Beaten Salford today so it's likely they'll be in the MPG as they've already beaten London and I don't think Batley or Featherstone will offer too much in terms of resistance.

However, the way Leigh are playing, along with other sides in the competition, I'm wondering if they'll even need the MPG?

Which will be a shame for Bradford because if Leigh get promoted then we'll never get another decent performance out of this team

Well, assuming they see off Batley and Featherstone, they essentially need another win to get third place and avoid the MPG entirely.

I think they'll fancy beating either (or even both) of Hull KR or Huddersfield

The big 'problem' for the likes of us is that, should Leigh get promoted, it will be touted as 'proof' that the Middle 8 concept works, thus no need to ever go back to promotion and relegation.

How would Bradford benefit if the system reverted to straight up promotion and relegation?

If Leigh go up, there's every chance that it could be Huddersfield coming the other way. And if Huddersfield get relegated I might just die laughing.

I'll bite. Despite this awful season, Bradford are still one of the biggest teams in this comp and would be promotion contenders. We'll see a different mind set from us next year (as will Halifax, experiencing the tinpot shield will give any player plenty of motivation to avoid it again)

Now we've a decent coach, our recruitment should actually be better (it can't get any worse) We've an actual HB and a decnt FB for next year already! Some outstanding juniors coming through and we're going to see the benefit.

Long way for Leigh yet. We smashed Salford by 50 last year and didn't even manage to get home advantage in the MPG.

Note my use of the phrase 'likes of us' - I lump us in with Halifax et al nowadays!

I should have thought my point was obvious. Finishing top of a league of ones peers is easier than having to beat teams who have been playing at a higher level all season - as Leigh found out last season.

Both you and Ryan Brierley, eh?!

He'd go to Leeds and then Frosties would claim he was right all along!

Not to Toronto then?

But that still does not explain how Bradford would benefit from a one up one down system. If Leigh were not to get promoted or if they were and a SL team came down Bradford are still a million miles away from been the team in position to take advantage. At least with this system there is still the chance that a team can do badly, like Bradford did, but sneak in to the top 4 then put some sort of miracle run together, make the MPG and then win a one off game. Last season was a perfect example of that, Leigh were by far the best team in our division but fell apart and Bradford were literally minutes away from a promotion that over the whole of the season may not have been deserved.

They're not a million miles away. Have we had a wretchered season yes. But that's because we played with no 7 for most of it. Lots changes in 12 months. Bradford have a decent spine for next year.

Leigh have finished top of the championship 3 years in a row, lost 3 games, beat a super league side yesterday, and that still might not be enough to earn promotion.

Thats my whole point, no team is near Leigh at the moment so change the system and Bradford have less of a chance of promotion. Its still very unlikely as it is but at least the chance is there. Things will get worse for Bradford before they get better, obviously the money problems are well documented and wont get better for most of the off season, it also sounds like the players coming in are run of the mill championship players so there will be some levelling off which will pretty much cement them with the likes of Fev, Batley, Fax etc.

I hope Leigh do go up and superleague team get relegated.

Especially if it's Salford Or Huddersfield.

Just watch them moan. They'll just have to cut their cloth and reap what they sow.

As a side note am I the only one that's noticed that since Huddersfield decided upon signing Bradford players as their recruitment policy. They've started to go the same way as Bradford?

Well, that's not strictly true, Mick posted on Twitter that if the Bulls had made their missed kicks in 6 of their lost games this season, they then would have finished 2nd in the table on 36 points, which would also have seen Leigh finish 1st on 38 points. Not bad considering we'd played the majority of the season without any actual half backs.

Where has this belief come from that Leigh is 'head and shoulders' above any other championship team? The results across the whole of the regular season don't support this and they were knocked out of the Challenge Cup by a team in the division below. By beating Salford yesterday, they only achieved what has already been achieved previously in the Middle 8s. They still have a very long way to go to convincingly demonstrate they are deserving of a place in SL. Looking forward to the rest of the Middle 8s - I would love a Championship team to get promoted, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

No team is near Leigh unless you actually consider the actual results and scores and performances of all the games between Bradford and Leigh. Which would seem to be as good a yardstick as any. And those are despite our mad recruitment and selection policies of recent times.

Your "argument" is just being an apologist for the RFL, who know as well as 99% of people that the "promotion" idea is so far weighted against any Championship team that it isn't even funny.

I can't believe you actually don't see the point. You don't get that:
=#4000FF - "guaranteed promotion if you finish top"
is about a billion times more of a chance of promotion than:
=#0000FF - "beat a SL club in the MPG"

Probably on their results over the last 3 seasons. Anyone can win a one off game or get close to a champion team now and again but that does not matter if the week after they go and lose to the likes of oldham or Swinton(insert any mid-lower table team). Leigh have "nearly lost" on a number of occasions this season yet won the league by 9 points from a number of teams who "nearly won" a number of games. At a decent level of sport I would say that is "head and shoulders" above the rest.

Again my point was how would straight up promotion help Bradford(again not picking on Bradford as you could insert any challenging top 4 team)? We are all quite some distance behind Leigh in my opinion but as we saw last season if you make the top 4 anything can happen. Fax were just one loss against Sheffield from making the MPG(A Game I think we may have won) and making a very unlikely and underserved return to SL IMO.

I would favour normal promotion and relegation but it would have to be 2 up and 2 down for me but it all comes down to funding and untill the RFL give the championships better funding no system can work in my eyes. In that I mean the current system would work if the Championship was more competitive(I mean raising the bar rather than levelling it off like has happened this season). With no big money backer 10 out of the 12 teams in this league have no chance of going up no matter what the system is.

What else does Mick do in his spare time apart from clutching at straws?

You're talking b0ll0cks, Greg.

' IF ' and

Poor recruitment

=

Not good enough

The problem with ' guaranteed promotion ' is that it is less of a guarantee than ' beating a SL club ' that you are going to be good enough

Not something the Bulls have had to deal with

I can see that thinking but a number of 'near losses' and a 34-30 win over Broncos in a game as important as last weeks, conceding 4 tries in the final minutes, may well suggest otherwise. Based on their spend versus other teams in the league, Leigh should have won every game by a considerable margin this season, as expected, but failed to do so. They must have the best chance of promotion, but it remains for them to demonstrate this quality in the remaining games in the competition.

Is English not your first language?

The Bulls are irrelevant to this, because it doesn't matter if they finished first, last or wherever,, the TEAM THAT FINISHED TOP would BE PROMOTED, end of. That is clearly a "guarantee" in such a system.

The form or prospects of any given team is completely beside the point. If you were good enough to win your league, you would go up. How is that hard for you to understand?

I would agree with that assessment of Leigh and personally I think despite winning the league at a canter they had under achieved until yesterday when you compare their results compared to how much they have spent. For them this system is probably not a good thing but for teams just below them there is still a dream to be had under the current system.