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Thread: Well done Toronto

  1. #51
    In The South Stand KentishBarry's Avatar
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    I'd be more concerned about the disruption to the players regular week either side of the game, rather than the effects of a plastic pitch. Airport time, flying time, hotel stop-overs, 5 time zones both ways (jet lag) can all take their toll. This will eat into game prep, not just for the Toronto game, but also for the following week.
    I know that football teams sometimes do this sort of thing. but they tend to have bigger squads.

    Bonkers!

  2. #52
    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk Belgian Saint's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RJM25R View Post
    Some great points here but for me the most glaringly obvious point is that Rugby League is a working men’s sport, and Traditionally working men aren’t that well off, as I would assume most of our fans fit that bill.

    Travelling to these far-flung places (and what you spend when you get there) is expensive (as is the GF, Wembley and Magiczzzzzz) for one person, but add a partner, a kiddie or two and you’ve priced out lots of your fans.

    I’ve just spent £138 on two tickets to the GF for my Wife and I plus transport, food and drinks I’ll be lucky to stay under £300 for one day......

    I don’t begrudge it for a second, but I couldn’t spend that (and more) going to watch us play Toronto in a league or cup game and I’m lucky enough to be in a well paid job with no major outgoings and my only son is 21 and pays his own way.

    Expansion into Cumbria, Newcastle, Coventry, Birmingham makes sense, it’s not too far from the heartlands but a other countries? It’s not really practical for fans.

    Happy to watch on TV though..... like most Wire and Wigan fans!
    Quote Originally Posted by STIDDY View Post
    Been saying this for years although Cumbria has always struggled with the demographic, there was a healthy grass roots set up in the Midlands area but the RFL seem to have not pushed funding to another level and are just letting it stagnate.

    The type of expansion the RFL are considering is a "fragmentation model" and the only expansion part of it is expanding the travel supporter to go thousands and thousands of miles away. If Rugby League wants to go global then it must be done at International Level first not through a "UK Domestic Competition", big time sponsors looking at our Superleague are most likely to see SKY as a competitor and that's why we get 2nd and 3rd tiers in Bet Fred, Foxy Bingo, Mushy Peas etc.

    The RFL just doesn't have the financial clout to expand across continents, that needs assistant from Australia + New Zealand to expand the International Game, for me the next 2 World Cups should be held in America and Canada to see the quality of the game and not to fragment the possibility of a part time UK based non Canadian Toronto Team struggle in a Superleague Comp.
    Didn't the RFL used to provide some sort of regional coaches or development personnel to those UK development areas, only to drop them all about 4-5 years ago? If they could afford the likes of Barwick for the value they got out of him, you would have thought it was worth persevering in those non heartland areas. Seems like RFL strategies are only provisional.

  3. #53
    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk STIDDY's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Belgian Saint View Post
    Didn't the RFL used to provide some sort of regional coaches or development personnel to those UK development areas, only to drop them all about 4-5 years ago? If they could afford the likes of Barwick for the value they got out of him, you would have thought it was worth persevering in those non heartland areas. Seems like RFL strategies are only provisional.
    Bradford, Warrington and Saints use to send development "coaches" down there, Saints even went to South Wales and the Bristol area, but I assume the RFL pulled the plug on the subsidy. The RFL have missed the trick here the likes of Newcastle, Birmingham, Aston Villa, West Brom can't compete with premiership football and could have been open to another sporting identity but Rugby Union have gone into the schools in those areas to up profile their sport.

    Back to Toronto, its more like a glossy brochure, when they come to the TWS I'm going to be deflated when I see ex Leigh and Saints players in their team with a couple of overseas players coming to the end of their careers who have played Superleague.

  4. #54
    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk Belgian Saint's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by STIDDY View Post
    Bradford, Warrington and Saints use to send development "coaches" down there, Saints even went to South Wales and the Bristol area, but I assume the RFL pulled the plug on the subsidy. The RFL have missed the trick here the likes of Newcastle, Birmingham, Aston Villa, West Brom can't compete with premiership football and could have been open to another sporting identity but Rugby Union have gone into the schools in those areas to up profile their sport.

