Mailbox: What to spend Elstone’s wages on if Super League merges back with the RFL

Mailbox gives you the chance to get your voice heard and start the debate with the rugby league audience. Want to be featured? Email the editor: james@loverugbyleague.com

Hi James,

Regarding Robert Elstone. Probably has been discussed regarding his pre covid salary of £400,000 however we were chatting at work and wondered if Super League did merge back to the RFL if this pot of money became available how could it be best spent.

One of the ideas that I think could work would to have RFL central development contracts.

In this you are looking for players for the future. Maybe a panel of coaches or England schoolboys identifies the players and you could pay up to 18 players £20,000 a year say on a 3 year deal with the rest (£40,000) for costs of scouting etc.

The idea of the contracts is the RFL has the contracted player and he is loaned back to his parent club (aimed at Championship/League 1) so rather than a player remaining part time he could earn a full time contract with their standard add ons paid by club win bonuses etc and develop which in turn would help his teammates get better raising the standard from the bottom up.

Stuart Morris

Editor’s comment: A merger seems unlikely, however turbulent the future of the game appears. All the breakaway of Super League appears to have done over the past couple of years is add to the game’s overheads, without much in return, which is far from what it needed. The picture remains unclear. The only possible ace up Robert Elstone’s sleeve will be the broadcast deal – if he can negotiate a deal that is perceived to be good value, that may be the saving grace for keeping Super League separate to the governing body.

Mailbox gives you the chance to get your voice heard and start the debate with the rugby league audience. Want to be featured? Email the editor: james@loverugbyleague.com