but if the talent is too spread around then we will only ever get one team into the finals, we are much better off having 2 teams that are outstanding as they will get enough points to make the finalsIt does suck for the big teams but there's a good argument it spreads the talent around.
So from the original list in the OP,
James Hanson - Yet to re-sign
Greg Holmes - Yet to re-sign
Ed Quirk - Yet to re-sign
Scott Higginbotham - believed to have re-signed
Will Genia - Re-signed
Ben Lucas - Re-signed
Quade Cooper - Yet to re-sign
Ben Tapuai - Yet to re-sign
Dom Shipperley - Yet to re-sign
Rod Davies - Yet to re-sign
Guy Shepardson - Yet to re-sign
One would think Shipperly, Hanson and Tapuai will be next in line to negotiate new deals. Cooper's negotiations will drag on for a while as ever.
Not sure about quirk but with samo on his last legs, higgers getting some time at 8 and schatz not looking overly convincing I suspect he may stick around for a bit.
I doubt there will be much money left by the time they get to davies and shep.
I think they could do what the MLB do, they have a "luxury" tax where you can spend over the salary cap, but any amount over the cap means you have to pay a percentage of that amount back to the league (ARU) and this is split to the other teams. So if the Reds spent $5m OVER the cap they would have to pay $1m to the ARU that gets given to the other 4 teams (if under the cap) to spend on players.Here's an idea......what's the penalty for failing to adhere to the salary cap?
Considering the other two countries involved don't have salary caps, I doubt they would be willing to enforce a penalty such as a loss of competition points, so that leaves an internal financial penalty from the ARU. Considering the Red's are pretty financial and could afford to pull the finger at the ARU, why not just splash the cash and see if they get caught.
After reading this I think back to Mourad Boudjellal owner RC Toulonnais. He was interviewed and the club already sport players like Gethin Jenkins, Delon & Guy Armitage, Andrew Sheridan, Chris Masoe, Maxime Mermoz and Frederic Michalak to their Los Galacticos collection at the Stade Mayol.Here's an idea......what's the penalty for failing to adhere to the salary cap?
Considering the other two countries involved don't have salary caps, I doubt they would be willing to enforce a penalty such as a loss of competition points, so that leaves an internal financial penalty from the ARU. Considering the Red's are pretty financial and could afford to pull the finger at the ARU, why not just splash the cash and see if they get caught.
“It’s easier this way. If a player reaches the end of his contract at his club, whoever he is, I think it’s safe to assume that we’ll sign him.
“Have you any idea how much time and effort I have to put in to announcing new signings? Sometimes I even have to interrupt my lunch."
“The salary cap? Sorry I don’t understand the question.”
It is all good and well to have a free market system with no cap provided that the clubs accept that no one will prop them up when the start going broke. The ARU have had to do this to both the nswru and qru, so they probably feel justified in applying a cap.