LR23

I don’t mind the stadium in general (it’s not great but not terrible) but I agree with Tex that it’s one of the coldest places in the country. Those Union folks must be nails.

This is getting confusing so here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halal

I get that to a point but then again Noble references visa's - the rules for those are laid out for all to see. You'd also think he'd have ironed the details before actually signing those players. I do agree you've had the short end of the stick over a few issues but at the same time TWP have made a few mistakes themselves. Just my opinion but I'd be more willing to cooperate (if I was actually making the decisions) if TWP were a bit more honest about that - they might be behind closed doors of course, we don't know.

He referenced it as an example of 'unfair treatment' - did you read it? I'm sure Kayakman is capable of responding himself as well.

So again, they didn't plan ahead, find out what they could and couldn't do and somehow it is somebody else's fault? I want Toronto to succeed but they are doing themselves no favours in the PR department lately.

If you are still interested the main Salford forum is at deviltalk.co.uk - we did indeed move away due to some persistent trolls but we are still a welcoming bunch (fairly evenly split on Toronto as you would imagine but there are more pro-expansionists than you would expect and a few making the trip over to Toronto in July). The Toronto game will be our first home game of the year so should be a reasonable crowd (fingers crossed).

Rumours are that he is about to sign a new contract. Incredible news if true.

Completely understand that but it was still a choice so my support for salary cap dispensation two weeks out from the season start is limited. It is bad cap management plain and simple.

Genuine question and not TWP bashing - how do you think they would work the weighting with the players seeming to be based predominantly in the UK or at the very least part here and part in Toronto?

I agree that the stranger decisions were made earlier on but when the SBW signing was made then knew that they were approaching the cap and had a small squad - they made a choice to carry on with signing one big name rather than filling out the squad. Common sense would say sign the youngsters first and then pursue dispensation for the big name next.

It wasn't me personally! I sympathise on the central funding point to a certain extent (I'm not getting into that debate though) but that still isn't a valid excuse for mismanaging your salary cap spending. Instead of signing SBW you could have signed three young talented players on £50,000 a year to fill out your squad. I'm sure loads of young players would love a couple of years in Toronto. The choice was yours. But Noble's eyes have always been bigger than his belly (sorry for the very English phrase).

On the first point I sympathise - this one foot in and one foot out approach by those in charge of the sport is doing nobody any favours. However taking some sort of action now two weeks before the season starts will make the sport look amateur and just cause further problems. Toronto management have got to hold their hands up and take responsibility for this salary cap mess though. Same goes for the Chase visa issues. It is not a good look however McDermott and co spin it.

There have been a fair few NFL players that I've thought would be brilliant at rugby league but as mentioned the transition would be very difficult. Getting their general fitness up would be one thing but going from playing a full speed short burst game with lots of rest periods to a more constant, grinding game is really going to test their durability. Add to that the length of the NFL season compared to Superleague and you are looking at a very expensive player who spends most of his time on the injury list. They just won't be used to the wear and tear. The younger you get them the better though.

I have nothing against Toronto or expansion but this seems to be a fairly simple issue to me - they have mismanaged their player contracts and the salary cap (not Superleague, the RFL or anybody else) and they are now seeking a way around this. We could argue all day about the difficulties Toronto face over other clubs but what seems clear is that they knew what they were getting into and they shouldn't be stamping their feet about it a few weeks from the start of the season. Just my opinion.

I agree and take back my comments on it being a bit safe - it looks much, much better in the flesh. One of the best ones in my opinion.