Ottawa bid accepted by RFL for 2020 start – but New York entry delayed until 2021

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, Big Picture said:

I am not privy to that information, but one possibility is that the comparatively low pay which the current salary cap permits isn't appealing to the best prospects.  Another is that having to do much more transatlantic travel than the players on the other teams might also be a turnoff for those best prospects.

Or maybe they just can't be bothered ?

[bobbruce]

43 minutes ago, TboneFromTO said:

Pay is a big thing I think...might actually explain a few more things in the game

34 players (36 like Wigan, minus 2 for marquees) with 2mill to split is an even 58k a year (GBP).  But better  players make more and that means someone's gotta make less.  

Think it’s only a squad of 25. 

[GUBRATS]

36 minutes ago, The Great Dane said:

For the same reason that so many of the NRL clubs have basically stopped developing players under a certain age of their own: it's infinitely cheaper to poach already developed players than it is to invest the money into developing a bunch of kids in the hope that one or two will become solid first graders.

 For better or worse I'd bet you anything that is the way that the Wolfpack are looking at it.

They wouldn't be developing them in the same way Aussie clubs and SL academies would , it was ' converts ' , ie 20 year olds 

[The Great Dane]

5 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

They wouldn't be developing them in the same way Aussie clubs and SL academies would , it was ' converts ' , ie 20 year olds 

It's still very expensive and there's no certainty of success.

People on this site seem to seriously underestimate how expensive it is to develop players...

[Tommygilf]

17 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Or maybe they just can't be bothered ?

Just like SL quality Salford then

[GUBRATS]

5 minutes ago, The Great Dane said:

It's still very expensive and there's no certainty of success.

People on this site seem to seriously underestimate how expensive it is to develop players...

As I said , it wouldn't be running a full academy squad , more identifying potential converts and then working with them , possibly using the Skolars , and yes nobody can be certain of anything , but they did say they would produce ' converts ' , and let's say they had managed to bring through even just a couple of squad players , how good would that have been ? , Both for their reputation here and at home 

[GUBRATS]

11 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Just like SL quality Salford then

Salford's problem is the opposite of Toronto's , Salford are 4th choice every year for the junior talent available , making it very difficult , Toronto have a different problem in that they only have a different codes players to chase 

[Omott91]

14 hours ago, SL17 said:

Producing and developing are two different words. You have to start developing in order to produce. Toronto are now 3 yrs behind on developing.

Words work both ways to suit.

Sadly, this refers to a lot of English clubs but here we are on yet another thread Twp bashing. 

[winnyason]

24 minutes ago, Omott91 said:

Sadly, this refers to a lot of English clubs but here we are on yet another thread Twp bashing. 

Same culprits also. Oh how the sky falling in by the way what a lumping To xiii put on leigh yesterday 

[Omott91]

2 hours ago, SL17 said:

It’s factual. Sadly you think differently. 

I'm glad that you agree that while Twp don't produce players yet neither do some English clubs, some of whom have had a hundred years to build a solid foundation and are still struggling,yet there are some people criticise Twp after 3 YEARS. Surely you can see the irony.      

[Omott91]

Can anyone tell me why we expect more from Twp after 3 years than we do from English clubs after 100 years?

  Because I am really looking forward to watching new expansion teams work their way to Super league and shaking up the status quo as they progress. 

[The Great Dane]

13 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

As I said , it wouldn't be running a full academy squad , more identifying potential converts and then working with them , possibly using the Skolars , and yes nobody can be certain of anything , but they did say they would produce ' converts ' , and let's say they had managed to bring through even just a couple of squad players , how good would that have been ? , Both for their reputation here and at home 

Have you worked in player development?

Because I have (admittedly not at a high level), and if anything "converts" are significantly more expensive then juniors that come through the system, because on top of all the costs that go into developing players, so paying all the coaches, physios, dietitians, sports psychologists, paramedics, trainers, etc, and buying/renting all the infrastructure and equipment that you need, to get any RU or Gridrion players that are even worth taking a punt on you need to pay them money to convince them to even try the sport, where apart from the elite minority of juniors (i.e. the rare prodigies that all the clubs are fighting each other to sign) most juniors are there either on a high school sports scholarship or on their own time.

