does anyone know sams preferred position. we know he will play anywhere to get in the team but the only time i spoke to him which was last season he said he wanted to be a scrum half not a stand off.
as for smith taking his place i would not let smith in wigan never mind in the team.

We don't know that at all, just like nobody on here is likely to know how much or little players past or present have/are being paid.

Hi folks, been reader for a while but this is my first post. I know it's off topic but DaveO's comment below set me off on a hobby horse about our use of the salary cap.



Which, in my opinion, means we are still not doing things as cleverly as some clubs in regard to the use of the salary cap.

As well as Fielden, we still have plenty of established players signed in the pre IL era and I can envisage that, just as with Barrett, we won't get as much benefit when Fielden goes as we thought we would. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes us several years to get back on track.

Compensation payments made to players who leave early are spread pro-rata over the duration of his contract period. So in Barrett's case any payment made would count on this years cap since he left at the end of the second year of the three year deal.

Now if we paid off Riddell for example, a portion of the compensation would count this season and two larger amounts for the next two.

So its not impossible to pay players off and incur less cap liability if you can convince the player a pay off from us plus the wages they earn at their new club is the same or better then what they would get if they stayed here but not playing. For examplesalary cap value [/iwas judged to be £85K this year and £62.5K for the next two).

Taxi for Riddell?



Assuming there has been no change in the regulations since then on this point, no we didn't. If a players contract is terminated before he plays a "salary cap relevant match" anything paid to him does not count on the cap.

A salary cap relevant match is:

"Any first team rugby football league fixture played between two Clubs in either: (a) the Super League competition (including play-offs); (b) the World Club Challenge competition; (c) the Challenge Cup competition (quarter-final, semi-final and final only); or (d) such other fixture as the RFL may prospectively determine to be a Salary Cap Relevant Match from time to time."

Davico got injured in a pre-season friendly so it was simply a matter of terminating his contract and paying whatever the two parties agreed or were contracted to. No cost to us on the cap. That is probably why he was out the door as quick as he was. If he was a cost to us we may as well have hung onto him to see if he recovered.

Dave