i am very sorry but I do not support you lot,

They have started the move towards central contracts, like ECB, not fast enough though

temptation from rugby union will always be around, no matter what the RFL or the individual clubs do. Yes I agree it would be good if the RFL could either raise the sallary cap or make law changes to encourage teams to produce youngsters, but its not going to be easy to impliment quickly.

What makes me shrug it off (rightly or wrongly) is that whenever someone goes rugby league produces another. that is something they can't say. Do we miss ashton? I certainly don't, the kiwi's didn't miss SBW as they went on to win the world cup.

Yer it hurts to lose a player to yawion, and there is a bitter taste in the mouth, hopefully something can be brought in to hinder it, but i am not worried about the game because of union. I don't think tomkins will leave, but if he ever does, we'll just make another one, just like we always do.

I think the RFL need to put a system in place to protect the players both financially as well as every other aspect of our game.

Personally I do not blame a league player signing for a RU team if they are offering big money. Rugby is a sport were each game could literally be the players last with the injuries that can occur. RL isn't exactly a well paid sport, players need to think about themselves and their futures, money is (sadly) a massive factor in anyones life.

Such players (Farrell/Ashton etc) probably don't prefer RU to RL, but are sacrificing their reputation as a RL star and turning their back on their home team because the RFL league won't look after them financially. I'm sure Ashton/Farrell would have stayed at Wigan for as long as they were good enough if the money was right.

And in return the players are outcast by the fans that once cheered them for joining 'the darkside'.

Sadly life gets in the way and reality means player have to think about themselves despite their love for their club. The RFL needs to put something in place to stop this, we need our top young players to stay in our code to develop our game on every level, lets face it, it's already the best on field sport in the world. Let's do more with this great product.

If S Tomkins (look no 'p' ) is asked about RU or any other player they should be able to say that RU has never crossed their mind as they can play for their home town club in a better competition with better players for equal money to any RU club could offer.

That's certainly one way but the major flaw in that scenario would be that the player would have to be a seriously established international player to warrant one (Or at least they should, with the RFL you never know). More recently union has been poaching players at a younger age before they have had a chance to really become established within the game (Ashton, Thornley). I doubt Eastmond would even qualify for a contract at the minute as has he even played for England more than once yet?

The only ones who (imo) would get a central contract currently would be....

Peacock (Capt)
Morley
Graham
Roby
O'Loughlin
Burgess (Pointless - NRL)
Ellis (See Burgess)
Sam Tomkins
Ryan Hall

Why would he play RL as a kid if he was a Union fan? Isn't there a deep division between the two codes?

Sorry, but I have major problems with this attitude. For me, it's verging on dangerous self-delusion.

Firstly, why should RU be allowed to benefit from all the scouting and development work that RL has done to produce and develop these young men, purely because they are too hypocritical to police their salary cap properly? Secondly, if you think we can just produce another Sam Tomkins, then, with all respect, you're living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. We may be able to, but it could be years down the line. The last British home-grown player at Wigan of his natural talent waa Shaun Edwards, and how long ago was that?

I reckon that if we lost Tomkins and/or Eastmond, it would be disaster for British RL. And I don't agree that losing Ashton was unimportant. If he'd continued to develop the way he was doing, imagine what he'd be like now. Good grief, he's become a real good 'un under RU coaching. What would have happened if Maguire and Wane had got hold of him?

We can't afford to shrug our shoulders and pretend it doesn't matter. It honestly does. We have to find a way - and it's got to be cap related - to load the dice in our favour when it comes to these bidding wars that may lure away our young stars.

Hypocrisy? Saints fans? Salary Cap? Surely these expressions can't be connected to form a sentence?

I mean Saints fans can't be worried about their best young players leaving for RU, can they? I mean its all a propaganda ploy by Wigan fans desperate to see their team back at the top, isn't it?

I've got some news for any Saints fans reading this:

1. We ARE back on top, get used to it.

2. Even though we are back on top, many Wigan fans remain opposed to the CC because we are fans of the game first and the CC is a desperately unambitious system that will condemn RL to continuing stagnation at best and at worst, a slow long decline into sporting obscurity.

