The RFL are set to introduce this, as explained elsewhere on the internet by Martyn Sadler:

"The idea, as far as I understand it, is that the two bottom teams will be relegated from Super League at the end of 2014, regardless of which teams they will be. There could even be three teams relegated if the clubs decide they want Toulouse in the competition in 2015 with a TV deal possibly on the table from BeIn Sport.

There will then be two divisions of 12 each, which will play each other once (eleven games) in the first half of the season.

In the second half of the season, those clubs will split into three divisions of eight teams, depending on finishing places in the first half of the season. The bottom four Super League clubs will be in with the top four Championship clubs (which may include the two SL clubs relegated the previous season). Those teams will play each other at home and away (14 games) in the second half of the season.

The top four clubs in the second tier, at the end of that season, will then return to Super League for 2016."

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Designed to reintroduce P&R and also stop the top teams from 'taking it easy' in the first half of the season.

Leeds winning from 5th twice in a row was bound to rustle a few feathers at Red Hall.

I think it has more to do with the bottom end been so un-competitive, than the top end finishing positions.

Personally think it sounds dissapointing. But let's see when it happens. Think you pretty much get the same teams each year that format.

Not quite.

It's a proposal.

What?

Fair enough.

I like the idea, we need a re-shuffle of the current system. I posted a few topics on an 8 tier Super League, this seems to be a fantasic concept to get all the teams from all divisons competing for places in Super League and in play off rugby.

I would love to see it introduced, it allows the lower teams like Leigh, Featherstone etc. a chance for promotion. I'm sure crowds would increase and the intensity of the games would be simlar to that of thr NRL

Fantastic idea!

Good god no.

Its an interesting concept and as usual the RFL are not shying away from being innovative, it could even work.

Just one issue though - season ticket holders, how the hell are you going to sell the concept of an unknown second half of the season to season ticket holders ?

You know what its like on here every November when the next season fixtures are released and everyone wants to know when the Catalans away fixture is or what home games we'll have in August etc etc...

How will you now be able to publish the last 14 fixtures and the home/away format if you don't know who the opposition are going to be until (say) May or June at the earliest ?

Given that you won't be able to book your summer holiday until you do know, will you bother with a season ticket that only gives you two free games ?

What the...?

No, wait. I got it I think that if I just...

No.

What?

Seriously though, there are ways in which it might work.

But, I don't think the basic problem that franchising was supposed to address would be solved: it would still be too hard for the non-SL clubs to maintain a playing squad in the secind tier that could compete with even the bottom clubs in the top tier. Which leads to yo-yo-ing and eventual financial ruin. I reckon to make it work would require at least 20 reasonably strong clubs which were somewhere close to being viable in SL. We don't seem to have 14 at the moment.

I feel a bit wrong and principle-ignoring in saying it, but if Toulouse can bring local interest and added TV revenue, they should probably be in. Poor people can't afford principles....

I like the proposal.

It means ALL clubs must lift their game.

Every club will have something to play for throughout the regular season where the games become meaningful once again.

Mediocrity is no longer rewarded... whipping boy SL rabble are kicked out mid season (lovely stuff)... and p[ii[/iss-taking SL clubs who enjoy the benefits of finishing 5th can no longer benefit courtesy of lots of easy-peasy tossing-it-off fixtures against whipping boy SL rabble.

I might even be persuaded to start attending again if it costs around £8

Yep. Plus how would the salary cap work? In the 2nd half of the season, the 2nd division (the bottom 4 of SL and top 4 from tier 2) would be on wildly different salary caps. The same then goes for TV money as to who it's distributed to.

Like you say it'd need at least 20 full time clubs, like the 2-tier SL idea, and we can barely sustain 14.

The SL structure doesn't need changing. All I would change is a reversion to top 6 playoffs and a 5 year instead of 3 year licensing system.

Yeah, clubs can’t toss it off anymore safe in the knowledge that they will qualify for the play-offs by finishing the first part of the season in the top 8 and beating the lower clubs. Instead they will have to bust a gut in intense fixtures and raise the overall standard by making sure they beat the lower clubs and finish the first part of the top 8.

