Salary Cap....save or scrap? : Sat Sep 09, 2017 9:35 am  

Salary Cap....

It's time to look at this again.
Fueled by the speculation about Hiku going to NZ I may be, however I've had a different opinion this season to that I had previously.

Wire have fell well off the pace but we have the clout to fix our own problem, but the salary cap stops it.

I was supportive of the cap as my thoughts was it save teams from themselves...well after teams still going pop, and some twice or more I've changed my mind.
Time to scrap the cap for me.

I'll add a debate poll for interest, I don't like to poll usually as they often get raided by other fans from different forums, but in this case their thoughts are valid too, but the the thread is more about opinion.

Re: Salary Cap....save or scrap? : Sat Sep 09, 2017 10:11 am  

it needs to go or be significantly raised


there are so many factors that it affects, if it has stuck with inflation it would be 2.8m right now so all the cap has done is mean that clubs cannot afford to keep a large squad with quality players as an example even your most basic journeyman would be asking for pay rises to keep up with the cost of living, its a tough physical sport with a relatively short career and we are asking players to take a pay cut on what in comparison to other sports is a low payed profession already


its a bit or shrodingers cat theory we do not know what will happen if they raise it will clubs go crazy and start spending more than they can afford or will it attract a richer backer now that they can spend what they can afford to get some success ? until we raise it it could be a good or bad move

[Winslade's Offload]

Re: Salary Cap....save or scrap? : Sat Sep 09, 2017 11:05 am  

Dezzies_right_hook wrote:

it needs to go or be significantly raised


there are so many factors that it affects, if it has stuck with inflation it would be 2.8m right now so all the cap has done is mean that clubs cannot afford to keep a large squad with quality players as an example even your most basic journeyman would be asking for pay rises to keep up with the cost of living, its a tough physical sport with a relatively short career and we are asking players to take a pay cut on what in comparison to other sports is a low payed profession already


its a bit or shrodingers cat theory we do not know what will happen if they raise it will clubs go crazy and start spending more than they can afford or will it attract a richer backer now that they can spend what they can afford to get some success ? until we raise it it could be a good or bad move

Well I agree we don't know what the outcome would be. Some clubs would certainly spend more and other clubs would likely overspend to keep up. If a club had a wealthy backer and signed the right players we might end up in another 'Wigan era" where that club dominated the sport for a long period of time. So the downside is significant; one club dominating and smaller clubs going bankrupt. The upside of course is better quality players from Oz and a decent spectacle for the fans.


However, I don't think you can compare an event (relaxation of cap) and the unknown outcome, with poor old Erwin Schrodinger's cat. Schrodinger was disputing the interpretation of quantum mechanics which implies two 'states' can exist at the same time. Hence his cat would be dead and alive at the same time, a situation which he thought was ludicrous and would put an end to the debate (it hasn't). I suppose the equivalent situation in your analogy would be a club that was both bankrupt and solvent at the same time.

Re: Salary Cap....save or scrap? : Sat Sep 09, 2017 9:27 pm  

The salary cap actually needs to be lowered to a level that reflects the quality and ability of the current SL players.

Over recent years the player quality has declined but salaries have increased.

Ordinary players are commanding good salaries and slightly above average are drawing huge salaries.

Decent nrl guys just dont fancy SL or the huge salaries there for them.

Get the perspective back, get SL sorted out, maybe even change the name, press the reset, salarywise it's out of control.

Re: Salary Cap....save or scrap? : Sun Sep 10, 2017 7:58 am  

I like the plans for 2018 - 2020, with the cap rising by just over £100k per year up to £2.1M by 2020. We also have the marquee player rule that only a few clubs are using - and only one club to its maximum.

Without a salary cap we wouldn't have seen Castleford, Wakefield and in the first half of the year Salford challenging for the top 4 - I think that's good and refreshing for the game. What isn't good for the game is that this scenario has come about or at least been helped (in my view) because of a downward spiral in quality across SL.

So I've voted to keep the cap in place, but I think we need to see regular and planned salary cap increases, in line with improved TV contracts.

Funding coming in to the game is obviously key, I'd rather owners didn't bankroll salary costs at SL clubs.

Re: Salary Cap....save or scrap? : Sun Sep 10, 2017 8:40 am  

But we're not going to see increased tv money are we? 1. Because the product is awful and 2. We're in bed with sky and their deal for the forseeable. 100k per year is no help, union use that kind of money to pad out their squads with bit part players. There's not one player in super league who gets me out of my chair and i honestly can't think of one great game this season. There used to be 2-3 good/great games a week.

Re: Salary Cap....save or scrap? : Sun Sep 10, 2017 9:08 am  

Alffi_7 wrote:

Without a salary cap we wouldn't have seen Castleford, Wakefield and in the first half of the year Salford challenging for the top 4 - I think that's good and refreshing for the game. What isn't good for the game is that this scenario has come about or at least been helped (in my view) because of a downward spiral in quality across SL.

This is the choice. a) Levelling down to ensure close competition with a cap or b) let the wealthy clubs buy top quality players without a cap.

Trouble with a) is that for all the years of the cap, we have only ever had a wealthy team win SL.

Re: Salary Cap....save or scrap? : Sun Sep 10, 2017 9:30 am  

I personally think we have to do a number of things surrounding the international game first . And i believe that means placing a huge priority on Great Britain and those international tours.

Make that a massive honour and make it well paid. ...then do what the aussies do only include players from our domestic league and not those playing elsewhere.
We cannot afford to have the likes of Graham, Hodgson and the Burgess's (and Moz and Ellis before them) adding to the NRL and weakening our competition.there needs to be a penalty for playing in Aus.

We need to be able to offer those English players of international standard serious money. If the nrl will pay Sam Burgess half a million quid a year and the RFU one million a year it's absolute fantasy to think he'll come to superleague on 200 grand a year and for the love of Yorkshire air.

The cap needs to be raised to 3 million. If owners are sensible it shouldn't be a problem as long as the players are paid what they are worth.

So if we wanted to sign Sam Burgess on a million quid a year, just because there's still plenty of cap left it doesn't mean we have to pay matty Russell money he simply isn't worth, he should still be paid 10 pound an hour


No cap would be great for us I believe we benefit the most. ..
.
But I don't think it's in the interest of the game. ..and to some clubs a 3 million cap may seem like no cap, as it may be out of reach to get near that.

But it's just embarrasing to see the size of our cap against the nrl and RFU. It's a public sign of how small time we are.

Re: Salary Cap....save or scrap? : Sun Sep 10, 2017 11:04 am  

The cap needs to be raised, but it's something of an irrelavence these days; money is just one reason why big players from the NRL and RU won't come, but it's certainly not the only one.

Yes, raise the cap so if a big name player fancies it, they'll be tempted. But I'd like to see further dispensations in an attempt to cast the net wider, and try and mine some diamonds in the rough whilst strengthening the game as a whole.

Players from developing nations - France, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, PNG should be exempt.
Players from RU should be exempt
Players from the championship should be exempt

The seam of talent that enabled us to uncover Vagana, Kohe-Love, Hill, Henare, Walmsley etc. must still be there.

Re: Salary Cap....save or scrap? : Sun Sep 10, 2017 7:32 pm  

So long as we are as far behind NRL and RFU our game will continue to suffer, these people at the RFL have got to stop giving themselves promotions, new titles or whatever else they can think of, I mean how many parts of rugby league does Nigel Wood need to be running.