Seems the RFL could be about to acquire another reason to restructure, to avoid expansion being called a complete flop, and clubs on small budgets making two or more trips to France each year.

A mess all of their own making!

Unless the RFL either have a word with the ref next Saturday and explain their desire for them to stay up.
They may also come up with some sort of restructure to stop them going down but this would be absolutely wrong to help a club stay up when they should go down.................er, wait a minute, on second thoughts, I don't see anything wrong with them changing things so a so called big club doesn't get relegated.

Nah, the RFL wouldn't get away with doing that.
There would be an outcry; floods of complaints; politicians would demand answers.
There's no way the RFL would meddle behind the scenes so that a relegated team didn't get relegated.
Not in todays transparent society

Will all of the clubs be able to afford trips to Catalan, Toronto and Toulouse? Swinton appear to be on the verge of a financial meltdown and Barrow had to create a Crowd Funding page to afford an extra trip to Toronto. Is it financially possible for some of these teams to afford these away trips, especially if you draw one of these teams in the cup or Super 8's?!

It's looking more and more like the Championship is going to be an away fan desert next season.

I'd have made the million quid game an even match between Leigh and Widnes but against les Cats, who can't win away to save their lives, I can only see a home win. It looks more and more like the RFL's championship nightmare is coming to pass. Unless, Les Cats CAN win to save their lives or some end of season re-organisation is made by the RFL. Anyone heard any rumours.....

Toronto pay their visitors expenses and the French trips are covered by central funds (RFL) so it's not an issue for clubs.

Correct

Wouldnt like to see Catalan getting relegated, wouldn't like to see Leigh go down either to be honest, but Catalan going down would increase the chance of RFL changing the championship structure to keep the Bulls in.

Catalan and Toronto join the championship, Hull K R and the Bulls leave it. If that is allowed to happen I will eat my hat

I can see 6000 Leigh fans fuming at the referee next weekend. With good cause I might add.

I don't think there's any conspiracy to keep Catalans up. Or there shouldn't be.

Catalans relegation might be a "blow" to SL but sky can easily solve that by broadcasting the championship instead, you know with the rights there own after all.

Don't worry. Catalans have McNamara at the helm. What could possibly go wrong?

Quote ="Bulliac"Toronto pay their visitors expenses and the French trips are covered by central funds (RFL) so it's not an issue for clubs.'" Barrow's expenses were not covered by the RFL or Toronto according to their crowd funding page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/louise-scarr

Quote ="Bulliac"Toronto pay their visitors expenses and the French trips are covered by central funds (RFL) so it's not an issue for clubs.'" Barrow's expenses were not covered by the RFL or Toronto according to their crowd funding page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/louise-scarr

Oh dear. So no big away following from Bradford or HKR next year and trips to London, Toulouse, Toronto and Catalan to pay for?

Lean year for Championship clubs.

If only the RFL had followed its own rules and relegated Bradford to League 1 for the 2017 season. It's likely the club would have sorted itself out and be poised for a return in 2018 with a revitalised fanbase who've not been utterly disillusioned with the sport and the club and have walked away for good.

But no, because something like that would require foresight and forward planning. Things that this sport has always lacked

At least they'll save on stewarding costs for the Summer Bash in 2018...

I feel a bit sorry for Leigh in all this. Lots of people are hoping they'll lose next week so Catalans don't get relegated.

The last thing we need from any system is a return to the 'yo-yo' syndrome of clubs going straight back down again after getting promoted. I feel for Beaumont, after he's put shedloads of his own money into the club, and here they are fighting against falling straight back into the Championship.

Re:Catalans. They seem to have got steadily worse since Trent Robinson left, and rapidly worse since they appointed McNamara (strange sense of deja-vu?)

From what I've seen, Cats could've appointed Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all the saints as their coaching team and still be rubbish.

That said, when the chips are down, I'm very confident that Supermac will get them out of it

Quote ="dddooommm"Barrow's expenses were not covered by the RFL or Toronto according to their crowd funding page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/louise-scarr'" I think they are being a bit 'picky', tbh. They had to pay for food and the coach from the Airport? I'm sorry to be pretty unsympathetic on that but, if they'd been drawn to play in Lancs or Yorks, wouldn't they also have had to pay for food, and a coach from Barrow would surely have cost considerably more than from the Airport into Toronto?

Quote ="dddooommm"Barrow's expenses were not covered by the RFL or Toronto according to their crowd funding page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/louise-scarr'" I think they are being a bit 'picky', tbh. They had to pay for food and the coach from the Airport? I'm sorry to be pretty unsympathetic on that but, if they'd been drawn to play in Lancs or Yorks, wouldn't they also have had to pay for food, and a coach from Barrow would surely have cost considerably more than from the Airport into Toronto?

My take on the million quid game before the weekend was that, if it involved Catalans, then they would be going down. Their away form is, and always has been, rubbish and I can't see it changing soon. Even a combination of Ganson and Klein would struggle to keep them up.

Agreed. I think Leigh will be far more up for it. Catalans just look like they've lost all stomach for the fight.

Yeah, they do. I'll be sorry to see them go down, tbh, I like their club and the people in Perpignan. Too many good times on the vin rouge over there to be dispassionate about their fate! I guess that, even if we get promoted next season so will Les Cats, so still no trip over to Canet Plage..

Don't think it helps that players in their key positions really don't have a lot riding on it. Their fullback is only on loan and will be back at Wigan next year. Their two half backs are both leaving the club, so they won't be playing in the Championship. So as much as they'll want to win for their pride and teammates, it's not actually going to affect their careers all that much.

Can't wait to see the expression on Guasch's face during the mpg. As these middle 8 games have gone on, he's looked more and more p!ssed off with every game. Had a face like thunder during the match against Widnes.

One (Widnes supporting) journo on twitter mentioned some rumours that Catalans wouldn't even bother with the Championship if they were relegated and not actually accept/apply for membership. Proper take your ball and bat home stuff.

I would not want to see Leigh relegated as they have only been in SL for one season and in my opinion not had the time to get a SL team together that can compete with the big boys.
Catalan however have been in the lower tier for some time and i do believe that the Championship's teams will suffer with little or no away support (gate receipts) coming from a number of teams.
RFL mess in their own making

Catalan - 4th, 7th, 8th and 5th in the preceding seasons.

Your statement is simply not true

Correct, it's pretty much a one off for them and they've done nothing to deserve losing a spot in the top flight, imo.

Except appointing Steve McNamara and calling him a coach.