Veteran rugby league journalist Brent Read has suggested the NRL should follow soccer's lead and implement a loan system to clean the mess that is the current transfer rules.
Numerous players have jumped ship this season with the June 30 deadline approaching, prompting calls from prominent figures in the game to overhaul movement policies.
Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett said earlier this month that supporters are being hurt by the abrupt manner of mid-year switches from players under contract.
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"You know, you go buy your members tickets, the season starts and you expect the people that are lined up there to probably play the season for you," Bennett said.
"I just feel if I was a fan, it would dishearten me."
A designated transfer window has been touted as one solution, but The Australian's Read believes introducing loans into the NRL would also go some way to fixing the issues at hand.
Like overseas football leagues, Read wants to see players being temporarily given to other sides while remaining under the ownership of the initial club.
This, he says, will ensure talented players can develop at the top level without having to permanently depart their club for a first grade opportunity.
"I love the idea. They [the NRL] are currently reviewing the transfer system and it looks like they’re going to try to bring in some transfer windows," Read told Sporting News.
“But I’m told as part of that they didn’t even look at loans. They put a line through it straight away, but I love the idea."
Read used speedster James Roberts' situation earlier this season as an example of where a loan system could have been effective.
Roberts languished in reserve grade at Brisbane for several weeks until he was released from the remaining two-and-a-half years of his contract to head to South Sydney.
According to Read, the ability to loan Roberts to another team would have made the situation simpler to manage for the Broncos.
"For me, James Roberts is the prime example this year. James Roberts was unhappy at Brisbane and it appeared for a while there was no way out for him," Read said.
“If the club could have loaned him for the rest of the year, he’s in the shop window.
“If it doesn’t work out, he goes back to Brisbane. If it does, some other club comes in for him.
“I think it’s a great idea, I think there’s lots of upside to it.
"The other thing is if a club finds itself in salary cap difficulty, maybe it loans a player out, swaps a player with another club and gets itself out of salary cap problems.
“I love the idea."
But don't expect loans to be brought in anytime soon.
“We don’t like change," Read lamented.
"It’s a bit like Wayne’s World, we don’t like change over here, but other sports do it so I don't know why we can't do it.
"There seems to be a lot of things that other sports do that would make a lot of sense – transfer window, loans – but we don't do it because it's not the way we're programmed."