You wouldn't have won the MPG.

Oh and Adam O'Brien was never going part time to join Fax.

I suspect Leigh might go up this year without needing the mpg, and Londons result today, in terms of the potentialy crucial points difference could make things interesting if they could somehow get a result against 1 of the sl teams. 2 super league sides to be relegated? Still highly unlikely but a funny possibility!

In their past 75 league games, Leigh have actually lost just 3 of those matches. Incredible that in any sport that in itself is not rewarded with promotion. It
would be more than deserving on that stat alone.

Yes they had an off day in France going down by 2 points, with an indifferent side and during a well documented period when they did not have one available half back through one reason or another. That performance should not deter from what Leigh are looking like now as a team.

Salford should not be in this competition given the number of points they won on the pitch. That's a top 6 SL side and Leigh just turned them over. A totally different Salford side to the one both Leigh and Bradford beat last year.

No one at Leigh is getting carried away as they have a tough trip to Featherstone on Sunday. Never easy but if Leigh win that and Batley at home that's 8 points. Another win from the remaining 3 would be very interesting indeed which makes your aforementioned comment all the more bizarre.



Yes

Yes they would be promoted , and then relegated 12 months later

How hard is that for you to understand?

The Leigh team now is quite different to the one we had at the start of the season , which partly explains our indifferent form you suggest , constant changes all through the year as well as the change to our coaching team , hopefully we will now see a more settled side that will give us our best chance of getting the results we need

Funny how Leigh fans prefer to forget about last year's 8s campaign in their win/loss ratios.

It's not hard, it's just dumb. You've moved on to your pure personal guess as to what might happen the following year. But that's all it is - just your guess - but more to the point, has fsck all to do with what we are discussing.

We haven't forgot , it's very much just one game at a time , and nobody being taken for granted

Maybe my personal guess , but based on experience , not something your club or your fans have , better to prove yourself against SL teams , even if they are the worst , than go up blind to the abilities of your squad

So sorry I thought we were discussing the merits of the current system against straight P and R , if not , what are we discussing ?

The current system has no merit. Despite odd flashes in the pan, Championship sides are simply outclassed by the SL teams. The results are invariably embarrassing. The concept, that a team on a Championship budget can "prove" itself against SL teams is insane.

You seem to have this irrational view that a Championship team should already be a SL team, while not in SL, and not on SL money. The flaw in your reasoning is pretty obvious, isn't it?

No comment on Leighs chances as, a) I am too biased & attached to the dream & b) there is no such thing as a sure thing in this 8's system.

What I do share with you is the thought that 2 Championship Clubs [icould theoretically[/i be promoted .....

I would LMAO all the way to Red Hall at the thought of the RFL's bigwigs in meltdown if it were to [imiraculously[/i happen.

FWIW, I agree with the argument by Bulls fans that Auto Promotion is the only guaranteed way in to SL etc.

By the way, has anyone noticed that the Leigh v Salford result seems to be completely ignored on the VT page ?
Seems as though all the other SL teams in the Q8's have been cast aside & forgotten by the VT crowd.

Very SL centric that page can be.

I agree I got sick of hearing people say this season that it was a good thing we didn't get promoted or we'd get hammered every week. This squad was built on championship money the squad in superleague would look different and would be built on superleague money. What's so hard to understand?

Of the two most recent systems attempted by RFL they both feel like cop outs.
Either go the whole hog and have a system like NRL where it's a closed shop and the clubs outside the league get designated as feeder clubs. This would increase player pool but would see the league sell its soul to the devil. Alienating 1000's of fans and in my opinion make the league less attractive to tv As its boring.

Or have proper promotion and relegation. If clubs are financed properly they'll still have academies and the quota rules stop you bringing in loads of old Aussies anyway. We've still got a very good academy. It's still producing superleague players.

I think you guys beat another SL team to mean there's two of them in the MPG and it'll be on.

Just have a look at comments on the Giants page. The way they're going on they're talking about who they want to lose between Salford and KR like it matters. The loss to Salford last week almost guarantees they'll be in MPG.

Because it's only two games in reality hasn't bitten yet.

How do you arrive at this conclusion?

It's all changed since the last time we had promotion and relegation. Leigh have practically got an SL standard team. Add a couple of quality recruits and they should be capable of holding their own. It's not like in the past where the promoted team had to more or less build a full time squad from scratch. The difference in squads may be even closer next year if some Championship teams opt to spend the same as their SL counterparts.

I agree with this - the salary cap increase in the championship has helped Leigh (and will probably help Toulouse and, eventually, Toronto) to sign SL quality players rather than picking up the scraps at the end of the season.

This does only help teams with a wealthy backer willing to spend his money though. It would still be a struggle for the likes of fax, fev and Batley to go straight up. The issue of uneven funding across the leagues needs sorting

Hogwash.

Perhaps if Bulls played other teams the way that they lift themselves against Leigh then they may be in with a chance of the top 4. After all the Bulls are the biggest club in the championship LOL

Thanks for the insight Sherlock.

Awful bantz #nobantzloser

No it's not. You need 10 points to make sure you don't end up in the MPG.

Huddersfield have 2 points with a further 10 available.

3 matches against championship clubs (beating Leigh won't be as easy as the other two they've got to play). Even if they win all 3 of them they still then need to win one against Hull KR or Leeds.

I think they are as good as in the MPG personally.

In fact I'll go further than that. If Leigh beat Huddersfield a superleague team is getting relegated.

There is no chance of a SL team being relegated under the current "promotion" smoke and mirrors. The system guarantees no relegation. Only an individual club meltdown, NOT the "system", may conceivably give a glimmer of a realistic if uphill chance. Deep down, you all know this.

I don't know how you can say that. Should Leigh beat one of Huddersfield or Hull KR (or Leeds, but that seems more unlikely) then they are guaranteed third place in the Middle 8's (assuming they account for Batley and Fev)

If that happens, then two SL clubs WILL contest the MPG and one WILL get relegated

Granted, there's a lot that can happen over the remaining matches - but it only needs one stellar performance from Leigh and/or one 'bad day at the office' from Huddersfield or HKR, and that will become a reality.

I have always made the in between case. No Championship side is likely to win the MPG but for extraordinary circumstances. There is every chance of a lackadaisical SL side finishing fifth and a side going up automatically.

It's going to be panic stations at the RFL if two SL sides end up in the MPG. I can see a sudden re-introduction of licensing. Applicable immediately.