As it says it never rains but it pours! www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... alty_list/

As it says it never rains but it pours! www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... alty_list/

Bad news re Platt.



I wonder if we'll see Dave Halley in a Bradford shirt again?

the article in the T & A says he's struggling to be back for Easter. I would have thought that if he is playing we would have quite a shortage in available wingers with the players in front of him at the moment.



although given our luck at the moment, it could well happen. It's a stinker that Platt needs surgery, he's in a real vein of form.

Its a f**king joke!! it really is, the amount of injuries we get!

email the RFL I have it's a disgrace!

On the upside, we have a very good replacement in Chev Walker ready to come back



But, obviously, disappointing for Platty

I rate Platt and it is a big loss but hopefully Walker can be a straight replacement. I think the bigger issue (literally) is replacing Langley and the meters and impact he brings aswell as being another leader on the pitch.



Makes things much more difficult on Sunday.

Get burgess on the pitch for a change, he isnt the leader langers is but he has certainly got the pace and the power

It's a disappointment as I think Platt and Ainy were forming a good solid partnership on the right hand side.



Hopefully Walker can come in as his replacement.



We've got Olibion, Whitehead and Elima who can fit play in the back row, Donaldson is also available as is Addy as both of them are LF's I think at least one should be in the team for Sunday.



But with Easter coming up, we need as many fit bodies as we can get to cover the quick turn around of games.

Bad news for platty been going really well this year and his defence has been awsome. That pillock on T&A website, mumbyfan, moaning about him at huddersfield........did anyone turn up at Huddersfield except the fans!



On a more positive note at least we are sat here this year looking at the injuries knowing that we have able replacements rather than knowing last year we would be up the $hiitt creek had this happened.

[i"We don’t have any superstars so we can’t rely on that kind of quality to win games.”[/i



A touch of reality there - although given we can operate at the full cap im not sure why the likes of Wigan, Leeds, Warrington, Huddersfield and Saints can include superstars and we cant.

because there aren't any worth signing up in potter's opinion?

Saints play a lot of youth players these days, or at least ones that only broke through recently, so won't be on big contracts. Leeds have a lot of players I'd consider average, and again a mix of youth boys, so I can see how they could manage it too.



As far as Wigan, Wire & Huddersfield's squads go, I don't think anyone can understand how they legally manage that. But of course, they must do, as surely the RFL would pick them up on salary cap breaches otherwise?

It's not like there's a way round it or anything eh?

Why are you

like Adey?

Warrington are indeed fortunate that so many half decent players are prepared to play for little or nothing, in a Radlinski stylee, purely for the honour of wearing the Wire shirt. That's what makes it all work out, I imagine

Its hard to see how the cap could be cheated, though?



Take, by way of hypothetical example, a player (especially an overseas player) at a club who was to find money, not from the club, appearing in a bank account he had the rights to somewhere offshore, now or in the future. He would surely realise that something was amiss? And surely no player or club or owner would want to take the risk of something like that getting out into the public domain and being misconstrued or worse? Even if it was not until the biographies get to be written?



No, I think we have to accept that many players are seemingly prepared to accept much less generous packages to play for certain clubs. Maybe it was their childhood ambition, or they have the hots for the club physio, who can say? Or maybe they manage to find, all by themselves, some third party totally unconnected with the club, prepared to pay their personal service company a huge amount for their image rights or for other services totally unconnected with the club. Some of these players' agents must be pretty well connected, I guess?

TBH I think its a case of club knowing for a while that platt had to go in for op and putting it off until walker was back. Providing platt's back in time for leeds (or even catalans as a fresh player) then next few weeks is probably the best run of games to have him unavailable for if we have no choice.

Real shame for Platty, he's been in great form.



Bumped in to James Donaldson earlier, he's raring to go. Mentioned that Langley is definitely out and also Scruton is struggling with a wrist injury. Maybe young Burgess to play?

Whether of course, this is pure speculation I do not know, but it's something I've been told frequently in the past. When Nobby was coach and his wife was in charge of the club shop, he was, in theory, paid a pittance, whereas his wife scooped a fair whack as of course, club shop staff are exempt from the cap, and coaches are not.



The live cap now also strengthens the security of the salary cap, and I'm just of the believe clubs like Wire have used appropriate and legal loopholes and methods to do what they can, which you have to say to them, fair chuffing play.

First point - wrong. Coaches do not count under the cap. The arrangement with Nobby's wife was nothing to do with the Cap. You may be getting confused with the widely-held belief that, some years ago, Renouf at Wigan was paid sod all but his missus was paid a shedload for a clerical job. Allegedly. Whether true or not, that device has been caught by the cap for years now.



Second point - actually it doesn't. What is does do is provide a mechanism where clubs can plan with a higher degree of certainty, and where (in the normal course of events) a club should not be able to breach the cap provided it complies with the Salary Cap Rules since a player's "salary Cap Value" (which is not necessarily what he is paid, btw) is determined in advance. If a club was to make, faciliate or arrange payments to players that were not disclosed to the RFL then the Live Cap has no more chance of picking it up than the previous arrangements. I am sure everyone will have their own views on whether any clubs or owners ARE likely to engaging in such practices, or instead following the rules and disclosing everything as you would hope.

When it comes to Wire you are all missing the point that Morley, Briers, Myler, Atkins and now Evans are all loved by Sky Sports meaning their salaries don't count under the salary cap.

Well, I've just been shot down well and truly!



But when you mention such "arrangements" of payments to players unbeknown to the RFL, do you mean third party payments etc? I've never really grasped what the live cap is all about (as you can see), but I'm eager to learn.

Indeed - and what a dumbass I am for forgetting that





Just rechecked the RFL 2011 Handbook and yes, there is is - under "club-specific dispensations", in black and white.



Its in the same list as, for example, "No pass by a Leeds player shall be adjudged to be forward unless a Sky Muppet says it is so", "No side playing Bradford shall be adjudged to be lying-on in the tackle, ditto", "All Video Ref decisions in games involving Bradford are to be adjudged in the other team's favour unless the credibility of the RFL is at stake", "When on Sky, every Bradford "Try"is to be referred top the video ref as a matter of routine" and "the overseas quota shall not apply to the club playing at the most easterly end of the M62 corridor".



I thought it might be under the "Player-Specific Dispensations", along with clauses like "Keith Senior is to be adjudged invisible in any tackle", but seemingly not. That was how I missed it.

Follow [url=http://www.therfl.co.uk/operational_rules=#800000this[/url link and download the RFL Official Guide. LOADS of useful stuff in there, including the full workings of the salary cap.



At its simplest, if a club owner (say) made a payment out of his own pocket, or own business, to (or for the benefit of) a player, and did not disclose that fact to the RFL, then it is hard to see how the RFL could be expected to pick that up. The risks are high, of course - not least where the effect is also to evade tax, which is why it is always assumed there is more scope with overseas players since they are usually non-doms. Whether anything like this has gone on or does actually go on anywhere is, and likely always will be, a matter for speculation only. I certainly have seen no evidence that it does.

Big help Adey, as always. I'll swot up and get you on a financial faux pas somewhere down the line!