At the beginning of a players contract with each Club, a set of independent arbitrators with significant knowledge of the game make a decision on how many points an individual player is worth based on the likely money paid and potential of that player.
The number of points a player gets is for the life of his contract (2, 3 or 4 years) so no matter how his form goes, he keeps that point score for the life of his contract, until he signs another one at which time his points score to the salary cap are re-looked at.
So a young player may sign a 3 year deal and be worth 4 points each year but his form might significantly improve over the life of the deal so the Club has got a bargain.
On the other hand, a Club might sign a perceived very good player for 3 years and be worth 7 points but that player doesn't fit in at the Club or his form deteriorates and therefore the Club has a dud.
Each year and with every new contract, these independent arbitrators make a decision on a contract by contract basis.
And when a Club gets up to a number of points; lets say 120 points for this example, it can't trade or buy any more players.
So every Club gets a total of 120 points and every player is evaluated every time the player signs a new contract.
So Munster might be a 4 point player on his current contract but when he signs his new contract, he is a 10 point player for the life of that contract.
I really like the thinking behind this - but it all falls apart at the very start.
There are no "independent arbitrators" who have "significant knowledge of the game".
Anyone, who knows anything about Rugby League has a team. Either a team they played for, coached, supported etc. And those biases would get exploited.
Another issue, is that of consistency. Those allocating points will come and go from the role, meaning that a rookie who was assigned a 3 by judges A, B & C in 2019, would be assigned a 6 by judges D, E & F in 2020 even with the same pedigree.
Speaking of Rookies, how do they get scored? What about those currently playing ISP or overseas? Finding people to assign points who are across all the different levels and competitions would be impossible. And even if you had a hard and fast rule about 'all rookies get a 1', you'd have a team like Penrith signing all their juniors to 5 and 6 year deals, and having 90% of their points still available.
