It's largely to our advantage though.



One of the major factors we need over the early season is quality opponents and a bit of intensity. Running up big scores against poor sides won't help us one iota when this qualification bit is over and we have to play SL sides in the middle eights.



To be fair, I pretty much agree with the idea it makes a mockery of the league when it is taken to excess, as it appears to be here, but on the plus side we'll [hopefully get a better game and the team will get a much better work out. Personally, I'll take the plusses.

For me the issue isn't that the players are on loan to play against the Bulls, its the fact that the league is being used as a training ground.



Is the Championship a league in its own right or is it there to train players for SL teams. If it is the latter why not just have a SL reserve division and scrap promotion / relegation.



Another point which I don't really know is how the finances work out for loan players. If the recipient club is paying the salary of the player then this enhances the salary cap for the club loaning the player. I though that amongst other things the salary cap is there to create a level playing field with all clubs able to spend up to the same sum on salaries to make the league competitive.

I thought the maximum number of dual-reg players was five?

think its five loan players. not sure if that includes dual reg ones or not.

It's 4 dual reg and 1 loan. (Or combinations thereof. Not 5 dual reg, but I think 3 dual and 2 loan would be ok for example).



But Hunslet have got around it by "permanently" signing Luke Briscoe and James Duckworth. They have supposedly joined Hunslet on contracts, and have left Leeds. But if they're any good, I wouldn't at all be surprised to see them leave Hunslet and re-join Leeds on new permanent deals at the end of this season.

In the meantime, it allows them to play those two, as well as 4 more dual reg and 1 loan from Leeds.



Warrington did the same with Swinton a couple of seasons ago where a load of young Wire players joined Swinton permanently. And yet somehow still managed to get named in Wire's 19 occasionally. When quizzed about it, Wire said they'd taken them on loan from Swinton.



Doncaster were also quizzed this season about why they had 5 Dual Reg Hull players in the team. They then clarified by saying that Stuart Howarth was on a loan, not dual reg, so it was ok.



All a bit ridiculous.

It's like SL teams having a Reserve grade team at Championship level? A glaring addmission by Leeds was Delaney who would be allowed to rehabilitate after his surgery by playing for Hunslet, whilst obviously taking the place of a bona fide Hunslet forward!

It's a disgraceful situation brought about by the mishandling of our sport by the powers that be, (mentioning no names).



A lot of these problems have surfaced due to cutting SL teams to 12, with an obvious shrinkage, which has caused the surfeit of young talent being unable to play in the top flight, whilst ultimately doing the Championship a diservice when the developing talent in their ranks are sidelined by some of the proven players from SL.

An anology would be like say, Morrisons closing a couple of their Supermarkets to make their customers spend more, rather than attracting new customers by improving their services and the value to attract those customers???? You never can sell more by offering less.

:4uww2ecz



I suppose it's fairly difficult for the RFL if two clubs [i:4uww2eczdeliberately[/i and the Championship club gains someone they can't really afford. If the SL club has genuinely 'parted company' with the player one does have to wonder who is paying therm.

Problem surfaced before SL was cut to 12. The promising Warrington youngsters that Swinton had on DR a few seasons ago were called Briers and Morley!

Looks like we're going to have a big screen set up at Odsal today on the closed Rooley Lane terracing.

Decent win in the end. Thought we could have had more had we been more clinical. Hunslet barely got in our half but never gave up. I thought they competed better in the second half.



O'Brien's try from halfway was the standout for me, excellent. I though Shaw looked good apart from the missed tackle for the Hunslet try. Up front we dominated. Should be tougher at Batley next week.

Jimmy will probably be annoyed we conceded a try, but at least it came from a breakaway rather than them actually breaking down a set defensive line. Some great work by Williams and Pitts to stop the initial break too.

Hopefully the injuries to Purtell and Mellor aren't too serious. Same for Uaisele too, although I'm not 100% sure of the reason for him dropping out.

Solid win for us, a very professional job. As the weeks go by I'm more impressed with the job Tahroui does. Sidlow and Clough play long minutes but Tahroui is starting to offer longer stints too. I thought he'd be more of an impact prop but he puts in a lot of work too.