Yet again, the big clubs (Wigan, Warrington, Saints, Leeds, Hull, Hull KR, Huddersfield) are the top clubs. With the cream of the British game coming from it. I bet you could pick a whole England squad from those teams and it would be very competitive.

However, clubs like (Castleford, Wakefield, Crusaders, Harlequins, Bradford) are all doing poorly. They generally have poor stadiums, poor squads, poor games, and ultimately poor crowds.

I think it is time for the RFL to realise this and make it so that the teams with big attendances and strong youth developments can be helped. And the teams with poor attendances and poor youth systems can be let free.

You're right. This is outrageous. If the boot was on the other foot, you'd never catch Rugby League consistently buying young Union players from say Wales for over 100 years or anything.

Boston, Sullivan, Quinnell, Gibbs, Davies, Young, Devereux, Bateman, Tatupu, Botica, Gallagher, Innes, Offiah...

best there was

best what?

And didn't IL mention a new rule about Union players wouldn't count on the cap for their first season in league?

Union people always complained to me about RL taking their best players, which we did for the most part. My reply was that it was up to them to sort their problem out.
With circumstances reversed my feelings are the same, if RL now has a problem it is up to us to sort it out. Don't blame Union!

Down Under, Gallop admitted that after the Canterbury and Melbourne cap scandals the system had failed and they were looking to replace the cap with a better system which would be transparent as well as take their game forward.
We should do the same and quickly. What we don't need is ending up adopting an NRL system into SL as a panic measure as we haven't worked out something better than the SC for ourselves.

tuigamala..george fairburn?

The great players who changed and broke away from the Union in 1895 were all "former" Union players.
Never knock Union players who change to League, it was they who started it all!

Suppose we removed the SC completely. What would happen to the clubs, the league, and the players? How would that impact on international player movement?

Never seen a post with so many people panicking that this cap is all about English Club sides coming and taking SL players. This new cap is done to counteract what the French are doing. The increase will mainy go to the players in union now. With the Marquee player already in the club side. English rugby and Welsh have seen a few players go to French club sides over the last few years. Look at Willie Mason he get sniff of a pay cheque and disgraced himself at Hull.

Even with the increas in the NRL next season Mason still went to France and that itself tells you where the biggest pay is in Rugby of either code. So stop panicking calm down and please understand that not everything union does is aimed at Rugby League talent after all apart from Jason Robinson not many have made been a great signning for English Rugby. Faz even did not have the impact that most predicted. Though Ashton is going well he went early enough in his career.

Though i do agree with the marquee signning and defenitely any player from 16/18 upwards who makes it as a regular first team player should cost less than a player clubs sign. Maybe it could be like a percentage for every season a player stays at the club. Say 10% a season so after 10 years it will cost a club nothing and that rewards clubs who produce talent rather than waits for cast offs from the clubs who produced good youg talent.

The point you miss, no doubt deliberately, is that in order to earn a living from sport those Welsh players you mention had no option but to come and play RL. If they could have made a career out of RU in the valley's I am sure they would have done, as they can and do now.

The situations are completely different where now we have a cash rich professional sport RU in a professional era seemingly unable to produce it's own talent. If they do come looking at RL talent it's a pretty sad state of affairs given we are constantly told the games are so different and all the other baloney that surrounds RU.