THIS Wednesday will be a consequential day in the history of Rugby League, even though nothing will happen that is likely to surprise us.
The RFL will reveal a complete list of club gradings that will determine which sides will compete in Super League next year.
Wakefield will be in the top twelve, while London will not be.
And that is likely to be the only change in Super League – Wakefield in and London out.
There will be some interest also in how many clubs gain grade A status.
In last year’s provisional gradings list, there were seven clubs that achieved grade As, which, if repeated this year, would guarantee their participation in Super League.
Those clubs were Leeds, Wigan, St Helens, Warrington, Catalans, Hull KR and Hull FC.
Castleford, Huddersfield, Leigh and Salford were given grade B classifications.
This year the wise money seems to be on Hull FC being demoted to grade B, while Leigh are likely to be promoted to grade A.
Castleford and Wakefield also might be possible outside bets for grade A status, but Huddersfield and Salford are likely to retain their grade B status, although they will accrue sufficient points to remain in Super League.
I don’t think there will be any major surprises and, frankly, I would find it amazing if Hull FC were to retain their grade A status after the terrible season their fans have had to endure this year.
Nonetheless, I’m sad to see that Toulouse won’t be in the top twelve and I think the same about London and several other clubs.
If Super League is going to make progress and widen its audience it has to move quickly to 16 clubs in my view.
Salary cap shenanigans
MY former colleague Matthew Shaw had a scoop last week when he revealed that some changes have been planned to the salary cap regulations by the RFL.
Matt appeared to be basing his claims on a leaked document from the governing body, and he’s created quite a stir.
If we can believe the leak, and I have no reason not to, the base salary cap will remain at £2.1 million for Super League clubs next year, but changes are proposed to help clubs go well beyond that figure.
“Of all the additions, the most significant one is that each club will now be able to sign two players who are earning less than £35,000 per season and not have to include them on their salary cap,” reports Matt.
“It is hoped that the rule will help enhance the possibility of players earning Super League contracts while also encouraging clubs to take a chance on players looking for an opportunity at the top level.”
In other changes, a player who misses more than six matches through injury inflicted by foul play will be removed from a club’s salary cap for the period of time he is out of action, allowing teams to sign other players to replace their injured stars without exceeding the salary cap.
“Further changes include a dispensation up to the tune of £40,000 per season for players who feature in international games for England or France. Clubs will receive a £10,000 dispensation per player, up to a maximum of four, for the following season if they represent either nation.
“The existing Club Trained Dispensation, awarded to clubs for producing Super League and Championship standard players, has been increased from a maximum £100,000 to £150,000.”
What is interesting about all this is not so much whether it all makes sense, but whether the clubs can really afford the additional costs these proposals will impose on them at a time when their income from the Sky broadcasting contract has been slashed in recent years.
The RFL should be looking to reduce costs for clubs, not increase them.
I think it could do that quite easily by imposing a separate salary-cap limit on overseas players, for example. But there is no sign of that happening.
The other issue arising with all this is that some clubs appear to have been consulted about these proposed changes, while others only learned about them when they read Matthew Shaw’s article.
I’m not certain which clubs have been consulted and which haven’t, but I suspect that no more than three or four clubs have been, while the proposals have gone down like a lead balloon with the remainder, especially those who struggle to reach the salary cap limit as it stands.
And when you bear in mind that each club can now engage three marquee players whose salaries partially fall outside the salary cap, it’s clear that these proposals are giving a blank cheque to the clubs with very wealthy owners and locking in their dominance of the Super League competition.
That is the opposite of what the RFL should be doing.
Its strategy should be to bring all the clubs forward together on a level playing field to maximise the interest in the competition while ensuring that all the clubs can handle their operating costs.
If the people who run the game are incapable of doing that, then they should make way for people who can.
Colluding with some clubs but not others, if that is what has been happening, is not acceptable.
Pacific Cup success
IT’S great to see the Pacific Cup and the Pacific Bowl competitions currently being played in the Southern Hemisphere.
And it’s particularly gratifying to see how many Super League players are taking part.
For example, on Saturday Papua New Guinea travelled to Suva, the capital of Fiji, and they secured a 22-10 victory, with Salford’s Nene Macdonald playing a blinder at fullback, while the Kumuls also had Rodrick Tai (Warrington), Lachlan Lam (Leigh), Liam Horne (Castleford), the captain Rhyse Martin (Leeds) and Sylvester Namo (Castleford).
The Fijians included Waqa Blake (St Helens), Kevin Naiqama (Huddersfield), Ben Nakubuwai (Featherstone) and Joe Lovodua (Doncaster).
It was the first international game to be held in Fiji for more than 20 years, but hopefully not the last.
The TV audience for the clash between Australia and Tonga was almost twice the audience a Bledisloe Cup rugby union game between Australia and New Zealand draws.
And the clash between Fiji and PNG drew two and a half times the audience for an A-League football game in the opening week of that season.
It all shows the potential of international Rugby League.
I just wish, as I made clear on last week’s League Express Podcast, that we could see these games in the middle of the season rather than at the end of it.
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