Right I've deleted a few of the utterly pointless drivel posts people have been making. No real science behind it, just a cursory glance to see if you were being a dick or not. Apologies for any posts removed in error.

If it drifts again, I'll probably do the same. Love and kisses. Pumps

Quote ="BullCharge"Dave Petersen has joined Sheffield Eagles on a 1-month loan deal: www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... ack_rower/'" I take it there's a bit of gamesmanship going on? Is it pure coincidence that Leigh try to strengthen London by loaning them Walker just before we play them? Then the next day we try to strengthen Sheffield by loaning them Petersen a couple of weeks before they play Leigh?

Quote ="BullCharge"Dave Petersen has joined Sheffield Eagles on a 1-month loan deal: www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... ack_rower/'" I take it there's a bit of gamesmanship going on? Is it pure coincidence that Leigh try to strengthen London by loaning them Walker just before we play them? Then the next day we try to strengthen Sheffield by loaning them Petersen a couple of weeks before they play Leigh?

It is a timely signing, in more ways than one with the way you've worded it. Our usual loose forward Pat Walker broke his toe in the game against Bradford so the signing of Petersen is a good one for us. Looking forward to seeing him take the field.

So were we back in January but we never had the chance. Hope he goes well.

He is on a one year deal so needs to put himself in the shop window, particularly as he hasn't had a real chance here.

Thought it would be interesting to see what the Super 8 fixtures would be if the first part of the season had ended now.

I'd say those home fixtures look pretty winnable which would put us in a good place in terms of promotion as you'll need, I'm guessing at least 4 wins from the 7 games to guarantee a top 4 spot

Have they changed the fixture format? I though of we finished 1st we only got one SL team at home.

Hmm, how strange. If you look on the SL website, the grid for the super league super 8 and the championship shield super 8 are both the same, using the original fixture grid that everyone saw back in December 2014.
But the qualifying super 8 grid is different, as we can see above.

So either everyone assumed (incorrectly) that we were going to use the same grid as the other super 8s, or the RFL have changed our grid on the sly.

The RFL have changed that on the sly. I remember looking at the original grid on the championship site
And the team that finished top of the championship had one SL team at home.

Think there is now a clear advantage to finishing first than second. Need to put Donny to the cleaners tomorrow.

Thats a different grid that was on the Championship & SL websites a couple of weeks ago. I wonder why they've changed it quietly?

I think they perhaps realised thy wasn't much advantage to finishing 1st in the championship with only 1 SL team at home. Now they clearly is IMO

If you look at the paragraph under the tables it clearly states:

Starbug here

Bloody hell they've sneaked that in

Having looked it does seem a better format , as long as you finish top , important we keep our run going now

That doesn't actually explain anything. Why is the fact that it's two leagues going into one mean they have to change who gets who home/away.

Also if it was always intended as a grid for SL and Championship shield, why not state that on the website originally?

Also if the was to be the case that the middle 8 grid was to be different to the rest, why wait until two months before the split happens, then release the grid structure for it. Surely it should have been done at the beginning of the season (or at least as soon as possible)

I think they have obviously realised they idn't sufficiently reward who finished top of the championship with only 3 SL teams at home. I don't have a problem and it looks better IMO, but they have sneaked it in and let lot pretend it was always going to be like this.

Originally finishing top of the Championship got you 1 SL club at home , 2 nd getting 3

was originally 3 SL at home for second and 1 at home for finishing 1st. they have quietly changed it to current format. Think new format format is actually fairer although its debatable how fair it is to change format mid season. Under old format it was arguable that finishing second was actually preferable in terms of fixtures. Under new format finishing first has definite benefits.

Finishing 2 nd looked financially better , finishing 1 st looked better to make the final match

Now the only real benefit is playing at home to whoever finishes 2 nd

But better overal

As long as we're in that top two I'm really not fussed about the fixtures. Form and injuries will have a much bigger bearing once the real season begins. I think this year is massive for both Leigh and Bradford though because if either club goes up I think they'll do well in SL. Wakefield on current form (and that could all change with BS in charge) look vulnerable to pick off but I don't think Leigh or Bradford will look as beatable in 2016 as Wakefield look right now. You could put Salford in that category too but they'll probably have a superstar signing in their ranks this time next year.

That's assuming the rfl continuing asking Championship clubs to try and compete with the massive financial disadvantage that is currently in place. It's a massive few months ahead, without doubt.

Well I'm pretty nonplussed by hammering donny and leigh losing. Honestly I am.

Well yes, I must admit that any club having a blip in form during the year is totally unprecedented and a shock to all concerned. All those years of clubs going unbeaten all year - history consigned to the bin. Who'd have thunk it!

Then us going berserk! Think I need a lie down in a darkened room..

Format for me doesn't matter. If you are good enough, you will go up, if not you won't. Not bothered who my team play at home or away.

As said before, this is fairer. Both 1st & 2nd get 2 SL & 2 champ clubs at home. No discussion about whether 1st or 2nd is better anymore. The only discussion is now about whether we can chunter about changing it mid season or not

Yeah, of course we can chunter about moving the goalposts. Good, bad or indifferent it looks [and is shambolic and will always have people looking as to what possible reasons may have been behind it.

I for one am happy to accept it's just better, cos it clearly is. However, if it's better now, then it was better before the season started, so why did we start the season with everyone believing some other format applied? It can't have been because the RFL didn't think it through properly in the first place? Surely not, I mean, it's not as though they have form for things like that is it. I do despair at our governing body.

I think the RFL should have to go through some kind of investigation into their fitness to run the sport - if it's good enough for people who just want to run a single club then maybe it should apply to those who want to run the sport?

Won't take long