Re: Change to non-fed system? : Wed Sep 25, 2013 11:40 am  

I think you can understand a lot about policy initiatives in rugby league, from league structure changes to rules about foreign players, if you start from the assumption that the most influential voices with Nigel Wood (ex-CEO of a small, poorly supported and badly run west yorkshire club), are the CEOs of small, poorly-supported and badly run west yorkshire clubs.

I wish this was just cynicism, but if you look at which clubs stand to theoretically benefit most from RFL "initiatives" (or indeed cases of the RFL ignoring its own rules), you do tend to find yourself looking at the same unsuccessful clubs from the bottom half of the table.

Re: Change to non-fed system? : Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:19 pm  

Good point

Re: Change to non-fed system? : Wed Sep 25, 2013 10:28 pm  

With 2 more spots at our disposal, do we think Saints'll bring in a new face or two from the NRL?

Re: Change to non-fed system? : Thu Sep 26, 2013 8:23 am  

The federation trained rule is the single best thing that has happened to our sport in the last 10 years. I really hope this isn't true, as others have said it would be a massive step backwards.

Nothing that lasts is built without foundations, the sport seems to be removing the foundations but by bit. Eventually it will fall. My biggest fear is a select few clubs will end up playing RU and RL will fade into an amateur game.

Re: Change to non-fed system? : Thu Sep 26, 2013 8:49 am  

St. Rughead wrote:

With 2 more spots at our disposal, do we think Saints'll bring in a new face or two from the NRL?

The 2 spots are only on the non-federation quota and not the overseas quota. So we could only sign people like Laffranchi who have EU passports.

Re: Change to non-fed system? : Thu Sep 26, 2013 9:04 am  

Roy Haggerty wrote:

I think you can understand a lot about policy initiatives in rugby league, from league structure changes to rules about foreign players, if you start from the assumption that the most influential voices with Nigel Wood (ex-CEO of a small, poorly supported and badly run west yorkshire club), are the CEOs of small, poorly-supported and badly run west yorkshire clubs.

I wish this was just cynicism, but if you look at which clubs stand to theoretically benefit most from RFL "initiatives" (or indeed cases of the RFL ignoring its own rules), you do tend to find yourself looking at the same unsuccessful clubs from the bottom half of the table.

I think it's more to do with the club voting system than it is to do with Nigel Wood. Unfortunately, small, poorly-supported and badly run clubs make up the majority of the elite league, so under any democratic decision-making system we're always going to end up making adjustments to the game that suit their interests, often at the expense of the game as a whole.

Re: Change to non-fed system? : Thu Sep 26, 2013 10:05 am  

The Yellow Giraffe wrote:

The 2 spots are only on the non-federation quota and not the overseas quota. So we could only sign people like Laffranchi who have EU passports.

Would Laffranchi not become non-fed, freeing up an overseas spot?

Re: Change to non-fed system? : Thu Sep 26, 2013 10:20 am  

St. Rughead wrote:

Would Laffranchi not become non-fed, freeing up an overseas spot?

There are two separate quotas, an overseas one and a non-federation trained quota. Laffranchi is not on the overseas quota but is on the non-fed one. As I understand it for next season we are as follows:

Overseas Quota: Hohaia, Soliola, Walsh, Masoe

Non-Federation Trained Quota: Hohaia, Soliola, Walsh, Masoe, Laffranchi

We have a space on the overseas quota, however we have been unable to use as we were up to our maximum on the non-fed quota. However if this is now increasing to 7 then we could go out and sign somebody who takes a place on both quotas. Therefore my comment earlier about only being able to sign people with an EU passport is wrong; I had forgotten about the space on the overseas quota.

Re: Change to non-fed system? : Thu Sep 26, 2013 10:22 am  

St. Rughead wrote:

Would Laffranchi not become non-fed, freeing up an overseas spot?

He would

Re: Change to non-fed system? : Thu Sep 26, 2013 10:26 am  

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of teams pick up non-fed/overseas players after the World Cup. It's a shop window for players from lesser nations.