He is quite good and has the potential to get better. The thing is he is the type of player that we in Britain don't produce, when was the last time we had that type of impact player? We just don't produce them and they do help the balance of a squad.

Agree with all of that

The month in which he signed?



I know you say it doesn't matter when he signed, but if he signed in November 2007, surely he doesn't need to wait until November 2008 for that contract to come into force?

Personally my biggest doubt about it is that he hadn't played a competitive game prior to February 2008.

Think you might be on about different players there, Paul.



I think Standee was talking about Cusack.

I'd say its more likely to be the point at which the player was registered with the RFL. My biggest problem with it is that he is Australian so cant be classed as Fed trained anyway

Not read the rules on this bit personally, only seen the verdicts on here, so don't know how that goes TBH.

The fed trained part only applies to Kolpak players. No matter how many Kolpaks we get as Fed trained we can still only have a maximum of 5 Quota players.

Yeah, I've seen that interpretation on here, just not read the rules to see how that conclusion's been reached. No disrespect to anyone on here, I'm just not necessarily going to take it as fact on someone's say so.

From the RFL operational rules.....

[iEach Club shall be entitled to register only the Quota of "overseas Players" in all squads set out below in each season save for those Clubs which are granted an exemption in such form as the Board shall decide:
Maximum Number of Overseas Players - 2008 onwards Super League = 5[/i

I've emailed the RFL for clarification on this point. I'm pretty sure the dispensation doesn't apply to Overseas Players (e.g. Aussies and Kiwis) but let's see what they have to say.

I saw that quoted, and then I think I also saw somebody say about the non-federation rules being an amendment to the operational rules (part 2 or something). Is that about right?

If so, that's where my doubt kicks in. If the non-fed stuff is indeed an amendment to those rules outlining overseas players, the exemption only seems to mention non-federation trained players as a whole, it doesn't distinguish. I'm therefore wondering if the RFL have indeed extended it to all overseas players in the interests of fairness to the clubs.

That's probably the best way, hear it from the horse's mouth.