Think Cas would also lose a lot of players if they came down. Hull I think would be a different matter. It's currently between Wakey, Cas and Hull for the drop. Leigh seem to have recruited better this time.

In the same way that the vitriol was leveled a Fev when we had a DR agreement with Leeds. May be it is just a DR agreement with Leeds that does it.




PS I'd like to see rid of DR and the 2 week loans and go back to the "traditional" four week loans we had previously, but if it is in the rules then it is up to each club to decide how to use the rules that will give them as a club the best benefit. Just because I don't like it doesn't make the use of it wrong given it is in the rules.

I agree mate. The rules are the rules and clubs are always going to take advantage of that. We dropped DFJ and brought in Tindall (for height and yardage against Toulouse) as they had taller centre and wingers and it was a great move as we won.

The problem is, is players coming to teams in the Championship who just aren’t ready. The Championship is a bloody tough league and sometimes these SL kids come to teams and just aren’t ready because they’ve only had reserve experience. We’ve had Ruan for two weeks and he’s been god awful, not just a bad couple of games, the urgency, the behaviour, the technique. Hasn’t been there.

"Time" is there the essential word. When Leigh were voted into SL to replace Toronto, it was already mid-December when they got the nod and the other eleven teams had already just about finalised their squads leaving slim pickings for the then Centurions. They had an extra couple of months at the end of 2022 - and would have had more time were it not for the blummin' stupid play-offs and "MPG."

Whether by accident or design, these sort of things keep non-established SL teams "in their place" and IMG's drivel will only cement that - as it was intended to do!

Yes, were Wakefield to go down this season it would be a long, long haul back - if indeed it were ever to happen.

Bongser hopes that Leigh stuff Wakey next weekend but that is about the former's security this season rather than any animosity toward the latter.

Without repeating anything, we all agreed that the given’ spot was tainted beyond belief! Leigh took it, failed under ridiculous circumstance and now I feel have recruited better. Like you have said B&B.

If Bradford was given that spot. Which was widley publisised. We would have gone down.

What a win that was! Well deserved as I thought we were the better team for the majority of the game. Fax didn’t help themselves with the errors and the crazy sinbinning but we had to take advantage and we did that well. Kicking game was far better than Fax and forwards were immense.

My only concerns were how much sharper they seemed in the backs when they moved it around but thankfully for us (bizarrely for them) they didn’t test us enough there.

Very worried towards the end when we lost a few more bodies and fax exploited young Jowitt on the wing but we managed to see it out.

Suspect they will have too much for us in the cup game, again with home advantage and looking for revenge but it will be another cracker im sure

Have to admit loving the meltdown from this result.

"Bradford cheating because of DR"
"Tom Grant was biased"
"Bradford are average and aren't going to achieve anything"
"Bradford celebrating like they've won the title"
"It rained so that's why Bradford won"
"Odsals pitch is small"

Desperation to put some narrative because we won is hilarious. You can already hear the shrieks if Fax beat us in the return fixture (I'd have them starting as favourites anyway as they're at home and will be hurting from this result)

It was a good comfortable result with half our squad out. We enjoyed the win and hopefully we can build on it.

Instead of starting a new thread perhaps we can use this one.

Another massive game this weekend away at Halifax. The winner goes through to the next round and also earns a place in the 1895 Cup Semi Final meaning we are potentially 80 mins away from a Wembley appearance if we can win this game.

I assume we'll be without any of the Leeds DR players as the Rhinos won't want them being cup tied. Walker slotting back in at FB for this game and moving Holmes into the halves alongside Patton. Lilley moves to 9 and I'd go with Jowitt over GF Sr on the bench.

Typical Bradford fan trying to live on past glories.

I've also started a thread on the Leeds Rhinos forum due to the amount of Dual Reg players we have.

Did I read somewhere that IMG “clarified “ their position on team performance? Specifically that top 4 in the championship & a final appearance in the 1865 cup would give similar points as finishing bottom of Super League?

Unlucky for fev then

If this is true then for me this is a must win game. The other teams York/Newcastle, Batley/Keighley or London/Dewsbury are all beatable in order to get to Wembley. Making it to that final must be the aim and of course winning it. Would be beneficial in terms of 'Performance' for IMG and of course a great day out at Wembley for the club and the fans.

If IMG are saying top 4 and a final's place is equivalent of an SL bottom place (especially considering Wakey at the moment are the statistically worst team ever in SL at the moment). Then IMG don't really value the Championship at all. Also IF say Bradford were to finish 3rd/4th and get the final or win the 1895 Cup. Would we be ranked higher on 'Performance' than Featherstone (if they win the Champ?).

None of it matters for this season anyway, really. You're a season too early. And even then, I seriously doubt winning some mickey mouse cup and finishing 4th in the league will carry the same weight as winning the championship.

