Do you think this could work? My only potential downfall I think could be the 9 home games that clubs would get. I think that we could add a second competition, potentially a County Cup, or a Regal Trophy style competition could be added to the calender. What do you all think?

No, because it would widen the gap between the elite and those below considerably more.

Reducing it only serves to increase the amount of ££ coming in to those clubs with rich, sugar-daddy owners already.

We need to focus our attentions on delivering a fully sustainable, full-time league in the Championship that will allow us to lift the cap closer to the SL one.

Why? We are seeing teams beat each other regularly, ok we still aren't seeing enough challenging for titles but that will come when the RFL gets serious about imposing the salary cap.

I personally thought 12 was the right number although we only have 6 clueds fit for a 'super league' IMO.

whats a clued and what's the criteria of being "fit" for SL?

I would guess the team would have to start with a " W " end with a " n " and have at least 60 % of the remaining letters being vowels.

NO.

No, I think we should expand to 16 teams as soon as possible (I dont want to loose any teams from Super League), keep the salary cap close to its present level, & add more teams as soon as we have the quality of home produced players able to compete. We should still only play 26 games (or less) but that is the beauty of the play off system we dont need to play everybody home & away each season.
Slightly off point I think the county cups should be played for as part of the season (not extra games but awarded on final finishing position in Super League) with the top placed Yokshire team awarded thier county cup, Lancs the same & maybe London, Wales & French teams competing for a third trophy. I think it may add a bit more spice to certain matches.

No, push for 16 teams as soon as possible.

Oh dear.

Do you really think most of the teams in super league really look like a club fit for the top league? I personally don't think so. It is clearly just my opinion.

All you would really be doing is reducing the pool of players playing at the top level and reducing the revenue for the clubs due to less games. We simply can't afford it.

In an ideal world i would like to see a top league of 10 clubs but only if there was a fully professional second division of another 10 teams. We could then re-introduce promotion and relegation. The gaps in the calender then filled by a regular '6 nations' style internationals.

Super League is a least 7 years from having a 16 team competition. the quality is simply not there at the moment for 14 teams let alone 16, plus neither is the TV money.

That is true but it is still what we should be aiming for the time scale is all that is in doubt. Sticking with 14 teams is vital as the more teams there are the more youngsters will get a chance. As for money all clubs need to improve to remove the need for Sky cash, it should be an added bonus for clubs not thier main source of cash.

WHY?

Eventually i think Super League will be a 16 team competition, and as you rightly point out the clubs do need to improve their revenue streams.

Until Sky want to show more than two games a week or FTA TV starts showing some games then it should stick to 14.

This is my forst ever post , so please forgive me if I am barking completely up the wrong tree with this one . I feel that the answer may be a 16 team super league , in essence , but split into two divisions of 8 . Let's say an elite league for the top division and a super league for the ' second tier ' . SKY money would be shared out between all 16 teams equally , as if they were all in one divison , at the start of the season . There would be an automatic promotion and relegation of one team per season , and a play-off for the top 5 in the elite league , to determine the Grand Final Winner , as is the case now . To keep games competitive for the whole season , a five team play-off for a ' second spot ' in the elite league could take place between the 7th team in elite league and the 2nd thru' 5th teams in ' super league ' . The winner taking the final place in the elite league for the following season . There would be no relegation from super league , meaning that any expansion clubs in the future or already established teams in the championship could still apply for a place in ' super league ' if they meet the criteria , as an extra team in the competition , or to replace an existing team .
Using this format , 28 games could be played each season on a home and away basis ( four times against each club ) . There would be a smaller salary cap imposed on the ' super league ' to try and ensure that financial stability could be maintained as , admittedly , revenue may be down as they wouldn't be playing the elite teams , but more competitive rugby MAY mean more interest and larger crowds in some cases , especially with the promise of automatic promotion if finishing top . Remember , they would still be receiving the same amount of cash as the elite league teams at the start of the season , and teams would also receive one extra home game per seaosn . SKY would probably concentrate more on the elite league , but could still show at least one ' super league ' game per week . Indeed , the fact that matches weren't on TV could make for larger crowds . IMO it would only help stabilise finances of the lower tier . A smaller salary cap , coupled with receiving the same initial outlay of cash , could make them financially much stronger , and in a much better position if they do gain elite league entry . The P & R factor would still be there , but without the threat of financial ruin which is facing the club/clubs who don't get a franchise now or in the future . Just a thought , does anybody agree , or as mentioned earlier , am I completely out of touch with reality

Hold the front page. Stop the press.

dally messenger just made a sensible comment.

