Quote Hull Kingston Bronco="Hull Kingston Bronco"Fair enough RB, I hope the rumour comes to nothing myself
There is certainly some decent talent in the NSW Cup and Queensland Cup, and those guys are affordable as not on a lot of money down here with the 2nd tier cap. Couple of years in SL might give them a 2nd shot at the NRL. Likewise in the U20s if you could strike a deal with an NRL club to become a development pathway (get decent quality game time without taking up their cap space, given concerns here that good U20s are being brought into first grade too early / undercooked). An English club that took a progressive approach at partnership with the genuine global first tier comp, rather than saw the downside of all the extra TV money in the game now, could really gain some competitive advantage in the UK comp I reckon.
I'm sure that's the way Leneghan is looking at it for one (and what he's done with the Wales talent pipeline at Wigan is another example of seeing strategic opportunity where others only saw the negative of Crusaders top tier demise - if only we still had the benefit of that vision...)'"
Does sound like a good idea - and if rules and regs allowed, we should be at least talking to NRL clubs about it.
It does though devalue SL (not that is even close to be honest to the NRL) in that a top tier team (for now anyway!!!) would be taking youngsters from the NRL grade system, giving them experience to then go back and play in a "proper league".
Additionally, it moves away from us trying to produce our own London born-and-bred talent. Something that the club (and RFL) have been piping up about for the last few years.
I'd love to see a creative and rich investor/chairman come in (if and when DH leaves) who can fund and drive us forward. If only we had someone like Gary Hetherington at Leeds.... he is the sort of person we desperately need.