So on top of the hundreds of thousands of dollars of infrastructure that it takes to even start thinking about consistently producing juniors (which I'd be very surprised to find out that the Wolfpack had any of that in place considering how young they are as a club and the fact that they haven't grown out of a region where all of that stuff is already in place for them to simply tack themselves onto) you have to pay them at least a living wage, normally significantly more, to get any worth having.

On top of all that unless you are signing a professional elite athlete (your Sonny bill's and Falou's of the world, who despite their exposure are actually the exceptions to the rule of converts) that can just slid into a pro system, which the Wolfpack most likely wouldn't be if they were signing off cut Gridiron and RU players in Canada as is suggested, you need a competition that is at their standard of play for them to develop in, which means all those hundreds of thousands of dollars in infrastructure multiplied by at least the size of a whole competition.

You say that they could use the Skolars for that, and maybe in some cases that might be a good short term solution, but realistically for 90% of off cut Gridiron and Canadian RU players that they could sign that isn't going to be appropriate for their development nor do I necessarily think that the Skolars would be happy being loaded up with Canadian prospects when their focus is on developing players from London and trying to be successful in league 1. On top of that it'd again make signing most players even more expensive because now you have to convince them to relocate to London as well.

If they start now and don't face any major set backs it's going to take the Wolfpack at least 20 years before they start regularly producing juniors (and that assumes that enough pro Canadian clubs pop up to support a significant juniors system in Canada), and they (and anybody else) who thought they were going to be able to sign Gridiron players who didn't make in their sport and turn them into solid professional RL players overnight were/are highly underestimating not only how expensive that process is but how difficult it is.

Furthermore to get upset at them for not being successful in that endeavor after only two and a half years is just stupid and holding them to totally unrealistic standards.  

 

[Oxford]

4 hours ago, Omott91 said:

Surely you can see the irony.      

No, they don't do irony,  paradox or satire thought they do a good line in derision and mockery,  so it all works out in the end.

 

10 minutes ago, The Great Dane said:

holding them to totally unrealistic standards.  

Yes but if you make your standards nigh impossible to fulfill,  it will all go away and you can say "I told you so!"

They learned all this at Super League School.

Misery 101

[GUBRATS]

4 minutes ago, The Great Dane said:

Have you worked in player development?

Because I have (admittedly not at a high level), and if anything "converts" are significantly more expensive then juniors that come through the system, because on top of all the costs that go into developing players, so paying all the coaches, physios, dietitians, sports psychologists, paramedics, trainers, etc, and buying/renting all the infrastructure and equipment that you need, to get any RU or Gridrion players that are even worth taking a punt on you need to pay them money to convince them to even try the sport, where apart from the elite minority of juniors (i.e. the rare prodigies that all the clubs are fighting each other to sign) most juniors are there either on a high school sports scholarship or on their own time.

So on top of the hundreds of thousands of dollars of infrastructure that it takes to even start thinking about consistently producing juniors (which I'd be very surprised to find out that the Wolfpack had any of that in place considering how young they are as a club and the fact that they haven't grown out of a region where all of that stuff is already in place for them to simply tack themselves onto) you have to pay them at least a living wage, normally significantly more, to get any worth having.

On top of all that unless you are signing a professional elite athlete (your Sonny bill's and Falou's of the world, who despite their exposure are actually the exceptions to the rule of converts) that can just slid into a pro system, which the Wolfpack most likely wouldn't be if they were signing off cut Gridiron and RU players in Canada as is suggested, you need a competition that is at their standard of play for them to develop in, which means all those hundreds of thousands of dollars in infrastructure multiplied by the size of a whole competition.

You say that they could use the Skolars for that, and maybe in some cases that might be a good short term solution, but realistically for 90% of off cut Gridiron and Canadian RU players that they could sign that isn't going to be appropriate for their development nor do I necessarily think that the Skolars would be happy being loaded up with Canadian prospects when their focus is on developing players from London and trying to be successful in league 1. On top of that it'd again make signing most players even more expensive because now you have to convince them to relocate to London as well.

If they start now and don't face any major set backs it's going to take the Wolfpack at least 20 years before they start regularly producing juniors (and that assumes that enough pro Canadian clubs pop up to support a significant juniors system in Canada), and they (and anybody else) who thought they were going to be able to sign Gridiron players who didn't make in their sport and turn them into solid professional RL players overnight were/are highly underestimating not only how expensive that process is but how difficult it is.

Furthermore to get upset at them for not being successful in that endeavor after only two half years is just stupid and holding them to totally unrealistic standards.  

