Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington believes the selection of the England Elite squad is the first step towards central contracts.



[urlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/leeds/8068525.stm[/url

=blue"At the moment the whole bill for paying these elite players rests with clubs and I think it is only reasonable for the RFL to pay some of this bill and recognises these quality players." - Hetherington.



Cheeky fooker. Will he squeal like a pig when the England coach picks four of his lads for a three week training break? You bet. Pay for them yourself you cretin - the International Game is on it's a[irse[/i and certainly doesn't need central contracts - yet.

well put

GH will do anything to spend less money

its called being smart

its called being tight more like.

let imagine your running a business, there a chance that someone else will pay some of your employees but you will get most of their service. would you say no ?

Will Gary be prepare to take a smaller slice of pie so the RFL can pay for these players? The pot's only so big after all..

Unfortunatley that someone is is spending ' our ' money to pay your employee's

that depends on how you're looking at 'our'

As in of all the clubs who are member clubs of the RFL



Maybe if we ask nicely they will pay our players at Leigh , or maybe the ones at Donny , or even Workington

If it helps retain players then great. Having said that, based on recent 'performances' there aren't many players in the current national setup who I'd bother offering a central contract.

Correct , maybe the owners of some of these big SL clubs should get their fingers out and start to develop some decent players

how much do teams like leigh (or the players) actually bring to the rfl though ?



don't get me wrong i like championship 1 & 2, and think the RFL need to do more to promote the sport and what not. but currently the super league clubs provide much more attractiveness/money/fans for them to work off, so have no issues with super league clubs getting more return. as long at the lower league clubs are all looked after well, unfortunately rugby league isn't a big enough sport yet to demand more money from tv/sponsors. so we can only work with what we've got, and yes the england team has been poor in recent years, but its one of the only times the major press take a bit of interest. so if we can improve this, then everyone will be better off

Aye or reet

As soon as central contracts came in, the clubs with players on those contracts would seek for the central contract to be exempt from the salary cap.



This would then result in some clubs having an unfair advantage.



Any attempt to limit the number of appearances of a star player for a club would also have consequences.

I think the majority of fans would be up in arms. RL remember is a tribal club orientated sport. Internationals for most fans, as evidenced by crowds at such games, are of little interest to them.

If Hetherington thinks cricket is showing us the path to international glory he needs his head examining. We certainly don't need to follow that fiasco where players are signed on a year's central contract and three weeks later their form bottoms out and stays there for the next eleven months (think of Steve Harmison).



Cricket is a money-whoreing joke that sold its soul at the Stanford million dollar orgy of depravity. There is N-O-T-H-I-N-G we can learn from cricket other than "How to Destroy A Sport in Six Easy Steps".

So long as any portion of salary paid by the RFL is included in the cap.

Teh only thing Hetherington has ever done is to somehow benefit Hetherington.



Not a single action he has ever taken, or proposal he has made has been for the benefit of Rugby League.



This is no different.

Surely the introduction of central contracts would effectively guarantee a regular international place for those players holding those contracts, otherwise the contract itself would be unjustifiable. Therefore it would have a negative impact on the performance and consistency of those players, and reduce the opportunities for others.



Actually, that sounds just like a slightly more formal arrangement of the current system...

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.