3. I don't want players like Eastmond to go to RU. Even if the prospect of it exposing Saints fans' hypocrisy does provide some light relief, its still a grim scenario and one which any RL fan should be appalled at, just as Saints fans were appalled when Wigan lost players (hang on, wait a minute, they thought it was amusing ).

He probably played both or may even have been signed from a Union side by saints it does happen I'm sure we will have academy players signed from Union teams. I have friends who play Union, League and Football so i dont see why not.

The dark side are already sniffing around, Sale RU to be exact. The thing i find annoying is that the players agents are quite openly touting the young lads to kick and clap clubs.

Where is all this money for "central contracts" or the like going to come from?

I was reading last week about the Italian rugby union teams now playing in the Magners League and that their playing budgets are about £6,000,000 per season. Rugby League in its current state cannot financially complete with rugby union and to try to do so would be suicide for the game.

To start with central events such as Madness weekends, semi-finals and internationals all need to be supported across the board by fans of all clubs to generate revenue and funds for the RFL to allow us to even consider competing financially.

As an aside isn't their some irony in RL fans moaning about rugby union poaching players?

Dark room required and a comfy bed.

I agree with everything you have just said.

Only if you don't recognise the difference between the following:

An RU club back in the 1960s/70s being fortunate enough to have a gifted player wanting to represent them, paying him nothing and doing nothing at all to advance his development - and then losing his services when someone else offers him a job.

and

An RL club now, spotting young talent and spending a lot of money and expertise bringing it to its maximum potential, and then, just as it's about to blossom, losing it to another professional code which didn't spot its potential in the first place and certainly didn't pay a penny towards developing it.

There is no similarity between the two. But even if there was, who gives a crap? I care about RL - not past injustices suffered by RU (real or imagined), and I want to see us implement something whereby we can keep the young kids we now seem to be producing again from another code which appears to have more money than sense.

I'll tell you what the real irony is. A Saints fan now appears to have joined Wigan in his concern about RU poaching players - because suddenly it looks as if Eastmond, a Saints player, will be going next. But a Warrington fan still thinks it's a non-issue. Could that be because the game's self-professed 'glamour club' still hasn't developed anyone of its own that RU might be interested in?

Rugby league cannot complete financially with rugby union - get your head around it because it isn't going to change. There are rugby union clubs in Italy that have a budget 50% bigger than Wigan's budget. Perhaps when Wigan have a turnover equivalent to the likes of Leicester Tigers or Northampton Saints then you will be able to retain players under competition from those clubs until then forget. Although lets be honest its hardly a talent drain at the moment is it - rumours from Saints' fans about a player who signed a new contract last year are hardly the most reliable of sources. Beyond an average u20 centre from Wigan who else has been lost to rugby union in the last 24 months?

I'd bet there have been more move the other way.

No one's talking about RL directly competing with RU clubs for star players, this is a red herring. I think everyone accepts that established RL stars are always going to be targets for RU and there's not much we can do about that.

We could make it more difficult for them to lure our younger players away though.

What I want to see is a situation where RL clubs are rich enough to be able to say to a player like Ashton, don't go to union at this stage in your career, it's a big risk, we'll look after you, here's a 4 year contract for 50k per year minimum, rising to 100k if you become a first team regular.
Instead Wigan could only offer him peanuts.

(I'd like to see RL being able to say to players like Ashton - you could gamble with your career and go to RU or you could stay here and be on 100k minimum, rising to 200k if you are a regular in the 1st team. That would really make it a harder decision for him to go at that point. But clubs are a long way away from being able to afford that at the moment).

To make these kind of offers on a regular basis without risking financial insecurity clubs are going to need to increase their revenue substantially. Whilst we are never going to be able match the financial muscle of RU, the current CC, by not encouraging clubs to grow their revenue, means that the gap is much wider than it needs to be. RL clubs are capable of significantly increasing their revenue but are being held back by a lack of ambition fostered by this ridiculous and unfair system.

At the very least the RL should announce its intention raise the CC by 20% at the beginning of the next license period, whilst retaining strict financial monitoring to ensure clubs don't go bust. All this would do is reverse the inflationary erosion of player pay in the last 5 or so years, but it would be a start.