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So it's half a decade now?

Bill is correct super league ain't super any more how can it be when it can't even support an a team league bring that back to begin with and the kids will stay in the game longer players stay at clubs for longer also should allow a teasers to remain semi pro.

The really interesting question would be...

Could Leeds realistically remain full time pro without the annual foodbank handout from Sky?

Cap in English union is 7 million and it will go up. I don't think they have a cap in France. Wasps made an operating loss of 3.8 million end of last season, they can't exist without input from owners, but that's not the point. The point is that RU players are not interested in league. There's no money in it, and no good reason to switch.

Facts are facts. Quins can fill Twickenham for a league fixture and a resurgent England have massively revitalised the international game as a whole. The profile, the money, the safety and security in the mini and junior game, player development pathways, European club competition etc. Union didn't just go professional, it got it's act together in a big way at all levels.

It may be unsustainable, but Union is I think on the brink of really taking off. Japan World Cup could kick it off to a genuinely global audience. It could go big or it could pop like an over inflated balloon. Whatever, there's no "talent" for league clubs to poach anymore.

"the game will be semi pro in a decades time" - William Eve - January 2029

Just a quick one on the view about getting Union players early in their careers.There is a lad that has just played his 100th game for Carnegie,as a youngster played league to service area standard,could play FB or SO very good defence and great under high ball got overlooked by rhinos acadamey but I know is a big league fan and considers his grounding in the game contributed a lot to his success in Union.

Agreed.

Union has got it's @rse in gear since it became full time pro.

I wasn't convinced that club rugby in Union would take off but it has done.

The benefits of a thriving, touring international stage is a huge help of course, along with good management.

In comparison, RL has allowed its own much smaller international touring stage to become an afterthought and something that gets in the way.

Can you imagine league clubs releasing all their top players for 9 weekends during the season to play internationals?
GB could fit in a full tour of Australia if they did.

The international game in RL has always been very small by comparison. Like cricket the international game underpins the whole sport. The biggest team in RU is the All Blacks so its no wonder the clubs release their players for international duty

Not a chance of that happening in RL.

They won't even allow players to be released during the off-season as it'll get in the way of their pre-season schedule of public training runs.

Isn't there a British Lions Tour of NZ during the UK summer off-season of 2017?

Good luck to SL getting any media coverage while that Tour is taking place.