WARRINGTON boss Tony Smith has called for the Super League salary cap to be increased in the light of Kyle Eastmond’s decision to defect to the 15-man code.

Smith’s argument is that “We need to keep up with the Smiths and Joneses” in order to protect our product.

Rugby union’s Aviva Premiership clubs have a bigger limit of £4million, significantly higher than Super League’s £1.65m.

And some top union clubs are even calling for theirs to increase in the light of the raiding parties from the cash-rich French with unbridled spending power.

It is possible that British rugby league could find itself at the lower end of the food chain – and as such vulnerable to predators.

But Eastmond is not going for an increased salary at Bath - more the allure of playing at a packed Twickenham.

So allowing Super League clubs to spend more would probably have not have made a blind bit of difference in this case.

Also, the so-called league exodus is barely a trickle so when one national newspaper tried to rattle off a list of players whose footsteps Eastmond was following in it included Chev Walker – a player who met himself coming back - and Jason Robinson. Let us remind ourselves Robinson left league 13 years ago.

Can anybody really, hand on heart, say the British Super League is any weaker for the departure of ex-Bradford centre Shontayne Hape, currently playing centre for England.

It is a situation that needs monitoring – and we cannot bury our heads in the sand - but we have to bear in mind the big reasons why Super League has a salary cap.

It is to even up the competition, stop it being dominated by the wealthiest clubs in the league and also to save some from living beyond their means, particularly in these cash-strapped times.

Let us just cast our minds back to that period of Wigan domination from 1988 until the start of full time Super League in 1996.

With boring monotony they won every Wembley final for eight years and it is not hard to see why. In that time the best players money could buy were wearing cherry and white hoops. Crowds at Central Park went through the roof and money was no object.

The flip side of Wigan’s strengthening was a direct weakening their main rivals. Saints were considerably diminished by the loss of Andy Platt and Gary Connolly to the Riversiders.

Widnes tried to keep up with them by scouring the world for top union talent including Emosi Koloto, Alan Tait, Martin Offiah and Jonathan Davies. (Union didn’t collapse!) Widnes were crowned World Champions in 1989 but their failure to get to Wembley when they were at their prime (blame Saints on two of those occasions) had disastrous financial implications for the club. Once they became a selling club, it was game over for them.

And we all know what happened, eventually, to Wigan and their famous Central Park home once their bubble burst.

So we have a tough balancing act. We should never allow the most progressive clubs be dragged down to the pace of the plodders.

But we should guard against letting rip again to allow one or two cash-rich clubs buy success and dominate.

That would skew the contest towards the wealthy and eventually bring its own staleness and destruction.