cheekydiddles wrote:Are you releasing any overseas players as there seems to be quite a few in that 17. Who out of the ones you've listed are exempt and why?
Here is my answer to a similar enquiry (from Saddened, which is why it isn't overly encumbered with courtesy
) on the VT.
Mild Rover wrote:In case you genuinely don't know, players here since the 2008 season who would normally count as non-fed are essentially exempt from that rule. If they can combine that with possession of a suitable passport, they are free to sign for anybody without that club having to worry about any quota.
Vella and Galea have got Maltese passports, while Newton's mother is British iirc. Something similar must be true for Fisher (although there are rumours that he might move on, stretching back to last year). Lovegrove counts as club-trained - he has an exemption, but under the most recent version of the rules I've seen he doesn't actually need it anymore. Webster, Dobson, Clinton, Green and Mason will, I assume be our 5 quota/non-fed in 2011.
Importantly for the RFL's attempt to solve the problem of young players development being stunted through lack of opportunities, the club-trained quota rises to 8 next year. Rovers will probably have more than their fair share of young british players in their squad, because we don't have as many senior club-trained players as longer-establihed SL clubs.
Hull, unfortunately for them, signed Dykes, Cusack, Byrne and Berrigan for the 2008 season. Only Berrigan remains (and their fans have mixed feelings about that), so they have been less well placed to take advantage of the, ahem, evolution of the rules. Berrigan's popularity could be set to rise though if, as rumoured, he can get off quota. Suitable NRL targets have already been suggested, as the domestic market is regarded as being such poor value...