I think the IMG proposals give Bradford a more realistic chance of getting back into the top division, but we're still a million miles away from being good enough (both on and off the field) and a good cup run isn't going to disguise that.

Ah. I thought this seasons results and next seasons results would matter for who gets 'franchised' for 2025. So two years worth of performances. I'm not saying winning the 1895 Cup carries as much weight as winning the Championship. But winning the Cup, combined with a playoff spot (two years on the bounce) would that carry weight for the 'Performance' side of the grading system. I was just replying to Highlander's comment as he was the one who read about IMG's 'clarification'.



I agree. I think we'd do well in some aspects of the grading system, specifically fanbase and academy/catchment/development etc. Not sure on finances or performance yet (depending on 2023 and 2024 seasons). But yeah, we are a while away yet from being good enough. But hopefully two playoff places and a couple of good cups runs gets us higher on the 'Performance' grading section. And that starts by beating Fax on Saturday.

Don't think IMG are going to be the saviours some of the loud mouths on social media think they'll be.

All the issues we had during the licensing years haven't been resolved in their proposals IMO although there's at least a bit of transparency this time.

Clubs coasting along as theres zero chance of them being replaced, fans getting bored of meaningless games (remember we had the ridiculous situation of the RFL having to expand the the play-offs to Eight teams to try create more meaningless games) those issues are still there.

Then in 4 years time we'll have another critical meeting for the sport wondering why crowds are dwindling after we've changed the format for the millionth time.

Say we somehow made the criteria for SL (stay with me here).. who then puts the necessary money into the club to be competitive?

We'd just become a Wakefield, making up the numbers and getting a hiding each week.

Agreed. We're miles off SL. It's not happening. Even if they weren't raising the drawbridge we're still miles off. I find it difficult to get exercised about the whole IMG thing as a result. The club needs a huge transformation to get back to elite level. Particularly in the areas of ownership and stadium

An owner with funds & genuine business acumen.
A professional CEO with RL experience
And a SL quality coach would be a start
Rake out the rotten culture that's existed for years & start again with a 95 style rebuild.

That's the only way we will get there.

As it stands now we are a ghost ship,
Ticking boxes to get a place at the table but no clue as to what to do when we get there.

Bulls and the foundation are running 7 teams and the staff required for that on 3k ticket sales, sponsors and is it £200k central funding?
If we get an additional £1.6m central funding with promotion, I would think we could finance a team.
Finding the players in October is the problem. Leigh got round that by funding an SL team the year before they went up, which no one else can do.

You could if you had a decent owner..

Don't doubt they could finance 'a team' it just wouldn't be a very good one.

I’m not saying we are anywhere near SL. I also think we are miles off (not even a top 3 Champ side atm). However at the moment we do have this criteria that certainly helps towards the grade. If we aren't doing our best to at least try meet as much of it as we can then what’s the point?

I think Wakefield left it too late to upgrade their facilities (as they are going for a betting grade on facilities, probably so they rank higher than Cas) and now money is tied up in the new stand hence the lack of quality or depth in their squad this season.

I’m not interested in what we do if we get to SL. Because again, there’s things we need to do to even be in contention for SL. One of those things is securing a place in the 1895 final. Which means beating Fax.

I have no doubt we’ll probably get an SL side in the next round of the CC cup. So hopefully we get a decent side. Get some money in from the tie (which helps us now). Go out of the Cup and focus on the semis of the 1895 Cup and the league. But first we need to beat a strong Fax side.

If anything, I could actually see the IMG grading system leading to a lot of deflation and stagnation, especially in the lower leagues.
Once the provisional and final gradings come out, clubs will know how close - and more importantly how far away - they are from a potential spot in the top division. This could either be a motivating factor or a stark realisation of what is required to make the grade.
I have a feeling that for a lot of clubs the improvement will just be unobtainable. IMG talk about clubs needing to grow but unless I've missed it, I haven't seen any talk of their plans for how the central funding is to be distributed going forward and how much the lower leagues are going to get.

The huge elephant in the room when it comes to our sport is that the only clubs who ever achieve anything at all, including growth, are those funded by benefactors.

But isn't that the issue right there? Hull and Huddersfield went bang and two clubs were sacrificed for them (but we're the RFL pets still

) and at that point I was sure rules were put int to ensure that clubs were not expected to make a loss yet here we are with clubs in SL owners masking the games issues by pouring millions into clubs and them taking the losses.

Hudds would be dead in a breath again as would others. Until that situation is taken away you've no hope of rescuing the game. You could say that the much despised (by me) Ken Morrison displayed his vast business acumen by staying well and truly out of RL despite calling the club his 'beloved Bulls' the .