Quote: hansoloishere "The problem is that the nrl and union have a cap double that of rugby league, this gives them the opportunity to poach the best players from our competition. Next year there are already some big names heading to the nrl...how many more to follow. Also our clubs now have little chance of bringing in any quality Australians because they can get paid alot more back home. While this maybe great for the up coming youngsters who will now get a game, in the big picture, can super league survive. Crowds are dwindling, sponsorship seems to be very hard to come by, and the people steering the ship seem to have few answers'"
On the other hand, very few clubs could afford any increase in the cap, so you'd either get even more of a gulf/monopoly than there already is or clubs going pop as rapidly as bubble wrap through a mangle.
There is only one answer, and it's to produce more players through the youth systems. The only questions are whether this can be done enough, and how in the hell scaling back to the 19s system will help to achieve that?