Re: Salary cap amendment : Mon Nov 14, 2011 10:23 am  

saint at wire wrote:

Not really; the effect is very similar, the only difference is in respect of the international game

I see the NRL as a necessary evil though, we need to grow the international game in order to get more interest in the sport as a whole, to then in turn get interest in Super League. To do that we need to start beating the Aussies + Kiwis on a regular basis.

If someone like Tomkins went to the NRL, I'd be gutted as a Wigan fan, but understand that he wants to test himself on another level to that of Super League. I could guarantee that he'd still be the poster boy for England though. And unfortunately trying to flog Super League to non-RL followers is going to be a struggle, doing it with England though is another matter, look at RU. Domestically the games still a bit of a mess, doing no better than SL, however Internationally they make so much money, get so much coverage and have so many followers.

It's all about the international game.

Re: Salary cap amendment : Mon Nov 14, 2011 10:56 am  

inside_man wrote:

I see the NRL as a necessary evil though, we need to grow the international game in order to get more interest in the sport as a whole, to then in turn get interest in Super League. To do that we need to start beating the Aussies + Kiwis on a regular basis.

If someone like Tomkins went to the NRL, I'd be gutted as a Wigan fan, but understand that he wants to test himself on another level to that of Super League. I could guarantee that he'd still be the poster boy for England though. And unfortunately trying to flog Super League to non-RL followers is going to be a struggle, doing it with England though is another matter, look at RU. Domestically the games still a bit of a mess, doing no better than SL, however Internationally they make so much money, get so much coverage and have so many followers.

It's all about the international game.

It certainly is, but sadly the majority of fans (at all clubs) can't or won't see it, they are far too club centric.

After my brother in laws funeral a few years ago I got into a discussion with some fans about International RL and asked them which would they rather have, their team win the double or England/Gb win the RL World Cup? Everyone of them chose the former.

A friend of mine (Wigan fan) was having a go at the half empty Wembley Stadium for the double header. When I asked him if he had been, the answer was no as he'd been at Anfield watching the 0 - 0 draw with Swansea.

Somehow we need to change this mentality.

Re: Salary cap amendment : Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:16 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

It certainly is, but sadly the majority of fans (at all clubs) can't or won't see it, they are far too club centric.

Hence the need for Catalan, and Crusaders. I'm gutted Crusaders didn't work, there needs to be more of a Rugby League presence in Wales, hopefully this 4 nations will get the ball rolling a bit more.

Next round of licensing, I'd also look at getting a 2nd French side in. Catalans have been an unreserved success, not that just needs building on, get a good french rival in and look to grow the game even more. We need strong European rivals to help England, strong mid season games that matter (exiles).

Re: Salary cap amendment : Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:35 pm  

Go easy with the expansion unless there is real money behind it. Catalans are still dogged with rumours about their financial strength and it's only 12 months since there were rumours of them going out of business.

The salary cap ammendments are just the RFL bowing to Wigan's pressure. Wigan have always and still are anti-cap, because they know it's easier to win trophies if you spend more than anyone else is willing to. A level playing field isn't how they want things to be. The ammendments are poorly thought out and will not necessarily be spent on English players.

Re: Salary cap amendment : Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:37 pm  

Another thing I don't understand about these cap rules are what it means if the elite players list changes. Lets imagine all the Elite level Wigan players suddenly play poorly and are left off the list. What happens then when Wigan are unable to comply with the cap rules? Do they get a exemption due to 'existing contracts' like they always used to get or do the exemptions last for the length of the player's contract?

Re: Salary cap amendment : Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:47 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

Go easy with the expansion unless there is real money behind it. Catalans are still dogged with rumours about their financial strength and it's only 12 months since there were rumours of them going out of business.

The salary cap ammendments are just the RFL bowing to Wigan's pressure. Wigan have always and still are anti-cap, because they know it's easier to win trophies if you spend more than anyone else is willing to. A level playing field isn't how they want things to be. The ammendments are poorly thought out and will not necessarily be spent on English players.

