With the excitement reaching fever pitch over the franchise announcement

And sky sports news looking for a 2 pin adapter for tricky dicky and his school projector

Are several teams living past there super league sell by date?

Hull kr- what exactly do they bring to the super league party? poor ground and facilities,seems the only thing there in for is to help hull fc fill there stadium for one sky game

wakefield -living beyond there means in a ground worst than several championship 1 clubs,still been promising a new ground since the previous tory goverment

castleford-actual movement on the ground front but in truth several near neighbours in the lower divisions could be as if not more succesful if given there spot

london-we are told time and time again we need it for growth of the game but at what expense to the game,how much funding for other clubs is being used to keep this project afloat,changing ther name to the host union club as ment they have lost there own i.d.

wales-same as above,chucked in one franchise to early for there own good would it have not been better for them to have grown to be a major force in the championship and prove they could survive for 3 years at that level before going bankrupt in super league year after year

france- seemed to be the promised land but after how many years? as the french national team grown? this season seems another one to be written off how many more poor seasons do they have to have to be included as possible franchise failures?

salford-ground under way,potential for growth as a new venture,large catchment area but will the build it they will come mentality really pay off?Also are they better than several championship clubs around them,if them championship clubs were given 3 years funding?


But as expected widnes will get the nod for winning a northern rail cup in 3 years over wakefield and we will have to wait until tricky dicky as gone through the teams in alphabet order before we get to the w,save us 5 mins of our lives tricky and just says they have replaced wakefield with widnes

he wont be going through all the teams on thursday. the remaining 12 spots will be announced in the summer. thursday is the announcement of which championship applicant has made it. there will be some sweating for a few months.

it's ridiculous they could kick out a club and replace it with a weaker club. Only in RL!

You mean like when Leigh replaced Cas? Yes I agree it's ridiculous.

I don't understand why Hull KR are seen as pretty much immune?

and who says we are?

you mean just like the promotion and relegation days?

With a comment like that you've GOT to be a Fev fan. But as usual 10/10 for talking sh*te.

I think Cas were widely considered to be well in the running for the chop 12 months ago. But looking at the first seven weeks of this season in terms of on-field performances, and the well documented production line of youth players coming through, stadium plans starting to come to fruition, Cas are a worthy SL club at the moment. They're also wet dream material for those who believed in the licensing system, as they've been able to bring these Arundel's, Clark's etc through without the fear or threat of relegation.

And with the Cas U20s averaging over 40 points a game this season despite missing the five eligible players currently enjoying regular first team footy, the future's looking bright too...

I've been tasked with getting vox pops for Halifax fans reactions on Thursday morning, wish me luck...

I think Hull KR have been brilliant in Super League. Fans always travel superbly away from home (on evidence I've seen at visits to Wigan better than most clubs in West Yorkshire), the team has done very well on the pitch considering the promotion (top 4 in 2009 was a great achievement for them), they have put a lot of youth players on the park - I think they've done far more in four years than Wakefield have done in 12 years. They've also, in my opinion, made Hull FC second best in the city if you compare the two clubs since 2007. Granted the away stand is dire but they are going to sort that soon aren't they?

Wind up merchant! Like everyone else, we've had 3 years of knowing widnes are going up. Why should be bothered?

All joking aside, without this system you wouldn't be able to have a dig at fax fans. Ask yourself, who is it you should really be expending your time and effort over?

bye bye wakefield

Just think the team at the bottom of the championship could be playing in Super League.

Spot on dids, hope the national media pick up on this and crucify Messrs Wood and Lewis

widnes are'nt bottom of the championship though

Hypothetical, as there is no necessity for them to win another game and based on their loss to Hunslet last week and their total annihalation at Leigh yesterday, it looks like the players have already lost interest in the season

Which would be dumb of them, because they'll either be playing for a place in the SL squad or they'll be trying to impress other Championship teams who will be looking for their better players to boost their squads for 2012.

And failing miserably at both it would seem atm

Well...

at the end of the 2008 Rovers won the SL club of the year award. In 2009 and 2010 they finished 4th and 7th in the league, respectively, and after the finals were 6th both years. Their home crowds were the 7th best of 14 last year, with only the 6 teams that have won one or more major trophy this century ahead on that measure.

The club is not a self-sustaining business, but despite the impression you might get reading certain boards, that position is, sadly, not unusual in SL and Rovers' position is not [iespecially[/i bad by SL standards. The losses decreased last time around, iirc, and as we spend the full-cap there would be potential for savings if necessary.

HKR have 2 club-trained players in the most-recent England elite squad. Kids signed at 16 after HKR survived their first season in SL are still only 19/20, so as green shoots go that isn't bad. It still needs to improve ahead of the [inext[/i round of licences, admittedly.

At CP the other end of the east stand is being extended and plans for the new 'proper' north stand look close to fruition. Given that, before the banks went into meltdown, we planned to start work on that during [ithis[/i licence and given the travails of other clubs, it mightn't count for much this time, but I don't think it is too far away.

Widnes and maybe Halifax are probably stronger in matters off the pitch than Wakefield are.

You can have my reaction now if you like.

halifax?

Really!!!

If only that were true.


How many players in the current Widnes lineup are SL standard, or likely to be?

I don't know the answer so that's why I'm asking.

How many players are prepared to put in the hard work to make them SL standard if they personally feel they are not?

Again I don't know.

Is it likely that if Widnes "get the nod" that the current team will be retained and offered full time terms with the chance of improvement?

Again I don't know.

or

As I suspect (and this applies to any club that gets the nod) journeymen players will be signed to "keep the interest of the fans" at the expense of those who should/could/would make it but perhaps have been told by now whether they are in or out or maybe not.

Are they REALLY prepared to give their all on the off chance?

No doubt there will be one or two (hopefully far far more) and that all the development comes to fruition.

Interesting times ahead for whoever....