Cherry_Warrior wrote:
I have been a supporter of raising the cap for years but it is starting to seem as though clubs cant afford/won't risk the risk of these Aussie/Union situations happening. Koukash championed the idea and he hasn't made a bloody marquee signing
We need people like Koukash to stick around though because now it seems that the only way to stop RL stagnating is generating some much needed media attention then hopefully BT will make an offer to buy RL or something and force the hand of SKY to pump more money in. Either that or the RFL actually pull their finger out and get some ideas flowing because all i can see for the last 10 years or so they have done absolutely nothing.
You're right. The RFL are utterly useless, mainly because they demonstrate an appalling lack of ambition ... but that seems to be replicated by many of our club chairmen. Some, the likes of Wakey, Widnes and Hull KR - appear to be perennially skint, but others - as you say, Saints and Salford for two - seem to content themselves each season with a hatful of average-to-poor (presumably because they are cheap) signings.
The marquee player rule felt like a big step forward at the time, but thus far it's being criminally underused.
Admittedly, it doesn't help with Union players - who almost universally now seem to have a vastly inflated opinion of their own worth - only talking in telephone numbers, and Australia's stars having proved less than superhuman when it comes to Britain's bad weather. You have to be wary of forking out that kind of cash for a Union guy who could take months and months to adapt to the code (if he ever does), or an Aussie who may try to wriggle out of his contract as soon as it starts raining.
But my concern is that we've now settled comfortably into this rut of being the Poverty Row sport. We're so used to losing our best players within a couple of years of their emergence, we're so used to no-one of consequence wanting to come here, we're so used to barely getting a moment's air-time on national TV (unless it's bad news), we're so used to the fact that half our stadia barely boast a crowd on match days - even Wembley is only half-full for the Cup Final - that we just accept it. It's a kind of blithe inertia, which eventually is going to see us relegated back to semi-amateur status.
Somehow or other we need to break this cycle - but don't ask me how if the will to improve just isn't there. I seem to remember Ian Lenagan trying to shake things up a couple of years ago, and not getting enough support from the other clubs to make anything notable happen. It's a painful predicament for those of us who remember the early 90s, when RL was one of the biggest draws on telly. It would obviously help if the RFL could find some way to get the money in - and surely that isn't totally beyond them. For example, it would be nice if they were as tough when it came to negotiating TV deals as they appear to be when negotiating their own salaries.
