If you didn't have Rovers vs Hull you wouldn't have their supporters scrambling around securing tickets from London, Hudds etc because they've sold out their own allocation, and they wouldn't travel all the way across the country in the same numbers, putting some of the Lancs clubs support to shame, to watch a match that doesn't have the same meaning.

Not to say I don't agree with having the derby - as a Rovers supporter it would be nice to have the 2 points from a less physical battle against London / Bradford / Wakey (and I also worry that the amount of Hull derbies played now is diluting the occasion), however it wouldn't create the same atmosphere or gate receipts which are important to this event.

To be honest, I don't see how, in a season where 2 points can now make a significant difference in which 'league' a club plays in when the split happens, that this concept can be done in a fair way that will also generate the same interest.

Top would pick bottom though wouldn't they? You'd potentially end up with a weekend of poor fixtures. Even if all the other fixtures remained as they are now, ie. derbies, the showpiece should be a charity shield-esque match.

Personally I'd brand it as rivalry round and make games, were possible against teams with the biggest rivallaries.

Wigan v st's
HKR v hfc
Leeds v hudds (presuming Bradford are gone next season)
Cas v wakey
Wolves v widnes
Salford v cats (someone's got to play them)

Could have special kits representing the biggest games against the clubs ie HKR/hfc play in replica 1980 CC final kits etc

In 2011 Wigan ended up playing Saints 6 times (H+A, Magic, Cup and twice in POs) and it completely takes the gloss off the derby games IMO. The new structure means it is likely Wigan, Saints, Leeds, Wire etc are already going to have a 3rd league fixture against each other, this is another reason I am so adamant that MW should definitely not be an additional league fixture. We've tried playing derbies at MWs several times now anyway and you end up with too many mis-matches, plus you end up cobbling together whoever's left after the obvious derbies are put together (like you have ended up with Salford v Catalans).

The thing with the MW fixtures is that, if they don't have a good number of "derby" fixtures, there will be far less interest in terms of spectator numbers, which is a risk that nobody is prepared to take.
Also with relegation back on the agenda (especially when we drop to 12 teams), the additional fixture COULD have a significant influence on the teams fighting for the top 8, which could be deemed "unfair".

Yeh drop the hull derby and you can probably wipe off a few thousand fans from each club, the me tends to throw up the most interesting of our derby fixtures.