 

Being a former junior coach and academy director at a Championship/SL club I do have some knowledge and experience of the subject 

And thank you for making my case , gridiron doesn't provide the skills required , it is only union where converts will come from , and that will be extremely difficult , and will require money 

As I put earlier it won't be traditional development from 12 year olds via scholarship through academies 16-19 , with all those associated costs , it would involve Toronto having to find and identify players able and willing to relocate as you suggest to the UK 

But the bottom line is they said they would produce players , they haven't , the emphasis is on them to do it , SL have stated it is a requirement of any new expansion area's , they need to find a way 

[North but south]

23 hours ago, SL17 said:

Toronto are the face of RL in NA.

You can’t grow a plant without a seed. But you can always buy the plant.

 

You can't get seeds without a plant, but you can get a plant without seeds by using cuttings from other plants.  

[North but south]

15 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

As I said , it wouldn't be running a full academy squad , more identifying potential converts and then working with them , possibly using the Skolars , and yes nobody can be certain of anything , but they did say they would produce ' converts ' , and let's say they had managed to bring through even just a couple of squad players , how good would that have been ? , Both for their reputation here and at home 

How would you use the Skolars when the converts\Canadian prospects would struggle to get work permits? It's not going to be cheap and they would need training for 6 - 12 months before they can realistically be playing at a competitive level. To get gridiron converts at this time you'll need all the teams willing to participate, like the NFL international player pathway program.

You'll really need the opportunity to play the game in Canada at a good amateur level and that needs people interested in the game. There are junior clubs starting to pop up, mainly concentrating on the tag rug level (http://www.canadarugbyleague.com/first-junior-club-canada-feature-americas-rl-9s/)

[The Great Dane]

1 hour ago, GUBRATS said:

Being a former junior coach and academy director at a Championship/SL club I do have some knowledge and experience of the subject

For a person that claims to have had a lot to do with player development you completely undersell what goes into it...

2 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

And thank you for making my case , gridiron doesn't provide the skills required , it is only union where converts will come from , and that will be extremely difficult , and will require money 

As I put earlier it won't be traditional development from 12 year olds via scholarship through academies 16-19 , with all those associated costs , it would involve Toronto having to find and identify players able and willing to relocate as you suggest to the UK 

If that's the plan then it's a complete waste of time and they shouldn't even bother.

Because all the players worth the trouble of trying to develop in the first place have other options in America to continue their careers that are just as good as what the Wolfpack would be offering that wouldn't involve them having to uproot their whole lives and move to the other side of the world in the hope that if they're very lucky then maybe they'll become full time professionals.

In other words all but the most desperate (i.e. the ones that are least likely to make it anyway) will go the way of Quinn Ngawati, resulting in the whole exercise being a very expensive waste of time.

The only way that they could hope to achieve quickly (i.e. within a couple of years) converting Canadian/American RU players from the base that they are starting at, would be for them to set up and self fund their own semi-pro open age feeder competition in Canada.

1 hour ago, GUBRATS said:

But the bottom line is they said they would produce players , they haven't , the emphasis is on them to do it , SL have stated it is a requirement of any new expansion area's , they need to find a way

How do you know that they aren't in the process of producing players, or at least putting the infrastructure in place to get to a place where it's even possible for them to regularly produce players?  

Frankly, we both know the answer is that you don't have a clue whether or not the Wolfpack (or any other club for that matter) are or aren't in the process of getting things in place so that they can start producing players!

Either way it doesn't really matter, you are still holding them to the absolutely ridiculous standard of demanding that they produce players from scratch with zero infrastructure in place in under two years. 

[GUBRATS]

43 minutes ago, The Great Dane said:

For a person that claims to have had a lot to do with player development you completely undersell what goes into it...

If that's the plan then it's a complete waste of time and they shouldn't even bother.

Because all the players worth the trouble of trying to develop in the first place have other options in America to continue their careers that are just as good as what the Wolfpack would be offering that wouldn't involve them having to uproot their whole lives and move to the other side of the world in the hope that if they're very lucky then maybe they'll become full time professionals.

In other words all but the most desperate (i.e. the ones that are least likely to make it anyway) will go the way of Quinn Ngawati, resulting in the whole exercise being a very expensive waste of time.

