I was thinking along similar lines whilst watching the game. Wigan simply didn't have an Offiah, a Robinson or a Hanley. Someone who could make something out of nothing or get on the end of a move and nail it. About 60 mins in the game I never felt as though we would break their line and to that extent, as a spectator, I missed out on something.

With the CC as it stands, I will never get that feeling again.

The product is getting poorer.

Another reason why the NRL has a greater cap: www.broncos.com.au/site/_content ... source.pdf $26.7 million business, their player salaries are a drop in the ocean, unlike every SL club.

Another reason why the NRL has a greater cap: www.broncos.com.au/site/_content ... source.pdf $26.7 million business, their player salaries are a drop in the ocean, unlike every SL club.

From Richard Lewis

To SL Chairmen

Please submit your 5 year updated financial plans under the agreed terms of your SL licence by the due date. The plans should show a year on year minimum increase in turnover of 15% before inflation and your player wages must increase by a minimum of 10% year on year excluding inflation strictly under the terms agreed with SL.

You must achieve these agreed targets and we will be auditing and reviewing your performance against the plans.

The RL will ensure that revenues from broadcasting partners increase by a minimum of 15% per annum excluding inflation and this increase will be fed directly to the SL members.

Yours in Sport

Richard

Simple business stuff - but is anyone doing it or coordinating it?

Can you forecast what inflation will be over the next five years? I have a scheme that starts in 2013 and runs for two years. I have been having a long search for the forecast information MIPS and BCIS don't go beyond the first quarter of next year.

As for a sustained increase in revenue, year-on-year for a five year period above an unknown inflation percentage; are you involved in business at all?

5% should be acheivable.
10% should be the target.
15% would be incredible.

btw, did you enjoy the game?

5% above inflation at today's rate, would require an 9% increase. The last set of accounts I have for Wigan (year end 200icon_cool.gif had them turning over a shade under £4 million, this would require a cash influx of £360k as a minimum. That is a lot of additional sponsorship, bearing in mind the Sky deal is a million quid a year.

I really enjoyed the game, despite a teenage girl screeching down my ear every time Wigan attacked!

What did you think of the St George backs? That left side looked quite potent, really quite surprised Morris, did pick up another couple of tries.

The OP makes me feel so much better about a recent defeat at Elland Road . Such a huge gap in SC ..AND they were breaking it .
BTW . Did we / should we get the last WCC by default ?

I thought you should have but for some reason it doesn't work that way. The final runners up in the NRL didnt get it over Melbourne either it just shows "Melbourne Storm (Stripped)" on the records.

It said (at the time of Melbourne being stripped of the title) that the WCC clash was null and void.

I'm guessing thats because Leeds should have played the team that Melbourne beat in the final.

We should have played the runners-up for WCC . Surely if they were stripped the runners-up are then the champions .
I wouldn't ask for the WCC to be handed to us . We lost fair and square on the day . But I wouldn't have minded a go at the r-up for it . Mind you . With the difference in the caps we would still have ( for this reason , and this reason only ) got our asses handed to us .

What he's actually saying is reverting to a position where two or perhaps three bigger clubs raid the poorer clubs for their better junior talent with transfer fees would be a step backwards, those big clubs would snap up all of the talented juniors and leave them to rot in their U21's teams until the odd occasion where they may be needed due to injuries in the first choice 17.

That's how it used to be. And it sucked. People have hazy memories of RL pre-SL era, they have a glorious mental picture in old news-reel style flickering black & white, of a game in rude health, enormous crowds every week and when we used to give the aussies a good spanking. The reality is that the crowds were largely pathetic apart from the few showpiece games, and a lot of clubs spent themselves in to oblivion in an effort to try and compete with Wigan (how do you think Offiah ended up at Wigan? Widnes HAD to sell him to stay afloat, and it's also how Wire got Jiffy for that matter).

I'm all for an increase in the salary cap. Providing the clubs can afford to pay out the salaries. Right now, I'm not convinced that they'd be able to. The temptation to spend up to the cap, despite not really being able to account for it, is always there because of the mistaken belief that if they buy the right players' they will win the various trophies/competitions and the prize money will ease their financial woes.

The real challenge for RL right now is not to find a way to pay it's players more (which, morally, they do of course have an obligation to do - RL players are, on the whole, massively underpaid), it's how to increase revenues from gate receipts, TV contracts and sponsorship deals. At a time when the business world is recognising it needs to be more thrifty with money, this is a very large challenge for the games' administrators.