Seems like RL clubs are going to have to change their attitudes regarding young players, you can't pay them peanuts and expect them to stay out of loyalty to the game or their home town club. We have to pay them what they are now worth. A club with 8 or 9 foreign players that can't keep hold of it's best kids has got it's priorities wrong. Players like Sam Tomkins and Ainscough are infinately more valuable to Wigan than Smith or Phelps, but do the contracts reflect that?

IMO it's a problem for the whole of RL. Many fans/club owners/flat cappers etc need to realise that these players young or old have a high market value and if you want to keep them you have to pay the going rate.

You hear people calling players greedy or Judas for following the money train to RU but at the end of the day if RL doesn't wanna pay the market value for them they are always gonna leave. It time for RL to get real and realise if they don't pay top players top wages they aren't gonna hang around for ever. I can’t see how anyone can’t justify paying players what they deserve and having their pay match their union counterparts.

money wasted on over-rated average aussie journeymen could and should be spent on keeping young british players in the game.

If it is the case that there has indeed been an approach and the type of money banded about is true my advice would be to take up the offer it's a no-brainer, that's what I would be saying if it was my son. All this 'Judas if he signs' talk is ludicrous.

not so long ago it was thornley who was shortly off to the dark side, before that it was briscoe, melling etc.
could well turn out to be a storm in a teacup...

Sometimes this is the only thing the fans have to use as leverage.

It's tasteless, I know - and I don't think Sam would be subjected to it the same as Ashton was, because Sam patently doesn't want to leave. But if the money's irresistable, and the rest of RL, as usual, turns a blind eye and pretends it's not happening, fans often feel they have no choice but to try and pressurise the player himself.

Oh shoot.

Got told that they have approached him but nothing is to come of it. Thats of somebody close to the club. and the deal they offered was around 250k over 4 years.

Dont shoot me down i am just passing on what i was told.

Nout happening at the moment but in future who knows.

That's part of what makes it ludicrous though, us fans thinking that their 'disgust' at a professional sportsman even considering what the fans think is a factor on whether they sign a contract or not. The plain fact is they don't, and why should they? The list of sportsmen who have left clubs to sign for others because of opportunity (financial opportunity, development opportunity, opportunity to win honours) is miles and miles longer than the list of those who stayed where they are because of what the fans think.

Rumour or not, it's a financial reality that may become more commonplace and, like it or lump it, we are going to have to come to terms with it.

If the SC was changed to 50% of turnover, then all IL would have to do is to buy £1m worth of Golden Gamble tickets each match, and the money would come straight back to him,(less the £2000 top prize if he didn't win) and it would count as turnover..........simple.

Very clever!

Its simple, if a player has been a "one club" player then only 50% of his salary should count on the cap. End of.

Will we eventually come to terms with the reality of having no professional presence at all?

Thats the eventual outcome as I see it, if we're content to remain the poor man's game forever. Modern professional sport is too cut-throat a world to keep places open for anachronisms like 'the people's game', which is the way we were perceived in the 60s and 70s, when we were losing money hand over fist but the BBC still loved us because our working class ethos was in keeping with their quasi-socialist philosophy. The romance of that time is gone. The modern game needs to be about putting on a great show in front of big crowds, and generating steadily increased revenue and publicity. And allowing a situation to develop where all our most exciting players go elsewhere as soon as they're old enough to make their minds up, is hardly a step in that direction.

But essentially I agree with you. This is not something the fans can change. It's got to be down to the RFL. To some extent they've started the ball rolling by doing away with relegation and bringing in new rules to tighten up on overseas players. But they need to go much, much further than that. Next, they've got to grasp the financial nettle and stop being dictated to by non-viable clubs who are hanging onto SL status by their fingertips.

The problem all lies with the cap, theres nothing wrong with having one, but I think it needs to be split up into 3 parts, for players through the academy, one for other british players and another for overseas players that would be enough to sign 2 or 3 world class players rather than overpaid average no bodys of which we have quite afew.

This would mean you could keep all your best talent, without having teams like us keep all the players we produce to have a huge squad or a great reserve side.

There would be more transactions of players between british clubs and they would be of more value.

We woud have less overseas players but the ones who were here in each team would be the best.

Maybe then Nobles idea of one Union player per team would be a good idea but not atm.

Do you think it’s to late now to change it Cruncher or is that our destiny to play 2nd Fidel to the other brand of rugby?

The last decade has defiantly seen Union stamp it’s dominance in regards to the rugby environment. They’ve had three successful RU world cups starting with the one In SA and those images of Mandela with the white SA captain holding the trophy and it’s really kicked on from there hasn’t it. A good domestic, European and International game has seen their revenues sky rocket from an ‘armature’ game to arguably the 2nd European professional sport behind Football. There are true RU celebrities now like Cipriani, Wilkinson, Carter, Lomu, Johnson & O’Driscoll.

So what can we do to compete and survive? I certainly don’t think we are going down the right road of;

A-Shunning the ex players who have played the game. The likes of Robinson, Hanley, Edwards, Larder, Mcginty, Lydon & Ford have all gone over 2 the other side as we wouldn’t offer them the opportunities that RU have. Why weren’t these players offered the types of roles as back coach, defense coach at SL clubs over the likes of Endacott, Milward, Raper, T Smith, Murray, Anderson, Potter etc? The more people we have in the game who love the game and want to see it be a success the better IMO.

B-Not producing our own GB talent instead of the quick fix 2nd rate Aussies. Wigan have been just as much to blame as the rest on this but all SL clubs have also done it. If we don’t produce GB talent GB won’t win anything at international the level. International rugby should be the major revenue generator for any sport with spectacles like World cups or European tournaments. I honestly think if an international team is doing well people will tune into to watch them. Look at the Olympics for a perfect example. How many people tuned in to watch them even tho they don’t really like Athletics? How many people watch a the RU world cup final or Murray at Wimbeldon?

3-The SC is also a major problem as it’s dulled the skill level imo. Yes it’s a fairer comp but is it as skill full as it could be or is a breeding ground for future internationals? The SC has done two things it’s brought Wigan down and it’s also gave the smaller clubs a free reign not to develop. We need a system in place like a 50% revenue cap with bits adding in allowing young GB players to be exemempt from it as it’s only going to help RL in the long run if Clubs try to increase revenue and produce more GB eligible players.

Sorry for the long post BTW