Quote His Bobness="His Bobness"Clinton will have done 3 years and will come off the non-fed if he stays. So we'll have one free spot whatever. (Clinton would still count on the quota though).'"
The exemptions are for players who played in the UK prior to the introduction of the rule (200icon_cool.gif. Clinton won't be exempt. As the rules stand, at least. They change them more often than I change my pants, admittedly.
Quote His Bobness="His Bobness"Quota is important, you are limited to 5 and unless you can get yourself a EU/Kolpak passport you can never come off it e.g. Dobson, Green, Webster, Clinton. Galea too although maybe he has finally got his Maltese passport in which case we would have a quota spot free also, even if everyone stays.
Of course the RFL can also bend these rules when it suits them e.g. the Crusaders players like Withers & O'Hara who have been given exemptions from both lists.'"
A quota spot without a non-fed spot to go with it is effectively useless. Let's say that one of Webster or Galea leaves, but none of our non-fed players do - the list of extra players that allows us to sign is tiny almost to the point of irrelevance. Where it might be an issue is if we want a player who is quota as well as non-fed - he could be straightforwardly replace Clinton, but if the non-fed came from McDonnell departing, the quota spot would presumably be Webster's or Galea's (one way or another).
The wage-cap gap with the NRL, is going to mean that the quality coming across is going to drop a notch (or two). Retention of our best young 'uns is the pressing issue. We've benefitted, through luck and judgement, from a series of circumstances since we got up and built our first competitive SL squad. Those circumstances have changed, and that model is no longer going to be viable. It was an invaluable bit of breathing space, and now club-trained players are starting to step up.
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