I expected something like this when the story broke.

just another example of why a team who as a great youth set up in a way gets penalised. hes 100% right to want to give the youngsters good wages.

But again it pees me off knowing because we take the academy seriously it stops us going for the top NRL players..and others teams dont care and pay there kids pennies allowing them to go for the big names.

1.6m when you have a top academy is a joke..but hey aslong as the weak can keep up everything is beautiful in the world of the RFL.

The cap is holding our game back more than benefitting imo. Something needs to be changed, especially if we ever want a top England international side.

i have been told that we are trying to sign jeff lima for next season so we will see what happens, it is more difficult to attract nrl players with the bad exchange rate but if other super league clubs are trying to sign nrl players then so should we at the right price and quality. i was also told shenton was in the bag but reading between the lines im not so sure, it looks like saints are favourites if you believe the press!

Statement was quailified by saying "up to a certain level"... I don't see your point.. I would like to see the cap at £2 million, but with much greater scrutiny, and with greater incentives for academy produced players.... That should open a can of worms.

As one who has always been against the cap ever since Mo introduced whilst he was at the RFL I believe the damage it has done is massive.

Anyway, for the lovers of the cap, most in favour of the restriction still think there should have been an inflation element in it to at least keep the purchasing power the same.
After a static figure for the last ten years it is obvious that the purchasing power of the £1.6m has reduced and suggests we are going backwards. Therefore the least that should be done is to introduce the inflation element now. If it was to be backdated then the SC would already be above £2m.

First we couldn't bring in quality players from Union, now we can't bring quality players in from overseas, the home grown player is all we've got left!

If a club produces a star quality player from their own ranks what's the betting he'll be off? For intance what's the chances of Eastmond staying at Saints if Union clubs come along throwing big bucks at him?
Saints will be able to afford him but won't be able to meet his wage demands due to the damands of the salary cap.
Is it any wonder we are short of quality British players in SL?

The salary cap should be dropped to 1 million

Players that have come through the academy should not count on the cap

Although the cap is 1 million and players that have come through the academy don't count on the cap you are only allowed to spend half of what the club earns.

A maximum of 3 overseas players allowed

Players that have come through the academy can be brought back and still not count on the cap.

We would get 3 top Antipodeans, plus as we produce most of the Superleague players people like Sean Long, Sean Briscoe, Lee Gilmour, Paul Johnson, Danny Tickle etc could be brought back and not count on the cap as long as we didn't spend over half of what we had earned.

Widnes could make a push for Superleague by re-signing Myler, Saints would have no fear of losing Eastmond to Union and Lee Smith would never have gone from Leeds, Bradford could re-sign Pryce and not count on the cap etc.

It would make teams want to bring young lads through.

Ooops

You get the gist though

I like the idea, except that your "three top antipodeans" would cost close to £1m at present exchange rates.

Well you sign 1 or 2 and rely on the Brits/home grown.

I reckon an Australian regular player would turn their back on regular State of Origin and playing for Australia for £300,000 plus a year at least no problems. That would count on the £1,000,000 cap though so the rest of the cap would be spent on players such as Gleeson, Fielden, Coley etc who haven't come through the academy.

How good would it be to sign Thurston to partner Sam? Cameron Smith instead of Riddell (sorry Rogues) or Greg Inglis instead of Carmont?

We would be rewarded for bringing through so many good players our squad would be a very good squad with not many counting on the cap so more money to persuade the cream of the crop Australians to come over even if it if just for a few seasons.

It would be similar to 1985 when all the top aussies came over e.g Meninga, Kenny, Ferguson, Stirling, Lewis?

It would make the league better than just an blanket communist cap suffocating the clubs that produce the stars. Warrington would be back where they belong propping the league up, it would be worth doing it for that reason alone Bradford could re-sign Peacock, Fielden and Pryce and they wouldn't count on the cap add to them Matt Orford ect. Castleford wouldn't need to worry about losing Shenton, Westerman and Owen as they could offer them a lot more than other clubs if they were earning enough and to do that they would need to pull their fingers out off the field.

Overall I think we would see a rise in the quality of overseas players and with that would come a rise in quality of British players playing with and against them, that would make us more competitive than copying exactly what the Aussies do 4 years behind and expect to catch up to them.

Not only would we be more successfull against the Aussies but RL would be a better game to watch and a better product to market for the RFL but untill someone from the RFL starts thinking off proactive ideas to push the game forward we are going to get backwards reactive ideas by the ostriches in the RFL. As long as clubs operate under a live cap system and only spend half of what the earn I don't see a problem, the RFL will never go ahead with it because they would put it to vote and the small crap clubs who couldn't compete would vote against it pegging the whole sport back.

Thoughts?

There has to be some form of incentive for focussing on your Academy. Whilst being beneficial for the clubs who have already, the principle should also incentivise those who are dragging their heels. Having only two, three or four teams looking at nurturing youth still won't be enough, it has to be across the board.

For those who think raising the cap will ease are woes are in fantasy land. SL is so far behind the NRL and RU in terms of governing body, as well as club wealth, it doesn't even bear thinking about.