The only way that they could hope to achieve quickly (i.e. within a couple of years) converting Canadian/American RU players from the base that they are starting at, would be for them to set up and self fund their own semi-pro open age feeder competition in Canada.

How do you know that they aren't in the process of producing players, or at least putting the infrastructure in place to get to a place where it's even possible for them to regularly produce players?  

Frankly, we both know the answer is that you don't have a clue whether or not the Wolfpack (or any other club for that matter) are or aren't in the process of getting things in place so that they can start producing players!

Either way it doesn't really matter, you are still holding them to the absolutely ridiculous standard of demanding that they produce players from scratch with zero infrastructure in place in under two years. 

How do I undersell it ? , The player pathway in the UK is already set out , from community clubs through scholarships then academies with various foundations doing different levels of work , then of course the loan system and DR at the later stages , it isn't cheap , although your hundreds of thousands per season is probably a touch high , that's according to various coaches who have commented on it , in the UK we currently have about a dozen genuine academies just about supplying the dozen or so full time clubs , outside those it is participation levels that are the big worry if we are to produce more and better quality in the future 

If Toronto were in the process of setting up junior or open age comps to look to draw from in the future I'm fairly sure we would have heard of it by now , given the high priority that various high profile SL voices have made of it being a requirement of SL entry in the future , so what is Toronto's other options ? , Union is where there are enough numbers with the necessary skills to possibly make the grade  certainly not gridiron 

I am not holding them to anything they didn't say from the start , that is they would be looking to produce RL players , nobody is expecting it to happen overnight , but given their ability to tell the whole world about everything they are doing ( which is applauded on here and used as a stick to beat the existing clubs with ,) if they were doing anything , e would expect to have heard about it by now 

But we haven't , so can only assume they aren't , ultimately they are the ' test case ' for NA expansion , if they do want what they originally suggested ( 5/6 NA clubs in SL opening up another player pool and a ' mega ' Broadcast deal ) it is down to them to prove it can be done 

[The Great Dane]

15 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

How do I undersell it ?

In the process of bagging the Wolfpack you have consistently ignored/taken for granted key parts of the process that they wouldn't have in place since they are starting from scratch, and as such (whether intended or not) make out as if they aren't important/necessary.

15 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

The player pathway in the UK is already set out , from community clubs through scholarships then academies with various foundations doing different levels of work , then of course the loan system and DR at the later stages , it isn't cheap , although your hundreds of thousands per season is probably a touch high , that's according to various coaches who have commented on it , in the UK we currently have about a dozen genuine academies just about supplying the dozen or so full time clubs , outside those it is participation levels that are the big worry if we are to produce more and better quality in the future 

I think we can both agree that in shear scale the junior development system in Australia is at least an order of magnitude bigger then the one in the UK (not that I'm knocking the UK system, just stating a fact), and with that increase in scale comes an increase in cost.

15 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

If Toronto were in the process of setting up junior or open age comps to look to draw from in the future I'm fairly sure we would have heard of it by now , given the high priority that various high profile SL voices have made of it being a requirement of SL entry in the future , so what is Toronto's other options ? , Union is where there are enough numbers with the necessary skills to possibly make the grade  certainly not gridiron 

See again you are underselling the process... You're fundamentally ignoring everything that goes into setting up a juniors system because you aren't taking into account things that they don't have in place that we take for granted. 

If the Wolfpack were in the process of setting up a juniors system they'd probably still be looking for volunteers to start and run the juniors clubs/teams, volunteers to train as couches and referees, etc, etc.

Something tells me that sort of very fundamental bare bones stuff isn't going to make the national news is it...

15 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

I am not holding them to anything they didn't say from the start

I don't get why you think that is some sort of gotcha...

Let's break this down a bit.

I mean are you going to hold a bunch of people that had never run a professional club, nor had anything to do with juniors development at all, who totally underestimated what goes into developing players and as such made a bunch of stupid claims that they never could have kept even if they tried, to their word even though you know that the claims that they made in ignorance are for all intents and purposes impossible to achieve in the time and fashion that they thought that they could achieve them?

That just makes you look like as big a fool as they were.

15 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

that is they would be looking to produce RL players , nobody is expecting it to happen overnight , but given their ability to tell the whole world about everything they are doing ( which is applauded on here and used as a stick to beat the existing clubs with ,) if they were doing anything , e would expect to have heard about it by now 

So basically you're going to assume that they aren't working on juniors development because it suits you...

