Rugby League: Leeds call for changes as Harris is linked to union move
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Your support makes all the difference.THE LEEDS chief executive, Gary Hetherington, has called on the Rugby League to put leading players on national contracts to help clubs fight off raids from rugby union.
Hetherington's suggestion comes as Leeds' prize asset, Iestyn Harris, is again being linked with Welsh rugby union. The recurring rumour now has him potentially lured by a pounds 1m contract to play for a Welsh club and lend his talents to the national side.
Although Leeds are desperate to keep their captain, who has two seasons of his contract to run, Hetherington admitted that it would be difficult to compete with that sort of offer. The game, he suggested, could follow cricket's lead by contracting its top players centrally - although it is doubtful whether the RFL would see helping Super League clubs with their wage bills as one of its prime functions.
If Leeds do lose Harris, Craig Wing, left high and dry by the demise of South Sydney, would be their first choice as his replacement. Leeds have left one overseas spot open and the exciting and versatile half-Filipino back would soften the blow if Harris departed.
The new Huddersfield-Sheffield club is bracing itself for another legal wrangle with a former coach. The ex-Great Britain coach, Malcolm Reilly, was in charge at Huddersfield last season, but was overlooked for the role at the newly merged outfit in favour of Sheffield Eagles' John Kear.
Huddersfield believe that Reilly was content with that situation, but could now face a claim for the remainder of his contract, thought to amount to pounds 200,000. The club still has one unresolved case on its books with Garry Schofield pursuing a claim that he was dismissed unfairly in 1988.
Rugby League could follow the example of football by giving one "lucky loser" a wild card into the fourth round of the Silk Cut Challenge Cup. As things stand, there will be 31 teams in the hat for the fourth round of the competition when Super League teams come in. A solution could be to give one third-round loser a second chance.
Leigh, who beat big spending Doncaster in a pre-season friendly on Sunday, are shaping up as favourites to win the Northern Ford Premiership, whose new season kicks off on Boxing Day. The competition will include the new Sheffield Eagles club, but the Association of Premiership Clubs has said that in future new applications must be lodged by 31 May.
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