Saints have been spending more than Wigan for the last three or four years due to the ten year rule.

Saddened! wrote:

Another thing I don't understand about these cap rules are what it means if the elite players list changes. Lets imagine all the Elite level Wigan players suddenly play poorly and are left off the list. What happens then when Wigan are unable to comply with the cap rules? Do they get a exemption due to 'existing contracts' like they always used to get or do the exemptions last for the length of the player's contract?

It will be done on season by season basis, so if there are no players in the Elite or Knights squad next year (2012) the club will lose £100K of their allowance for the next (2013) season, just as they would if their 10 year player retires and they don't have another to take his place.

There will always be players coming off contract at the end of a year.Fielden, Tommy L and Finch at the end of 2012.

Re: Salary cap amendment : Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:01 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

Go easy with the expansion unless there is real money behind it. Catalans are still dogged with rumours about their financial strength and it's only 12 months since there were rumours of them going out of business.

Where did you hear this? They are one of the most well supported clubs in the league, have have just build a new stand and undoubtedly spend to the cap limit judging by their squad. I would be very surprised if they are struggling to be honest.

I have been saying for a while now that I believe the next expansion should be in the south of France, all the signs are pointing to it. Catalans should be the blueprint for it, and the attendance for the France-England game clearly shows that their is a market for it. A long term plan should be put in place in order to eventually create a French Super League.

Sadly the RFL seem far too inept to bring that to reality, despite how much it would improve the international game.

Re: Salary cap amendment : Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:56 am  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

It certainly is, but sadly the majority of fans (at all clubs) can't or won't see it, they are far too club centric.

After my brother in laws funeral a few years ago I got into a discussion with some fans about International RL and asked them which would they rather have, their team win the double or England/Gb win the RL World Cup? Everyone of them chose the former.

A friend of mine (Wigan fan) was having a go at the half empty Wembley Stadium for the double header. When I asked him if he had been, the answer was no as he'd been at Anfield watching the 0 - 0 draw with Swansea.

Somehow we need to change this mentality.

There are many reasons why our international game isn't as widely popular as RU, not least because of the amount of countries that compete and do so on a similar, or should I say a more competitive level, than play international RL.

Take the recent RU world cup for example, there were several teams very capable of reaching and/or winning the final with several others offering challenging games in the earlier rounds. The home nations + france and italy compete annually in a very competitive six nations tournament and then there are the various friendlies and tours played each season. We get a mid-season friendly and either the four nations or the world cup at the end of the season, both of which ourselves, the Kiwis and Australians don't even need to go through qualification for.

In addition is the fact that we have had to switch from supporting Great Britain (& Ireland) then England, and back, and then back again from tournament to tournament.

Then you have the fact that the game has for all intents and purposes been taken over by Sky and has therefore fell largely off the radar for casual terrestrial viewers, even with the odd international game being covered by the BBC and its mediocre coverage of the club game.

The club over country mentality is a sad but unsurprising consequence, not aided by the poor performances of the national teams that had reached a point where many fans have expected to be beaten by both Aus and NZ.

Re: Salary cap amendment : Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:34 am  

Tony Stark wrote:

Then you have the fact that the game has for all intents and purposes been taken over by Sky and has therefore fell largely off the radar for casual terrestrial viewers, even with the odd international game being covered by the BBC and its mediocre coverage of the club game.

I think this is a big issue. I read somewhere yesterday that 1.2 million watched the England -v- Australia game on the BBC; 620,000 watched the England -v- NZ game the following week. What a lot of viewers were lost by the game showing on Sky.

But, and I know it's a great big massive but, if we beat the Aussies on Saturday then it may be that the BBC will be more interested in showing our games in the future and will compete more enthusiastically for the rights to do so?

Re: Salary cap amendment : Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:53 am  

Seems I was right about the real reasons for the cap increase. Wigan sign NRL player sacked for defecating in hotel

Seems I was right about the real reasons for the cap increase. Wigan sign NRL player sacked for defecating in hotel