The time has come to scrap the salary cap in this country.

Let's say there's a financial backer who'd like to launch an RL club based at one of the big south west RU clubs and he is willing to spend up to £5m per annum on players - why tell him he can't ? There's plenty of evidence on here that the game needs as much finance as it can get.

The Salary Cap no longer serves any useful purpose.

Remember, there's an RFL limit on the number of players any one club can register anyway.

Lets say I am a big financial backer then. I would ar rather invest in a sport where I know I can build a competitive squad for a known cost, where I know there will not be ridiculous player wage inflation, and where I know I can control my costs and be competitive. That's the salary cap.

Good god. Ok you need to stop the Q-tip when you feel resistance.

The limit on number of players is 40. Unless a club enters a reserve/u20's team in which case it can have 50. Unless a club enters an u18's team in which case it can have 65. And that only applies to players over the age of 16. Which club has used anywhere close to 65 players in a season before?

We can have this discussion when a financial backer for one of the game's Southern clubs comes along.

At the moment all it would mean is the trophies were decided on a penile measuring system between Warrington, Leeds and Wigan as to which club wanted to spend the most irresponsibly.

Its 25 full time pros in a squad.

There is a reason for the cap, its not working.

I honestly don’t know why some people are so enamoured with this type of cap and so against a different way. This cap clearly doesn’t work, hasn’t worked, and stops us competing for the best players.

We should definately have some osrt of cap, else the precarious fianacial positions of our clubs would be vastly exaggerated and even those clubs who generate enough income to run well will go down the road of overspending in order to secure trophies.

I would listen to arguments that a clubs cap should be in line with their income/turnover, but to scrap it all together would be ludicrous.
Want a bigger cap? The the RFL have to get their finger out re sponsor ship and TV deals and get more money to the clubs.

The clubs need to pull their fingers out as well. Considering how many RL clubs are either the only or the main sports club in their area they are generally rubbish at engaging with the local population.

Agreed.

You know very little as to the motivation of why a mega rich backer would get involved with sport if you think limiting his losses was high up there.

Its no wonder we have idiots at the top, no P&R and are becoming a laughing stock as a sport.

Why do you think that?

Because it fits in with his narrative which stops him having to admit that the top level of the game has left his club behind.

It means he can blame the RFL and the big bad unsustainable big clubs who are no better than his club they just have some loser who lucked into some money he throwing around. It means he doesn’t have to admit that some clubs are better run than his, that some have earned their ‘advantages’ and that some are and will be bigger than his.

It’s a childish defence mechanism.

Who are these people who are laughing at us? When i start talking about RL to people they dont know what it is so are in no position to have an opinion let alone laugh

The trophies are decided between Warrington, Leeds and Wigan anyway, so no change there.

Thats even worse.

Until player transfer fees are included in the cap Wigan, Warrington and now Hull will always be able to get the better players of the lesser teams, continuing to making it a lop sided league. Smith, Ratchford, Myler and Holdsworth spring to mind all from the same club!

Unless I've missed something here you haven't stated why you believe the salary cap no longer serves any purpose. So,

What purposes does the salary cap serve? Note, purposes not purpose.
How has the salary cap failed those purposes?
Over what time period are you making your assumption?
Does the salary cap serve those purposes exclusively or are other factors involved?
How did those other factors fail to serve those purposes?
Which factor was most responsible for failing to serve those purposes?
If you tackled those issues one by one put them in the order you think would address these purposes first.

None of Smith, Ratchford, Myler or Holdsworth came frm the Salford junior system.
Smith was a Saints junior, Ratchford from Wigan and Myler from Widnes with Holdsworth from Aus.
If transfer fees had to be paid how would Salford have got the first three in the first place?

Who are you thinking about?

Could you afford them if there was no Cap?

Bar Myler i would imagine the other 3 would of been free transfers or very minimal at the most.
Not saying transfer fees can't be paid anyway, but should be included as part of the teams salary cap spend.

And that's on the buying teams cap, in case its not clear!

I've no doubt a player like SBW would make a massive contribution towards, if not cover completely, his wages through shirt sales, sponsorship and ticket sales.

Imagine the boost to Rugby League in this country if any club did sign Sonny Bill Williams!

But this stupid Salary Cap idea would prevent it. Talk about the game in this country (or those at the top currently running it) shooting itself in the foot.

Rubbish! 10 out of 14 clubs lost money last year. The other 4 made minuscule profits. Where do you think this money is going to come from that allows a SL club to spend 700,000 pounds on star players from other codes/comps?

Do you really believe $BW's would sell 700k's worth of jerseys? Lol

But SBW has a well publicised agreement with an NRL Club if and when he returns to League.
He would also want 50% more to play in England, if he reniged on his NRL deal (he has form and history) the best players want to get as much as they can but still play at highest level in their sport, that is not currently ESL in most peoples opinion.

SBW had a history of injuries at the Bulldogs and the way he left that Club and the manner he did it may not count for much in an England context but it would not help his marketability in general.

Even if you signed better more proven long term players like Slater, Inglis, Thurston and Cam Smith are there the fans out there just waiting to buy a ticket and Shirt to watch them when they join the Club?

I do not believe so.

It's up to those running each club to do what they think is in the best interests of their club. Nobody forces them to sign any particular player.

This Salary Cap idea is though just an unneccessary, artificial and counter-productive restriction.