I would suggest the answer would be no. Look, I'm sure Eric Watson could afford it, but he would then need to work out whether an extra $1.9m in costs without any apparent return would be in his interests, if I was him, I would say no.
Onwards to that, what does an increase really achieve? Sure, it raises the incomes of the top say 30% considerably, but the bottom 5-10 that we're really concerned about are still going to be pillaged on minimal wages. The money will merely shift the top echelon up the scale. Who are we really losing? In most cases blokes who are coming to the end of their careers and want a big cash pay out, and if we raise our cap, whose to suggest the ESL won't do so also to compensate, and blokes who go to union. And really, most seem to come back from union anyway. Take Tahu, Tuqiri, Sailor and Rogers. Sure, we lost them, but the game was such putrid tripe that they returned anyhow. Who have we lost? Berrick Barnes who was an above average first grader but certainly not a rep player who now props up the Wallabies (lol an above average club footballer goes straight to the top in their code), Clinton Schifcofkse and since his departure both Zillman and now Josh Dugan have come through as Canberra fullbacks, Mark McLinden no biggie, Mark Gasnier (but looking at Saints backline, they're going good enough anyway), $BW who would work corners for tricks if it paid him extra, and Craig Gower. In most cases we've overcome them quite easily. $BW's departure, the Dogs went from wooden spooners to major qualifying finalists. Craig Gower's departure, they were inconsistent with him but look like they're turning the corner now, cutie, Brisbane have a history of producing good young players anyway, Gasnier, the Dragons aren't struggling, Barnes... pullllleeaase.
I really don't feel we've lost too much out of our game. A more pressing issue I always found was the way the Kolpak ruling allowed the ESL to pillage players with Polynesian ancestory. A lot of Warriors players went over there as they were quota exempt. I'd rather we did something about that sort of stuff first where some of the younger blokes go over rather than worry about players we are replacing naturally anyhow.
