, his potential appeared to be confirmed by a strong showing on boxing day so I hope it's just a case of a one year loan dressed up to satisfy/circumvent (depending on your views) the rules.

You can't blame Wire for doing it. If they can afford to why not?

It's probably against the spirit of the game, but not against the rules (whatever they are).

This notional salary cap value sounds very interesting though, I wonder who "makes up" those figures?

Yes , basically Warrington will be employing and paying these 6 players to train and might well give them some ' spurious ' title ie ' Community apprentices ' , Swinton will be paying them to play RL [ probably a simple match payment ]

Warrington if they so wish might well loan back these players during the season if they want to give them some 1 st team experience

I fully expect several other SL clubs to do exactly the same thing with their ' twins ' , so yes Warrington have done nothing wrong within the laws [ if there actually are any , and the RFL have a long history of intruducing idea's without thinking them through ]of the game , but have ripped a huge hole in the credibility of semi Pro RL

So lets not see any more criticism of W1g4n and their ' deffered ' contract payments , this is alongside that as an abomination

Well it didn't do Swinton much good today did it.

OK. Think most people have moved on. That was about 7 years ago.