There's no way you can expand the league to 16 with the current overseas quota as there is just not enough players of a decent quality to fill the teams. TBH, you could argue there's not enough to fill 14 teams.

There's also the fact that more teams mean less money and given that we're not a rich sport to begin with I can't see the majority of clubs, at least those without the sugar daddies, being willing to allow their income to reduce

That's a fair point mate , but couldn't a two tier league mean that the elite league ( 8 teams ) with a bigger salary cap , would attract the better players . There are probably . IMO , enough top quality players to go around 8 teams , leaving the other 8 teams in the lower tier to concentrate on home grown players , a good youth system , and players of good quality who are just below the elite league level at the moment . We could end up with a real high quality elite league , and a good quality second tier , with teams able to build for the future and still have the dream of playing in the elite league at the end of every season . Admittedly , there would probably be a split in the lower tier , with perhaps only a few teams at most able to compete if promotion was gained , but that is surely the case now anyway . The top of super league seems to be the same year in year out , but with a two tier sytem , with no threat of relegation , teams in the lower tier could build and be better placed to enter the top tier if getting promoted . The second promotion spot , with the 7th team in elite league competing with 2-5 in lower tier would give us an idea of just how big the gap was , and if this meant that the 7th team continually won the ' promotion grand final ' then so be it . If that was the case then we could have no automatic promotion , instead the bottom team of top tier could have a promotion grand final with the top 4 of the lower tier , the winner taking up the 8th spot in the following season's elite league

Sensible post.

There are not enough decent players in SL to fill 14 spots without bringing over has beens, let aone 16. Endless dubbings against Auz and NZ confirm this, and I expect the Exiles game to do the same. There just simply isnt enough good enough British SL players to fill maybe 300 spots in the game.

Outside of SL, the Championship is dead. Its competitive inits own way, but dead. Until you're in there you wont' know but its dead. Next to zero away support, diminishing sponsorship revenues and support, a TV 'contract' thats hits clubs in the pocket - it's dead. The bigget day of the calender is a Thursday press conference once every 3 years. Ace. Get me a season ticket for it.

Who really expects Fax, Barrow, and Leigh fans to turn out for 3 years watching their team play the likes of Hunslet, York, and Toulouse? Decent clubs in their own right but never ever going to be crowd pullers. And yet SL want us to build a business model upon it and expect people to invest in it in the hope someone else financially implodes. It's just not going to happen.

10 and 10 gives an elite top league, something to aim for, P&R, never too much difference between 10 and 11 yet there is a second tier which includes the likes of Fax, Barrow, Leigh, Fev etc who with an even playing field could start to match the likes of Wakey Salford and Crusaders week in week out. There is no more long term potential in the bottom 4 of SL than there is in the top 4 of SL, yet one lot are gettings millions from Sky and the other are relying on club lotteries and handouts.

It's a better step to take but also creates a good strong competition in its own right.

Im in favour of trimming the number of SL teams. However id wish to see the gap made up by a new comp call me a wishful thinker (ah go on you know you want to) But i'd like to see comp/ cup intorduced for Sl and CC teams to compete in but only allowed to field home nations players.

Yup well it wont happen though.

Come 2013 there is going to be a lot less overseas players in SL so I can;t see there being enough talent around unless the RFL pulls its finger out and figures out a way to get a heck of alot more kids playing the game.

I'd love to see SL split in half, two conferences of eight, with as much locality in each conference as possible. This has been mentioned millions of times now.

Every team would play their own conference opposition home and away. They'd play every team of the other conference once. Then a Magic Weekend where teams are drawn out of a hat. A regular season of 22 rounds. A top-eight play-off structure with the top fours of either league and a mid-season break to accomodate international rl!

EG,
SL West
Wigan
St Helens
Warrington
Crusaders
Widnes
Barrow
Catalans
Halifax / Leigh


SL East
Hull FC
Leeds
Bradford
Hull KR
Castleford
Harlequins
Toulouse / other French team
Wakefield
Huddersfield