https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/53565124

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/53565124

Would be nice to get a bye given the fixture congestion.

I know it's all about finances and keeping sponsors happy, but if ever a competition needed postponing for a year, then this is it.

We talk about the SL comp being devalued. This CC comp totally outdoes that. No club surely wants it and I can see it being a reserve team comp.

Makes no difference, we'll still get Wigan.

The final is scheduled for Saturday 17th October (venue tbc). We were due to play Toronto the following week and now we have Catalan confirmed for Monday 26th October in Perpignan. Should we not make the Challenge Cup final then, amongst all this fixture congestion, we will have a 12 day interval between games This is going to be a very strange season in so many ways.

Surely, for the welfare of the players, there has to be some flexibility to the fixture list?

There are only going to be 2 teams in the CC final- The other 9 clubs can surely be able to rearrange matches around that date, so easing pressure on player's fitness in the schedule?

ha ha ha my first thought aswell

My first thought was that Eomann had complained bitterly regarding Uncle Rico's pool panel result against Cas.

Looking at the fixtures list I would imagine that SL coaches will be forced to choose between going for the Challenge cup or the SL trophy. There is simply no way they can challenge for both, we will surely be using the full squad of 30 for the SL matches as it is.

I was listening to Price on the club website and noted that he spoke of having a full squad of 34 players out training. I only have names against numbers 1 - 31 so it sounds as though three more of the youngsters have been added to the roster.

I agree, it would take something phenominal to win both competitions but I imagine that most clubs will give the Challenge Cup their best shot and look at the league afterwards.

Technically Eribe Doro is in the Reserves, but probably only because he was on the naughty step last year. So he would be 31 in reality. I would guess that Connor Wrench and Ellis Longstaff from the U18's could be another two. They are both BR, England Academy players, and contracted to Nov '22. Not sure about 'number 34'. Possibly Kyle Shelford the Reserves captain ? or Jacob Gannon another one of our U18's ?

Normally the coach tries to run with the same team for the first 5-6 games of the season, but I wonder if he will rotate from the start to keep the squad match fit ? He has some difficult decisions to make.

I have a horrible concern that injuries could make the decisions for SP!

When is the draw

Can he afford to rotate?

In another thread we spoke about how many games a side will have to win to make the top 4 - from a 20 game season, I'd say the absolute minimum is 11 wins (and that's pushing it). We are presently 3 from 6, meaning we need 8 or 9 wins from 14, just to scrape into 4th.

What I think will happen is simple - Price will gamble. He will/should pick 10 games from 14 and treat them as must-win, cup finals. While not 'throwing' the other 4, he will be able to use them to rest players.

As for the Challenge Cup, I don't expect it to be any more than a reserves comp.

Given the current financial position the prize money for the CC will make it a priority I would have thought.

What's the prize money difference between CC and SL?

I'd reckon, unless a side gets very lucky with the draw, it's almost impossible to seriously target a double this year - There will have to be one side that is head and shoulders above the rest to do so and, from what we saw in the few weeks before lockdown, there isn't one. (Wigan are probably the closest).

The merchandise value of the CC dwarfs a GF. However I don’t know how it would stack up in 2020.

I'm not sure that the mercandising for the Challenge Cup dwarfs the mercandidising for the Grand Final, a lot depends upon factors such as when you side were last there etc, but I expect that the merchandising means more to the club than the prize money. As you say, this will be a different story this year if there are no fans at the game.

The actual prize money may well find its way directly into the pockets of the players since it is excempt from the sallary cap.

I expect that most clubs, at least up until the end of September, will treat this as a normal season with a game per week. After that it starts to get a bit congested. You can't rotate too many players per game, it's going to be more about managing the knocks and niggles as they occur.

6.30 tonight on our league

I think many people expect a lot more from squad rotation than actually ever happens. Typically a couple of newer players sneak into the 17, and maybe the odd one will start but unless there are serious injuries where it's obvious the guy can't play, most players will pick up niggles and just carry on. It's about managing the condition.
Now given the fixture congestion I can see a couple more newer names than we'd typically expect, but the core of the side will remain first choice so whether it's 30 or 34 training in the squad it makes little difference to the actual 17. Longer term though it's good because it exposes the newer players to the 'professional' environment.

not it does, clubs make a shedload off merch pre challenge cup final, you dont get the same money spent in the lead up to the GF

I meant that no club can afford to just concede defeat by playing a reserve team. Winning SL is far more difficult than the CC.

So we have drawn Saints.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/53584920

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/53584920

Is Robert Hicks available?