[quote="BigTime"]I’d worked out all our northern pros would leave but assumed all southern Academy products would stay but the more I think about it I’m not sure that’s right. Surely PT only really works if you are a student have some kind of itinerant job or run your own company. Older players who know the ropes can probably run 2 careers in tandem but young guys will need to put time and effort into developing their primary long term career. I can’t see how if you are starting out as a teacher or work as an estate agent or some such that constantly sloping off to training to end a few extra quid will actually work. Not all players want to be casual labourers or fitness instructors. Does PT really work outside the heartlands?[/quote

If you are a part time player with a trade. Moving to London may have appeal. The money that can be earned in London is enormous when compared to say Yorkshire.
It is for the club to have contacts to get these players jobs.

Yes I can see how that might work. As you say there are lots of jobs in London but we do need to have ins. I have a nasty feeling we don’t.

Bit short on ins at the moment

Maybe looking at aus or nz lower leagues ?

Currently we have no ins as we are specialising in outs.

Can't speak for Aussie, but anyone leaving NZ at the moment faces an enormous struggle getting back into this country whilst we are insisting on 2 weeks managed isolation.
12,000 KMs to get a job in a bar and play for a hundred quid a week....."yeah nah bro" as they say in these parts.

I would be very surprised if anyone would want to leave NZ for a P/T gig on Plague Island

Without going OT, we have had just 27 deaths here and whilst we're a population a fraction of the size of the UK/USA/Brazil/India, it is no coincidence that we have a left leaning, liberal government, whilst the 4 main players in terms of mishandling have pretty much gone down the "every man for himself" route

Point is. Rugby League seems to be adopting that approach too. The top clubs would rather cull a few smaller ones for the sake of a pay day. London aside (Hughes is obviously still intending to pay the rent etc), clubs like Coventry have already said that this could be the end for them. I am sure the good folk at Skolars will be anxiously awaiting news of their loss of income, but with 200 fans maybe paying a tenner each, their reliance on their benefactor will be key......and all the while, trying to attract GOOD QUALITY" players from the north.

Therefore we get to play London youth whilst underpaying them and losing the best to either Union or the vultures in the North. Personally, I believe that if we do 'sign" a player, then the RFL must step in to protect us from losing that player for a pittance. Kai Pearce-Paul springs to mind....he wasn't even scouted. Radlinski is on record as saying that they only noticed him when they couldn't handle him in an academy game and snapped him up....vultures.

If you're a northern RL player and eg a tradesman, you could move to London to earn few quid playing PT and making more money than you would up north on your real job. But you'd also have a massively increased cost of living. Plus you'd be away from your family (we've seen how that plays out often enough even for full timers!). You might find yourself a little better off financially, but overall is it worth it? Unlikely.

It's one thing for northern clubs like Widnes, Fev, Halifax to play PT - they're surrounded by players looking to top up their earnings and also SL players looking to drop down a level as they near retirement. London just doesn't have that. We'll be reliant on local products (the best of whom will move north straight out of our academy, just like Kai Pearce-Paul already did), the odd union player and perhaps a handful of northerners prepared to move. You won't even get Aussies/Kiwis on a PT basis as the work permit rules require it to be their main job, not a secondary one. That is not the basis of a successful team.

Some of us tried to explain this to the monkey on here when he was floating the idea of a PT team last year. He obviously thinks he knows better, as usual.

Yup.
Unless the club can find some way of subsidising your housing costs.

Even then how many people with a good safe job or kids in school would relocate south for a 40 or so week contract? Put them in club housing and if their contract isn't renewed they are homeless, facing full London housing costs and no rugby income. Some will I suspect but mainly youngsters just starting in work, single etc.

Broncos will need experienced northern based players to bolster the southern players. I suspect most of them are more likely to be willing to train up north and spend a few weekends down south playing p.a. They are likely to want paying more than they can earn on the M62 mind