If this is true then surely each team in the league should be entitled to this for 1 of their players, just to make it fair. Otherwise whats the point in the SC if 1 team plays to a different set of rules.

If you can just pay your marquee players as much as you want, doesn't the salary cap just become an irrelevance? I don't understand how this will work.

If the quoted article is correct then it's available to all SL clubs with qualifying players.

And I'm pretty sure that neither do the RFL. Stinks of knee-jerkery and pressure from certain clubs to me.

Would they not be better getting around the salary cap thing by giving certain players gifts??? Used to happen in Union from what i can gather! The odd Gin and Tonic here, the odd Aston Martin there!!!

so in theory, a club like warrington could sign up all the england squad and have extra room given on the salary cap

another ill conceived plan from the rfl, simple solution would be just to raise the cap to £2million with the 20/20 re-introduced

The sort of clubs who can afford to pay the extra, whilst those who can't fall even further behind.

No player is bigger than the game, except of course Sam who is now deemed to be. Other clubs will now be lining up RU clubs to form a partnership and when they have a young good player they will ask their RU partner to put in an audacious bid so they can claim this extra salary cap to keep them.

It should be stopped or every S/L team should be allowed to do the same ..If not
then players should be allow to better themselves Just like everybody should have that chance to earn a living

Not a bad idea if it's restricted to 1 player per club.

Hmm. Couldn't really be much more vague on Sky's report:
"The Rugby Football League are sticking with a £1.7million ceiling but clubs are to be given permission to make allowances for long-serving, marquee and home-grown players in an effort to prevent a drain of talent to Australia and the 15-man code."

How on earth does this work? I'd check the RFL operational guidelines, but going on past experience these are irrelevant and just ridden roughshod over by clubs who are so inclined. Can of worms.

if this has happend, then as in union, players should have to sign central funded contracts with the rfl paying over a set ammount for a player, eg. tomkins earning £250k, wigan should pay 200k max and the rfl makes up the shortfall, then the rfl can pay players what there worth....

"IF" It can be 1 player per club then its a good idea.Been saying for a while that clubs should be able to have long serving players either exempt or pay half of salarys towards the cap.Its called rewarding the clubs who invest in youth and local born players.As for Wigan and Tomkins...its a good move as he would have been a big loss to the game....put it this way...if it was Briscoe...would we be saying the same.

Basically said the same on the last page and the VT. Central contracts can help smaller clubs keep their England Internationals too.

exactamundo, its the way forward for me..... clubs like salford etc lose players because they cant pay the top dollars...... lets be honest, a player like berrigan will earn alot more than briscoe even though briscoe is a CURRENT international not an ex one...surely the wages should be in decline if your an ex international....

Dont agree with the one player thing as what happens if you have two or three players that qualify?

Tbh the salary cap needs massively ammending now as it way out of line with the real world of sport and what players can earn. It basically says that if you want to play rugby league then you shall earn knack all even if you become a great. Either completely scrapping it or upping it to 2.5-3 million is the only way there is a chance of enticing new players and keeping existing ones in the game when too many sports pay as much as they want.

The salary cap is not dictated by the RFL, it is agreed by the Superleague clubs, so I reckon there must have been an agreement by those same clubs to introduce this derogation. From what I can see it is fraught with potential problems.

If Lenagan truly believes that Sam Tomkins is "entitled to be paid what he is worth," he added. "He is in my opinion going to be the best player on the planet, rugby union or rugby league". Then it's simple: He pays Tomkins what he is worth and then he turns to the rest of the squad and tells them that they will be divied up from what's left of the salary cap, after Tomkins has got his wedge.

The salary cap was great idea. Imo the main reason it does'nt work as good in this country as it does in others is because half the teams cant even afford to reach the cap.
If this is right with tomkins the cap should be scrapped.

Hmmm

As a follower of both codes the Wigan player I can see playing international RU is Josh Charnley - way more physical than Sam.

SO when Leicester, Quins etc start sniffing will he become their second marquee player ?

For me I want to see the best - the Salary Cap clearly now preventing that. But we don't want a return to the Wigan days of winning 8 challenge cups on the trot - signing up everybody and winning by 50 most weeks do we ?

Real dilemma for the RFL - our product in serious danger of being devalued.

Briscoe would be a revelation in union. Way more talented than wonder kid ashton. Hopefully we can get dispensation if union comes sniffing that no other club can because he's not come through their academy

When wigan were winning everything they were the only team that could afford big wages. You would have thought there's 2 or 3 that could match Wigans money nowadays.

He's just biding his time until his contract's up and he can re-join Agar at Wakefield.

Every time I watch him I can't but think I'm seeing someone special. And he's 21!

Both you and al283 have obviously forgotten the ultimate outcome of that "success".

They were forced to flog their ground to Tesco and join Wigan Athletic as tenants of the JJB. They haven't got a ground to flog to pay their debts off any more.

Leeds Rhinos have a very strict salary regime but 4 Grand Final Championships out of the last 5 seems to show it's not all about the money you throw at players