Quote ="gutterfax"I suspect that the SL will look very similar to that in 2012'"
Wouldn't surprise me at all. For me the ideal structure would be;
two conferences of eight losely based around Yorkshire and Lancashire
Each team plays each team in their conference twice; home and away, and all teams in other conference once; four at home, four away, plus the Magic weekend derby match
Top four of each conference go into end of season play off, which is a straight forward knock out
Reduced amount of matches mean less strain on players and more room for more rep matches (e.g. three match series against All Stars)
There might be less home fixtures, but profits from Magic, GF and rep games can be shared out among teams to compensate
Conferences also place more emphasis on local matches and greater novelty on playing teams outside the conference
More teams means a larger talent pool for reps, more speccies for Magic and it means the RFL don't end up in a sticky situation if they want to kick someone out
Also sets a precedence for the future; the conferences can be expanded in size or more conferences added, this way the RFL has room for expansion clubs when they're ready, but also stay true to the core support in the heartlands by eventually letting the likes of Fax and Fev back in