I mean did you ever stop to think that maybe you haven't heard anything because there simply isn't anything to tell? You know because setting up a juniors system from scratch is hard, takes time, and broadly speaking a lot of things are totally outside of the people that are trying to set it up's control (e.g. like even getting enough people to volunteer to do enough of the jobs to get it off the ground in the first place)

 Just because you haven't heard anything about it doesn't mean that nothing is happening...

16 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

But we haven't , so can only assume they aren't , ultimately they are the ' test case ' for NA expansion , if they do want what they originally suggested ( 5/6 NA clubs in SL opening up another player pool and a ' mega ' Broadcast deal ) it is down to them to prove it can be done 

But you're not even giving them the chance to prove it can be done!

Setting up a juniors system from scratch is an incredibly hard and laborious process, expecting them to have succeed in setting one up that regularly produces players in 10 years is an unreasonable standard to expect them to meet, expecting them to have done it in two years is an utterly ridiculous standard. But here we are with you and others criticising them for not having achieved it in two years.

I mean if you were holding other clubs to the same standard that you are holding the Wolfpack then, frankly, the Wolfpack wouldn't even come into the conversation!

I mean take the Roosters for example, they've basically stopped producing juniors of their own all together, and instead poach juniors from other systems once they are relatively certain that they are going to be a success then feed them into their NRL system.

Take the Warriors, they've been around for almost 25 years now and still their main way of procuring talent is to poach it from high school rep RU teams in NZ.

Take Melbourne, again they've been around for 20 years and despite their token teams in/from Victoria, they've basically invested all of their junior development programs into South East Queensland instead of trying to build up the talent pool in Melbourne/Victoria.

I could go on, but basically not only are you holding the Wolfpack to an unreasonable standard (whether they set that standard or not doesn't matter, it's still an unreasonable one), but you are uniquely holding them to that standard while ignoring the much more egregious failings other clubs...

[Oxford]

21 hours ago, Omott91 said:

shaking up the status quo

And that's what's worrying a fair few folk at the top.

20 minutes ago, The Great Dane said:

but you are uniquely holding them to that standard while ignoring the much more egregious failings other clubs...

Your points are well made, there is a general attempt to hold TWP to account for the unachievable but they would also dump other teams for the same reasons.

You have to remember this is not a sport nor fans that are well known for their long term views and strategies so when they come across them in real life it's akin to the first time a European saw a duckbilled platypus.

The first thoughts are: kill it, eat it or hunt it to extinction? But never bring one home to meet Mam and Dad.

 

[GUBRATS]

3 hours ago, The Great Dane said:

In the process of bagging the Wolfpack you have consistently ignored/taken for granted key parts of the process that they wouldn't have in place since they are starting from scratch, and as such (whether intended or not) make out as if they aren't important/necessary.

I think we can both agree that in shear scale the junior development system in Australia is at least an order of magnitude bigger then the one in the UK (not that I'm knocking the UK system, just stating a fact), and with that increase in scale comes an increase in cost.

See again you are underselling the process... You're fundamentally ignoring everything that goes into setting up a juniors system because you aren't taking into account things that they don't have in place that we take for granted. 

If the Wolfpack were in the process of setting up a juniors system they'd probably still be looking for volunteers to start and run the juniors clubs/teams, volunteers to train as couches and referees, etc, etc.

Something tells me that sort of very fundamental bare bones stuff isn't going to make the national news is it...

I don't get why you think that is some sort of gotcha...

Let's break this down a bit.

I mean are you going to hold a bunch of people that had never run a professional club, nor had anything to do with juniors development at all, who totally underestimated what goes into developing players and as such made a bunch of stupid claims that they never could have kept even if they tried, to their word even though you know that the claims that they made in ignorance are for all intents and purposes impossible to achieve in the time and fashion that they thought that they could achieve them?

That just makes you look like as big a fool as they were.

So basically you're going to assume that they aren't working on juniors development because it suits you...

I mean did you ever stop to think that maybe you haven't heard anything because there simply isn't anything to tell? You know because setting up a juniors system from scratch is hard, takes time, and broadly speaking a lot of things are totally outside of the people that are trying to set it up's control (e.g. like even getting enough people to volunteer to do enough of the jobs to get it off the ground in the first place)

 Just because you haven't heard anything about it doesn't mean that nothing is happening...

