If players play as much (or not, as the case may be) for their clubs as the cricketers play for their counties then I don't think the turkey's will vote for Christmas on this occasion

Why should they?

Paying players in the elite squad is justified by the fact that they are providing a service to the national team/squad. On what grounds should they pay anyone else?

I agree with Bonzo

indeed

Can,t think of any"English" player who is worth a central contract so why bother and save the money instead. Maybe Graham, Peacock and Roby can,t think of anybody else.

There is no need for central contracts. International players should get payed for representing their country but it should be a set amount per game with a bonus for a win. Does this happen in RL at the moment? I know it does in RU.

Please tell me of ANYTHING he has done to actually improve RL as a whole rather than his own position?

show other teams that the way forward is to set up top class academies, produce your own talent. (aka stop signing aussie rejects)

want another

employ staff just for the purpose of community development, teaching kids about healthy eating, enjoying sport, some skills of rugby etc (aka generate more interest)

want another

realise that not all kids are going to make it, so put a lot more emphasis on teaching job/general life skills, putting kids into college etc (aka making rugby more attractive to players)


granted these (and others) have indeed improved his own position, but its also provide a model of other clubs to work off.
did you find it a shock when leeds where one of the best clubs to come out of the licensing scores?
do you find it shocking that other clubs would love to have the same setup as leeds?
do you find it shocking that leeds provided most of the england team [and yes they may have massively underperformed in aus, but it wasn't that surprising giving that half the players don't have to turn up for super league games but can still get a win, as too many clubs in the pass signed aussie rejects who didn't care. on that note, do you find it surprising that the rfl have introduced the home grown players rule, which by the way rhinos pass easily, yet many other clubs didn't/don't]
do you find it shocking that leeds have great press outlets?
do you find it shocking that leeds have a massive season ticket base?

do i need to go on?

The usual crew are out to bag hetherington, which is good, annoying the idiots shows just what a quality job he is doing!

Central contracts are a good idea, putting the portion paid by the rfl on the sc is truly idiotic

Clubs should be rewarded for bringing through quality British players, though I'm sure the usual suspects will decry any reward which isn't simply based on continued existance as 'only benefitting the big clubs' blah blah blah

What the central contract needs to acheive is time out of the SL grind so elite coaches can work with elite players on something other than simply keeping fit, central contracts can do this

no doubt they will, but if anything it will be a bigger benefit the smaller clubs, as most at the minute will be paying over the top rates to keep the superstars (e.g. westerman, shenton, atkins), some/most of their wage would be taken over by the rfl. so they'll be able to afford two/three/four stars, thus attracting more good players to that club, leading to a level playing field. it also provides a massive incentive to clubs to produce the next star, knowing that they don't have to pay all his wages, so keeping him at the club becomes much easier.

however whilst some teams are still lagging behind, i think a limit of number of players per club would need to be used for the short term