Surely it doesn't change from what it is now? You have a season ticket for regular season games, just less with this proposal. The extra games are the play offs for the top 8, and a play off league for the bottom 4. All will be extra to season tickets.

I think the concept sounds fantastic and will bring some added spice into the competition. I know some will say the bottom top tier clubs dropping down will have it easy but im not so sure. Also means the quality available to the lower reaches will increase and allow teams to compete better with higher placed clubs.

As for season tickets and fixtures etc, well I suppose they can sell half season tickets to those that have issues, and also full tickets to those that are more flexible

I thought everyone below 4th or 5th was whipping boy rabble? So they won't all be weeded out.

However, this is one of those times when there's probably some wisdom beneath your usual rhetoric.

My concern is whether and why anyone (TV included) would be interested in the lower tiers after the split, or how those clubs generate gate revenue when Leeds, Saints, Wigan, Wire and Hull's away followings are replaced by those of Batley, Fev and Sheffield mid-season.

I also would have some concerns over the equity of the fixtures. For the clubs vying for the 7th and 8th spots in particular, who they get at home and who they get away could have a real, material impact on their placings.

It's got enough merits that I wouldn't throw the idea out, but I think there are a lot of nuances that would need work.

My thoughts exactly.

Just for the gullible...

Like all red herrings, they are served according to an agenda whose intention is to mislead. The real agenda is that the top SL clubs want a reduction of SL numbers in the top echelon and a larger slice of the cake. A 12 team SL it is then, but for just half of each season prior to being reduced even further to 8 by eliminating most of the whipping boy SL rabble.

At least ALL clubs now feel included and have something to play for. Results now count for more than licences to be mediocre.

I also suspect finishing 5th will no longer be considered beautiful.

What a shame.

Am I misreading the proposal? as this is the second post now to mention problems for season tickets, and half seasons.

The proposal is one season as it is now, of 12 teams for Super League and 12 teams below, each playing each other twice. That's your sesaon tickets.

At the end of that season the top 8 in Super League play off as they do now, which are additional cup games. In the Championship the top 4, along with the bottom 4 from super league play off to determine a top 2, but again surely all are additional "like" cup games.

We shouldn't know now who the top 8 are, or who plays who, so what difference does this proposal make?

Still don't like it though.

I don't really care, actually thats not trus I do really care! The onlt benefit seems to be that we get back to P&R and ditch this ridiculous joke of a franchise scheme.

That’s not what they are proposing.

Whats being proposed is that we start with an SL1 and an SL2 of 12 teams each. Each team plays 11 games (I guess this would be 5 home, 5 away and an Magic Weekend) after those 11 games we split from having 2 leagues of 12 to 3 leagues of 8. With 8 teams staying in SL1, 8 teams staying in SL2, and a new SL 1.5 set up from the bottom 4 SL1 clubs and the top 4 SL 2 clubs.

Each team then plays a further 14 games (one home, one away against the other 7 teams in their league). Then we have some kind of play-offs probably.

It is an awful proposal that actually does nothing for anyone in anyway. It can be sold as having P+R but in reality the reward for winning the ‘not good enough to stay in SL league’ will be 11 games in SL, 3 of which would be against the same sides you played in the lower league. So the crowning achievement of the whole structure is to give the promoted clubs 1 game against each of the big clubs.

Bloody hell, misread it then. That is absolutely awful. Quite often clubs have a period with a lot of players missing through injury, generally over the 7 to 12 game period. The fact that it could end up putting you down a level, not because you are not well run, not because you have poor recruitment, but because you are only allowed so many players (salary cap) and players are out injured, seems ridiculous.

Do you think it's possible with your desire not to be gullible you might have become just a teeny weeny bit [itoo [/icynical?

It's not really P&R though. How would the top 4 Championship teams currently on a £300k cap compete with the bottom 4 SL teams on a cap of £1.8m. The same for overseas quotas. I'd be surprised if under this system a single Championship team made it into SL.

It's possibly the worst form of P&R conceivable. No certainty that licensing brings but with little to no chance of a Championship team actually getting promoted.