But you're not even giving them the chance to prove it can be done!

Setting up a juniors system from scratch is an incredibly hard and laborious process, expecting them to have succeed in setting one up that regularly produces players in 10 years is an unreasonable standard to expect them to meet, expecting them to have done it in two years is an utterly ridiculous standard. But here we are with you and others criticising them for not having achieved it in two years.

I mean if you were holding other clubs to the same standard that you are holding the Wolfpack then, frankly, the Wolfpack wouldn't even come into the conversation!

I mean take the Roosters for example, they've basically stopped producing juniors of their own all together, and instead poach juniors from other systems once they are relatively certain that they are going to be a success then feed them into their NRL system.

Take the Warriors, they've been around for almost 25 years now and still their main way of procuring talent is to poach it from high school rep RU teams in NZ.

Take Melbourne, again they've been around for 20 years and despite their token teams in/from Victoria, they've basically invested all of their junior development programs into South East Queensland instead of trying to build up the talent pool in Melbourne/Victoria.

I could go on, but basically not only are you holding the Wolfpack to an unreasonable standard (whether they set that standard or not doesn't matter, it's still an unreasonable one), but you are uniquely holding them to that standard while ignoring the much more egregious failings other clubs...

So you are essentially saying that Toronto , and any other NA expansion teams will not add to the player pool for 40/50 years at best , in that case then , NA expansion will not happen 

Again you have made my point for me , they will never be able to follow the ' traditional ' model of junior school/community club/scholarship/academy to produce the standard of player required 

You mention the Warriors ' poaching ' players from RU ? , Yes I'm fully aware of the general situation in NZ having lived there , which is why IMO the only way we will see Canadian players playing in the Championship or SL is through converting Union players , that is where there focus should be 

I am not ' bagging ' anybody , they were told what they would be expected to do , I assume they accepted those expectations , they could IMO if they'd have had a different coach initially ( I personally know their 1st coach ) tested some Canadian converts in League 1 and the Championship , but he has never been interested in development 

I am neither for or against NA expansion , I believe there is room for 2 NA teams along with 2 French in SL in the short term , any more than that will most likely start to cause problems in both the quality of the players available and the finances of the clubs in the UK , if we are to see those numbers increase those clubs have to prove it can work , part of that is to find other ways of producing more quality players , the onus is on them 

[Kayakman]

4 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

 

I am neither for or against NA expansion ,

Well the history of your posts certainly seems to take a different tact...all just because you have a personal beef with Rowley, let it go Man!.

Come; join us in our victories...partake of our successes.....we are always willing to fit one more onto the wagon!.....come over and watch us steamroll Leigh in the last game of the season....share in our great happiness.

[GUBRATS]

Just now, Kayakman said:

Well the history of your posts certainly seems to take a different tact...all just because you have a personal beef with Rowley, let it go Man!.

Come; join us in our victories...partake of our successes.....we are always willing to fit one more onto the wagon!.....come over and watch us steamroll Leigh in the last game of the season....share in our great happiness.

Compared to most Leigh fans ' beef ' with Paul , mine is very low , I didn't like him before he coached Leigh , once he left I couldn't care either way , probably more glad to see the back of him tttt 

Yes you have victories , unsurprisingly , successes ? , Impressed with your attendances regardless of how you achieve them , I was trying to bring similar ideas to Leigh long before you knew what RL was 

Other than that there is much to be ' proven ' yet , as I put IMO , there is room for 2 NA and 2 French in SL , even though that will probably be detrimental to Leigh , anything more than that is still very much open for debate 

[damp squib]

Ottawa's season in League 1 might be a good time to try out some Union converts.

The problem is money. The average salary in Major League Rugby is around £46,000 with top player making around £60,000+ which is pretty competitive with Rugby League salaries at full cap. Having said that backs are more likely to convert and I think they tend to make less? Sevens players may be a better bet for poaching.

[Damien]

2 minutes ago, damp squib said:

Ottawa's season in League 1 might be a good time to try out some Union converts.

The problem is money. The average salary in Major League Rugby is around £46,000 with top player making around £60,000+ which is pretty competitive with Rugby League salaries at full cap. Having said that backs are more likely to convert and I think they tend to make less? Sevens players may be a better bet for poaching.

How is that the average salary that much when the salary cap is only $450,000 (about £350,000). Toronto Wolfpack comfortably outspend any MLR club.