Dita's Slot Meter wrote:I agree, though I would go the whole hog like the England Cricket Board did and actually sign up an elite squad of 14 British players on special contracts.....Each Super League club would then receive 1 player each and then, after that, simply go back to the cap system on the rest of the squads.
The elite squad could be changed annually and players would go to clubs on a draw basis, unless a club has developed that player from academy level (Tomkins/Wigan, Sinfield/Leeds, etc).
Big difference between the ECB and the RFL is that in cricket, the county game is relatively minor and all the emphasis is on the international game (similar to RU to an extent) but in rugby league the club game is bigger.
Also we have to keep a sense of perspective here on what we expect to achieve in terms of internationals.
Everybody is panicking about losing some players that are currently probably 3rd best in the world behind Australia and New Zealand. If we centrally contracted players do we realistically expect to beat the Aussies, probably not.
A lot of young players get great hype, on the back of the Sky commentators and RL fans panic that the RFU will come and sign them and it will lead to the destruction of the game.
A few years ago when Robinson, Henry Paul and Harris went to union (which was a much bigger loss than Joel Tomkins) I remember all the talk about the outstanding young players that were emerging that would lead to a great future for rugby league, players like Horne, Cooke, Shaun Briscoe, Thorman, O'Loughlin, Hock, Robinson, Calderwood, Chev Walker, Leon Pryce. When these guys emerged in a blaze of hype people were worried that the RFU would come round and sign them and it could fatally damage rugby league. But how many of those players now have the tag of 'genuine class international performers' and how many have the tag of 'can't do it at international level'.
People even say Sinfield, McGuire and Burrow can't do it at international level.
So before we get really upset about the threat of a player leaving for union....lets see if he can prove himself at international level.
As for leaving for the NRL I don't know why this bothers people at all. When we send players over there that do well it helps win respect for our game from the Aussies which is important in getting them to take international league seriously, and also it means we have players exposed to playing at NRL standard week in week out. Jack Reed and Chris Heighington do look good in England jerseys.
In football you have international teams like Brazil, Argentina and France whose domestic leagues have never been able to hold on to their top players, they always play in Spain, Italy, England, Germany etc, but this has not damaged their national team.
