OMEGA

I can see Gigot slotting into Centre with Tupou going out to the wing, Hampshire into the halfs and Walker staying at full back. Atkins, Jowitt & Kaye are all back up

Back to the potential strike news It seems there are still around 5 clubs yet to agree a deal with their players and the clock is ticking at the players union office as well as at SL HQ and also restart day. Some clubs haven’t even agreed with the players on how they’re going to reintroduce them to a safe training regime. Players must sign a document that means they agree to the safe measures imposed by the club and a few of the clubs have players who are refusing. Most clubs have agreed a climbing scale of wage cuts dependent upon the size of a players contract. e.g. all players will take a 30% cut up to a certain value then the higher wage earners will take a 40% cut on wages that are above a certain threshold, then 50% at the next threshold. (It’s a bit like income Tax) Obviously there are problems with this at some clubs where players on very low salaries (£10k or less) really can’t afford to lose 30%. While at the other end of the scale high earners aren’t happy to agree to a 50% cut. Every club but one has agreed to a deadline where these cuts will cease to be applied but one club has told its players that the cuts will continue indefinitely! The Chairman sorry Chief Executive of that club has not handled the negotiations particularly well, his usual dour, dictatorial and dismissive tone has upset quite a lot of the playing staff.

I’d like to see how they’ve counted the participation figure? In previous years a player can be counted more than once in the figure, for example: If Billy plays for school +1, if Billy plays for his local amateur team +1 and if Billy plays touch Rugby with his dad +1 Therefore Billy = 3 participants

At the majority of clubs the players are being asked to take a 30% wage cut across the board. Some are also losing other contractual privileges as well! Some clubs are asking for deeper cuts than 30%! Rather than being selfish quite a lot of Senior players at a number of clubs have acted to protect junior squad members who are on very low salaries to begin with. One player who’s been prominent recently was on £9k as a SL squad member, he’s in his early 20s! Another club who are currently looking to make a very large sporting acquisition and have just secured an international player on a very large salary but yet have asked their current players to take a 30% pay cut. It hasn’t gone down well at all with one or two threatening to go legal & fly home. Running a club on a shoestring, paying lip service to everything at the club except SL while doing little to nothing to advance the organisation in every other area will eventually see you being found out! I think one or two clubs/owners are being caught out by this now and they’ve no one to blame but themselves.

Apprentice might be too strict a word, he was working as a roofer and learning some specialist skills on the job. This was about 5 years ago and I can tell you he’s definitely earning the sort of money suggested

In the case of 1st & 2nd year Academy the clubs receive a payment of around £3,500 to £4,000 per year from the College or Education department for every player who undertakes a course, The problem is that Academy players need to be available for training so Clubs push players to take the same courses which allows them to all be available for training at the same time. So the actual courses available to the younger players is very limited and often pushes smarter lads into courses that are well below their potential. 3rd year Academy players are then faced with a choice of continuing their studies at University or accepting an often derisory salary to sign a pro contract and continuing to chase the dream. Ill give you one example: A young lad I know, a halfback and a good prospect was offered £7,000pa to sign a Super League first team squad contract. He had been holding off an offer of an apprenticeship for 12 months but finally decided to leave the game and become an apprentice roofer on £28,000 a year rising to almost £40,000 after his apprenticeship was over. Now he decided to leave Rugby but many stay and forgo a better career that pays better and offers a lifetime of employment rather than 15+ years. Most of the senior players, and it’s by no means the majority, do something of their own volition albeit encouraged by the club. My overall point is that players make many career and financial sacrifices chasing their dream of making it as a pro Rugby League Player. Even those that make it and retire at 30+ won’t have the earning capacity that they could have had without Rugby League. Often they’ll end up doing low paid manual work, nothing wrong in that I’ve done it most of my life, but it’s a result of playing the game we love. Their choice I know but a sacrifice all the same. So back to the point in question, in these trying times if a club is asking you to take a pay cut after a player has already given up so much, I can understand their frustrations.

