Quote: Tigerade "My club (Tigers) would probably vote against an increase of the cap but can hardly be described as a club with no ambition. It boils down to a simple formula - we pay for what we can afford. The game is not awash with clubs like Wigan and Leeds and millionaires like Koucash and Moran or would you like to play each other 6 times each per season and us "smaller clubs" can do one.
Ambition of not measured on the size of your wallet.'"
Unfortunately, this post - while eminently reasonable to you - proves the point about the tail trying to wag the dog.
The problem for the game as a whole is not that rich clubs aren't allowed to win everything by spending lots of money that no one else has, but that our leading stars are now never more than one season off leaving us for pastures new, and quite often that means leaving RL altogether.
You may not consider that a problem given that your team is currently doing well. And you're quite right to say that Cas are showing how good team-management is paying dividends on a relatively small budget, but look at it from another angle - why should the likes of Wigan keep the conveyor belt of junior talent running, at considerable cost to the club (one reason we don't win bidding wars for big names anymore) if we never get more than a season or so out of the finished products?
It's simply not viable in the long term that a small game like British RL can continue to lose its best young players to someone else who has done nothing more than flash the cash.
You also need to consider the moral implications of clubs like yours fighting tooth and nail to prevent professional athletes earning comparable wages to other top sportsmen. How is that fair? You know the salary cap has barely risen in over a decade. In reality, that is a lowering of the limit and a huge restraint of trade for professionals who've dedicated themselves to our game and have a very short career anyway. (To be honest, I'm surprised they haven't risen up against it already).
As I said earlier, I don't think the answer is a simple raising of the cap. I think a package of proposals, such as central top-up funding for established stars and dispensations on RU signings, could be one way to go. But more important than any of this, significant salary cap rewards should be offered to clubs who produce their own talent. Not only would that refocus the minds of many SL chairmen, it would also make it very difficult for outfits like Cas to put club first and vote against it.
