I agree

I understand what Noble is saying but if he is talking as if RU was still an amateur game.

A lot of the RU players signed in the past were top players in the other code. Jonathan Davies, Scott Quinell etc. On the other hand some were very much unknown players such as Offiah, Preston, Hampson who did exceptionally well in Rugby League.

Which every way you look at it, signing Union plyers was always a gamble as players could either turn out to be superstars or complete flops. Far better invest in local amateur RL and young RL players.

League cannot compete with Union for money now and if it could, Edwards would have been the Wigan Coach by now.

The same thought struck me. He'll be arguing to get rid of six tackles next (which would suit his tactics perfectly).

IMO the only merit of this idea is to put one over on the other code, and that's one financial battle we can never win.

To hear of him proposing salary cap concessions for experienced RU players instead of our own youngsters is hugely disappointing - for wigan fans in particular, but I think for all supporters of the game.

The man will say anything to keep himself in the media and in the spotlight. How many of his post match interviews are actually filled with anything other than throw away phrases?

He is a survivor and to be fair i think the riddles in which he speaks will ensure he gets him 1 more job after he leaves Wigan.

how long are we prepared to watch his boring rugby tactics before IL wises up and gets rid?

It's difficult to see any drastic decision being made after only 2 matches. However, we're not party to what's going on behind-the-scenes, and if there are problems there that we don't know about, then things might happen sooner rather than later.

If everything is fine backstage, then we can only wait and see how the results go. The more games we lose, then it'll be easier for IL and co to make the big decision.

SLS is on iPlayer now. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... Episode_2/ Nobles chat and our highlights start at about 18:15 if you want to skip.

SLS is on iPlayer now. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... Episode_2/ Nobles chat and our highlights start at about 18:15 if you want to skip.

I'm no great fan of Noble these days but have to say I think he has a point here. No one is suggesting RL will be making bids for Shane Williams, Brian O'Driscoll or Dan Carter but if the RL World Cup proved anything, it proved that if we have to rely on RL's own home grown talent for the future we will come up short.

RU is a big professional game and they are attracting players from our heartlands as well as there traditional own ones now thus creating a large player base, this means that those decent players who aren't regulars for their countries and unlikely ever to be (the likes of say Tom Voyce, Dan Hipkiss,Ayoola Erinle etc) might be tempted to cross codes for the chance of reasonable pay and an international future helping our depth. Don't forget Offiah, Bentley et al were not big names in RU when they switched

Virtually all of them - Watkins excluded came from within the service area - Diskin came from Dewsbury which I think still counts in the Leeds area

No it didn't. It proved if you have a quota system that doesn't work and populate the teams with almost 45%-50% of overseas players then you will come up short of talent.

There is no evidence suggest that if we manage to reduce the number of overseas players we won't be able to find UK players to fill the slots.

If the number of overseas players in teams is not reduced then how would signing RU players help anyway? They would just be taking the place of British RL players which solves nothing.



There is nothing to stop RL clubs going for these players now. The idea there should be some sort of salary cap subsidy so we can discount part of their salaries is stupid. If without such a subsidy it is deemed the salary cap is too small then it needs increasing. But the notion an RU player who has never played the game can get higher wages than an RL player just because the RU player signed from the other sport is ludicrous. You may as well tell all the young RL players to go and play union first then they can come back on a higher wage.

Dave