Players already make sacrifices to have a professional Rugby career, as young teenagers many of them will spurn the chances of apprenticeships or career courses in far more stable and lucrative employment. That’s their decision, they know they could make more money as an accountant, roofer, builder etc. In these unprecedented circumstances everyone has made a salary sacrifice, I don’t know of a single player who hasn’t been realistic about helping his club and the sport in general by taking a cut in pay. At Wakefield the players already put up with not having the best of things, the things that players at most other clubs can take for granted. Of course they know about most of these things when they sign so they get it, Wakefield’s not a glamour club! If they’re being asked to take deeper cuts than players at other clubs then I can understand their unease. If Player A is taking less of a cut than Player B while Player C isn’t being asked to take a cut at all then I can see why they’re angry. Im not surprised that this is happening under Carter

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/six-super-league-clubs-still-22343752.amp?__twitter_impression=true With the start of SuperLeague due in just 19 days this doesn’t bode well! 6 clubs still not in agreement with players on reduced wages which means they haven’t yet started training. Wakefield Trinity senior player calling for a players strike!

What’s the point of it?

Some of the NRL commentators need to take a look at Halls international try scoring record which is almost a try a game across nearly 44 internationals. (37Trys/44Int) Not one of them comes close, maybe not even collectively! A bit of respect from them is in order.

Super League’s restart in August could be under threat because of player unrest over continued pay cuts https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/53314482 It seems all isn’t as well as we’d hope

Dom’s already been back in full training and is ready to play games. Simon Woodford was amazed to find out Dom was still only 17 when he arrived! Dom’s a Centre/winger who stands around 6’6” & 115kg. He’s very much in the size, weight, speed, athleticism & skill category that the likes of Inglis, Mitchell etc were in at a similar age, whether he becomes half as good as them remains to be seen but he has that potential. Jake Wardles around 6’2” and the classiest spcentre I’ve seen come through the British system in years. With Innes & Louis Senior Both at 6’5” there’s a potentially huge home grown future threequarter line brewing at Huddersfield.

I have noticed a seemingly reluctance by his team mates to pass to Hall when in an attacking position.

You can believe what you want, I really don’t care! Like you I’m an avid Wakefield Trinity fan and the club will always come first but I won’t slavishly tow the party line when I know different. you can only act on what you see and hear so I don’t blame you for not believing, he’s good at presenting himself as something he’s not.

Those who know him better understand that the image he presents to you and the reality are very different.

OH Yes ? He loves to go on there and play the big I am, his specialities are killing any rumours about players coming or leaving, ridiculing anyone who has an opinion and his extra special trick is threatening legal action against anyone who writes stuff he doesn’t like. He goes by the name of Daddycool, ? ? He completely misses the point abut forums being a place where fans can gather and gossip, dream and speculate, much the same as they do in a pub or in the crowd at a match.

I’m genuinely interested to know what Stewart and Canberra have done for him? He was a well established International player, winner of multiple titles and was earning good money at Wigan. So quite what they’ve done for him I don’t know?

Young Kershaw won’t be signing for Wakefield according to Mike Carter because in his own words Carter has “given up”. Seems strange for a Chief Executive to be openly talking about negotiations with a player on a fans forum. That said Carter loves to make himself the centre of attention while playing the hard man with a 21 year old kid.

Very sad and vary tragic, a family’s lost a son, a brother, a partner and two children have lost their dad! RIP young man

I’d rather see new rules to limit the number of tries scored from crossfield kicks! Make tries scored from a kick worth 3pts with no conversion attempt. It would become another layer of tactical scoring like the drop goal. It would encourage keeping the ball in hand and more inventive play. I know the argument about it being a difficult skill which deserves the reward of a normal try but too many sets end in crossfield kicks, most unsuccessfully.

It’s the rlfans one, just had a quick look

Mike Carter getting a bit vexed on the other forum because he’s had a little bit of scrutiny. Some people are questioning whether it’s sunlight shining out of his backside or just the back door security light which he’s setting off himself by regularly jumping up & down in front of it. He’s worried the facade might be slipping

Didn’t Carter work for his dad’s company before inheriting a small fortune from his dad? If that’s the case, and I’ll stand being corrected, then Carter hasn’t HAD to work a day in his life and wouldn’t have a clue what a 21 year old without his advantages goes through. Even if his dad made him work for a wage, he will have always known he had a safety net beneath him. That’s very different from a young lad from a modest background trying to earn a living. Poor attitude from Mike Carter

Loves his name in the papers does Mike! He’ll be volunteering to consult with the RFL on the implications of ‘Black Lives Matter’ on Rugby League next! As for Trinity, 1st Team squad members being on less than minimum wage is the tip of the iceberg.

That’s not enough for Scotchy1 who obviously thinks that the Rugby League’s international eligibility & qualification rules are a precursor to the UKs new immigration laws. Get a grip Scotchy1 fella, you’ve taken this way too far and must surely be bordering on libellous insults toward a bloke you don’t even know!