Just think how quickly clubs would go out of business trying to compete with the bigger clubs on a 2.8million cap.

The bigger clubs would go bust at that level, let alone the ones trying to keep up.

Do we seriously think Wigan can afford an extra £1.1m p.a. on salaries?!

Yes they would currently go bust at that level but I believe that the game is selling itself short at the current cap level and will continue to stagnate unless a way can be found to generate more income.

Put it this way - Wayne Bennett with 2.8m will always beat Micheal Maguire or Tony Smith with 1.7m.

The more income needs to come before a raise in the SC. If clubs can survive adequatley at the current level, then it may be agreed to increase, they can't so it won't

Which is why we have the expansion teams.

Now they are taking it fairly seriously we may have a long wait for the next one.

I can't understand why people don't want the cap raised you honestly want our players playing for peanuts it hasn't changed in years so I think it needs to either be raised or academy trained players only half there wage counts on the cap

Use some of the increase to pay the current players more which would encourage a better standard of athlete into the game, and they also deserve to be paid as elite athletes. Some to get "bums on seats" players from Union or the top quality stars from Aus.

Or we can just continue as we are.

It's not a bad point really. Can't complain though, the game was at home, they have to travel for miles. Probably what makes it such a competative game to be honest. I don't think any current english side could go over there and win.

so the english football team should win everything and they win feck all

Taking about clubs not internationals. At club level English football does fine as they operate on a similar spend to the competition.

Wrong, the Australian dollar has been inflated massively since the last British win of the WCC

Not to long ago it equated about a similar amount

Great to see the usual myths and mischief making from pro-SC flat earthers on this thread.

We can't afford not to raise the SC in the long term, unless we are happy with a semi pro game. Another 15 years of inflationary erosion of the cap will make a full time squad impossible to maintain.

By that time of course the drift of players away to RU (and indeed other occupations) will be much more severe than it is now.

We can't wait for RL clubs to improve their finances, as some suggest. There needs to be a carrot and stick approach

a) rigorous monitoring - they need to be forced to submit business plans to an independent auditor and then be forced to stick to them to prevent overspending

b) encouraging sustainable growth - allowing a modest increase in the SC, perhaps postponed for a couple of years to allow club finances to improve.

Doing nothing and hoping that some miracle will somehow save the game isn't going to work I'm afraid. It's time the pro-SC people woke up and realised the long term danger facing the game.

We need to go back to the original concept of stopping clubs overspending, and forget this "levelling the playing field" nonsense, which clearly isn't working.

Go back to the 50% of income cap, and encourage clubs to maximise their income if they want to spend more on players.

Wouldnt that lower Wigan's cap though? Leeds and Hull (technically) would run away with it then. I think a raise is needed though. Not to compete with the Aussies though I think a raise is needed to make the pay a bit fairer. Can you imagine another industry where wages didnt rise with inflation for so long?! If its not raised then eventually the game will NEED to revert back to Semi-Pro. If they start raising it now over a period of years for example: 2million this year then maybe a rise to 2.2 next franchise then 2.4 the one after and 2.6 until we reach the aussies then just stick with them. This gives the teams the chance to raise the moneys needed to stay afloat with the use of the safety of a 3 year franchise.

that would work in my head at least! ha