Please tell me of ANYTHING he has done to actually improve RL as a whole rather than his own position?

do you find it shocking that leeds have great press outlets?

do you find it shocking that leeds have a massive season ticket base?



do i need to go on?

The usual crew are out to bag hetherington, which is good, annoying the idiots shows just what a quality job he is doing!



Central contracts are a good idea, putting the portion paid by the rfl on the sc is truly idiotic



Clubs should be rewarded for bringing through quality British players, though I'm sure the usual suspects will decry any reward which isn't simply based on continued existance as 'only benefitting the big clubs' blah blah blah



What the central contract needs to acheive is time out of the SL grind so elite coaches can work with elite players on something other than simply keeping fit, central contracts can do this

no doubt they will, but if anything it will be a bigger benefit the smaller clubs, as most at the minute will be paying over the top rates to keep the superstars (e.g. westerman, shenton, atkins), some/most of their wage would be taken over by the rfl. so they'll be able to afford two/three/four stars, thus attracting more good players to that club, leading to a level playing field. it also provides a massive incentive to clubs to produce the next star, knowing that they don't have to pay all his wages, so keeping him at the club becomes much easier.



however whilst some teams are still lagging behind, i think a limit of number of players per club would need to be used for the short term

totally disagree, playing for your country should be an honour not a payday

You think SL Chairmen will be happy with this? Losing control of their star players? SL Chairmen don't give a flying fig about the International game. Take a step back into reality.

The RFL put on internationals, Magic Weekend and the playoffs. They then pocket all the profits hand out a little bit of prize money and announce they are making profits (not after they all claim some expenses and enjoy the hospitality I am sure). It is only right that the RFL pay for the players that they are profiting from.



Paul Deacon, Mat Diskin and Kieran Cunningham have all suffered major injuries while playing for GB/England that the RFL has made money on. The players and clubs have never been compensated for this in any way by the RFL.

Why not have a 'bonus' contract as such.

Say Westerman was in this elite, he would receive a 50k bonus over a few years regardless of whether he paid for Cas/Leeds or Salford etc

Bargaining between clubs would still go on because the player would be due to receive the money regardless of who he played for

...don't think that's entirely true, the RFL insures them I believe. I seem to recall arguments about the level of insurance.

That would be how an central contract is earned, if you can't fulfill the responsibilities of an international player you aren't eligible for an central contract, it's pretty simple

that is how it would work, central payments would be over and above club payments

So why is everyone moaning that Leeds would be saving money when in fact they'd ahve to pay the player the same to keep them or they'd just move elsewhere?

Instead of central contracting, it may be more effective for the RFL to pay a bonus (from test match profits) to SL clubs for each player they supply to the test team - as the RFU do. However this may require the RFL picking a test coach that has no club affiliation, to avoid conflict of interest.

because it's a doubly whammy for some fans, 1st they get to moan, then 2nd they get to blame another clubs success on bias rather than their club being poor

Totally disagree that they shouldn't get paid. They are working for their country. Of course they should be getting paid.

Ha ha I can just imagine the whinging when the RFL announce they are taking Leeds and St's best players for a three week tour of Australasia mid season! This is what the Union clubs have to put up with here. Central contracts sound nice until the players are not available for clubs and clubs don't make the playoffs or a final because their star was on Int duty.



Only call would be if we were losing our best players to Union to help keep them in RL but we aren't so no need. A bit of pocket money and a test cap should be enough for the honour of representing your country. We've seen through Snr how much it means to some!

Spot on

......

i'm not sure mid-season would be a particularly good time to organize a tour any way, regardless of any clubs moaning, but maybe a couple of weeks at the start of the year, and three or four international weeks spread throughout the season, maybe limiting the elite players to say 25 club games a year in return for 20% of I wages being paid by the rfl, with this being off-cap this would then allow you to bring in a player or two to cover for the games they miss wouldn't impact

too much on the club game,



And union isn't the be all and end all of rl, our elite players should be rewarded for being elite, they are the best and a little bit more money to help them when their bodies are knackered, ruined and they are 34 and need to get a real job for the first time in their lives isn't too much to ask, they earn every single penny we could possibly pay them,



And our elite clubs should be rewarded for investing time and money and effort and skills in helping these players get where they are, though as this only effectstop British players, and you are a hull or fan, I can see why youre not too keen

I think they should do it. Internationals are always going to be second to club rugby when there just added on to the end of the season. Move the four nations and world cup to a mid season tournament. In a world cup year the club season would have to be put on hold but it wouldnt for the four nations.

Englands best outside back is apparently going to Wasps if the rumours are true.

Ade gardner?

think he meant this,

[urlhttp://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/rugby_league/article2378886.ece[/url

[urlhttp://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/more-sport/2009/03/19/leeds-rhinos-may-lose-england-star-lee-smith-115875-21209615/[/url

This part

"It's too early to discuss where Lee might be next season," said his agent Andy Clarke



means he will go to RU in my opinion.

would that be the same andy clarke who oversaw chris ashton's move to northampton ru?