    Back to Toronto, its more like a glossy brochure, when they come to the TWS I'm going to be deflated when I see ex Leigh and Saints players in their team with a couple of overseas players coming to the end of their careers who have played Superleague.


    I made the same point in a different post, that they will need to spend to stay in SL. It's Okay having a team with a few decent FT players playing against part timers, but the team they have now would get a drubbing against the likes of us.

  5. #55
    In The West Stand saintgeorge's Avatar
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    I’ve watched Toronto quite a few times this season and I feel that they will more than hold their own against a lot of SL sides - a lot of whom were average in SL last season - even with their current squad. If you then add a few more quality players and sone depth to the squad (which they undoubtedly will as they have the money) then I don’t reckon they will be relegated. They look a lot stronger than London did.

  6. #56
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    I know its an obvious question, but with them now coming up is there not a salary cap issue? I don't know if there is a salary cap in the championship, but with the players they have surely they will be well over the super league salary cap, look at Ricky Leutele, if what is said is true about his salary then they must be well over.

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    In The South Stand Tabasco's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tomsepho View Post
    I know its an obvious question, but with them now coming up is there not a salary cap issue? I don't know if there is a salary cap in the championship, but with the players they have surely they will be well over the super league salary cap, look at Ricky Leutele, if what is said is true about his salary then they must be well over.
    They were under the same salary cap constraints as applied to Super League with Leutele apparently being categorised as a marquee signing.

  8. #58
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tabasco View Post
    They were under the same salary cap constraints as applied to Super League with Leutele apparently being categorised as a marquee signing.
    I just dont see how they will be under the cap with the players they have, Leutele and Lussick are the 2 marquee signings so cost 300k between them against the cap, Matty Russell was on 90k at Warrington, he wouldnt have gone for less than that, others will be on big money and there are no homegrown players to offset their spend, it seems hard to believe they are under the cap.

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    In The South Stand Tabasco's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tomsepho View Post
    I just dont see how they will be under the cap with the players they have, Leutele and Lussick are the 2 marquee signings so cost 300k between them against the cap, Matty Russell was on 90k at Warrington, he wouldnt have gone for less than that, others will be on big money and there are no homegrown players to offset their spend, it seems hard to believe they are under the cap.
    It was mentioned on Sunday that they have a smaller squad than most clubs - only 24 names listed on their website compared with 31 for Saints. There are also several players who are clearly no more than Championship level or Super League rejects and therefore shouldn’t be particularly high earners, for example Wheeler, Sidlow, Dixon, Olbison, Springer, Worthington, Rawsthorne and Miloudi.

  10. #60
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tabasco View Post
    It was mentioned on Sunday that they have a smaller squad than most clubs - only 24 names listed on their website compared with 31 for Saints. There are also several players who are clearly no more than Championship level or Super League rejects and therefore shouldn’t be particularly high earners, for example Wheeler, Sidlow, Dixon, Olbison, Springer, Worthington, Rawsthorne and Miloudi.
    They may be super league rejects/championship level but I reckon they will decent enough money, i wouldnt like to guess but it all adds up. The size of the squad would help in making it easier to stay below the cap but i am sure there are a lot of players at Toronto that are earning considerable amounts against the cap, Wilkin, O’Brien, Russell, Chase Stanley, Josh McCrone, Sims and Thompson spring to mind.

  11. #61
    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk Belgian Saint's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tabasco View Post
    It was mentioned on Sunday that they have a smaller squad than most clubs - only 24 names listed on their website compared with 31 for Saints. There are also several players who are clearly no more than Championship level or Super League rejects and therefore shouldn’t be particularly high earners, for example Wheeler, Sidlow, Dixon, Olbison, Springer, Worthington, Rawsthorne and Miloudi.
    I'm probably years out of date with this, but I seem to remember that the salary cap only applied to the top 24 earners, and that in that 24 there had to be a certain number under a certain age and salary level??

  12. #62
    In The South Stand Jackbit's Avatar
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    Could see Sonny Bill at the Wolfpack? Way past his best but you never know.

    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...-bill-williams

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