Re: Wane - Coach of the Year : Wed Oct 17, 2018 10:24 am  

The biggest error made in adopting the salary cap is in not understanding the effect it would have on the saleability of the devalued product to TV. That is a massive oversight and one that could well cause a seismic shift in our sport very soon. I'm not sure we have the time to turn it around either before the new contract is negotiated.

Re: Wane - Coach of the Year : Thu Oct 18, 2018 11:17 pm  

Cruncher wrote:

I'm not having it that last Saturday wasn't tense and exciting. Also, Inglis has been banned for drink-driving down in Aus - so it's a cheap shot suggesting that this kind of behaviour is a typical unprofessional British issue.

However, I take your point about the Salary Cap.

I long feared that would have the effect of turning us into a Poverty Row sport, with fewer great players wanting to join us and our own starlets looking overseas for their future. All of that has come to pass. Even then, for a time, I accepted the thesis that as long as only some of the SL clubs could afford to pay wages as high as the current cap, there was no point even raising it. But now I think there is a bigger picture. We simply can't go on being a seedbed for the NRL and England RU. Yes, our crowds are down (direly so) and the playing standards across the game are perceptively lower than they were even 10 years ago, let alone 30 years ago. Somehow or other, we have to turn this situation around - and that won't happen by allowing minor dispensations here and there, like club-trained players on their 10th year of service, or whatever. We need drastic action.

We've already taken the first step by sidelining the RFL, who seem permanently wedded to the idea that British RL is all about the Featherstones and Batleys of this world. I hear that the Hearns reckon we should ditch the Cap straight away, because British RL is in desperate need of stars. So, lots of influential people are saying it.

Whether Elstone and co will be bold enough to make that move, I don't know. But I'm cautiously optimistic that more big changes are just around the corner.

it wasn't a cheap shot mate , his problems started well before Wigan got near him, Inglis on the other hand is the arguably the best or been the best in the world , at the top of his sport and possibly couldn't do as well in any other sport and being paid very well. that wasn't my point , which was that if we had the players with the ability and high IQ/off feikd behaviour of a true pro then they probably wouldn't hang about in SL , there are just so many better options for them , unless they are the type of people who do something stupid and make bad choices in life , like ZH , Chase , Tomkins,Gleeson ,Newton, Johns. With the ability ZH has he would have been a top NRL player or made in big in RU but instead he's made some really bad choices career wise .If we did produce an Inglis he simply wouldn't stay in SL unless of course they where a bit dumb .

No doubt Manfredi/Williams/Bateman will be big targets for other teams/sports and who could blame them if they left ?

We do have other decent player like Lomax/Percival but they have probably worked out that they are getting as good a deal as they can get , o RU potential and not really up to NRL fro. what I've see n.

Re: Wane - Coach of the Year : Fri Oct 19, 2018 3:26 pm  

People keep saying that, but Hardaker didn't look NRL class when he was actually in the NRL.

Re: Wane - Coach of the Year : Fri Oct 19, 2018 4:42 pm  

moto748 wrote:

People keep saying that, but Hardaker didn't look NRL class when he was actually in the NRL.

Do you think 11 games is enough after travelling around the world and settling in with a new team at the highest level , even a homesick Sam played 37 games .

They are both up to NRL level , or at least Sam was when he was there , but it aint gona happen overnight. There is also a difference between being a world beater in the NRL and being upto the level , hes was never going to be a Jarryd Hayne but he certainly woudnt be a weak link.

Re: Wane - Coach of the Year : Fri Oct 19, 2018 7:54 pm  

doc999 wrote:

Do you think 11 games is enough after travelling around the world and settling in with a new team at the highest level , even a homesick Sam played 37 games .

Yes, frankly, I do. If he'd shown any promise, he'd have played more than 11 games. Youngsters come into the NRL having never played a senior game in their lives, and often look far more impressive than Hardaker. Sam at least shown he was NRL standard. But if he'd been as poor in his first 11 as Hardaker, I'm sure he'd have been on the plane home too.

Re: Wane - Coach of the Year : Fri Oct 19, 2018 8:02 pm  

moto748 wrote:

People keep saying that, but Hardaker didn't look NRL class when he was actually in the NRL.

He played at centre in an Average Penrith side, he had no chance to show off he best assets which are kick returns and one on one defence.

Re: Wane - Coach of the Year : Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:00 pm  

moto748 wrote:

Yes, frankly, I do. If he'd shown any promise, he'd have played more than 11 games. Youngsters come into the NRL having never played a senior game in their lives, and often look far more impressive than Hardaker. Sam at least shown he was NRL standard. But if he'd been as poor in his first 11 as Hardaker, I'm sure he'd have been on the plane home too.

you don't know your rugby then, look at Pat Richards at Wigan , poor first season and then became a world beater . There's getting up to speed , game time , finding your feet and then showing what you can do , ain't gona be done in 11 games for most.