Accepting they were thrown in last minute on half budget with no SL players available to buy, are they the worst ever SL team?

Halifax 2003? W1 L27 Points difference -875

We (Leigh) could easily go the entire season without a win, some of the players are good but are being picked off already for next season, as a collective the team is poor !

Basic tackling techniques/skills are not there, backing off attacking player's allowing them even more room & to build speed, smaller man for man too !

I thought only Salford could save us but their win against the odds last night puts that to bed.

We had litlle Matty Russell playing in the middles at one point, just crazy, we've no Props to rotate & yet the club loan a Prop out !

What about Huddersfield finishing repeatedly bottom year after year when there was no relegation what were their stars? Given the situation they accepted less money no time and all SL players already under contract. Think this is churlish question. Because of these things Leigh were written off from the start. Here’s another question when you are such a strong team and dominant in a game why do you need to take another teams playmakers our.. bad head shots on Reynolds, Brierley and Mellor about 3 times. Should have been a yellow card in there somewhere probably the Brierley one.

I'm wondering if the jump from the championship to SL is just too much. Maybe a years grace should be given to promoted sides to settle the club for a 2nd year 'dig'.

INOUT

That given the circumstances would have been the fair thing to do, last time round with the full money Leigh competed and finished 11th. Looks like the SL want P&R but with no risk of any of the existing teams getting relegated. I think with another year to build an SL team Leigh would succeed. But it will be same old story of best players cherry picket and building another team from scratch.

Got to feel sorry the fans. Not fair on them.

Best post that Willy.

Absolute laughing stock.

Love to see it happening to Degsy the clown

Maybe, but at least Sheffield Eagles wouldn't put 50 past us, eh ?

I'm more of s franchise fan but with the books opened every 3 years. With the intention of adding 2 sides to the league. However sides that are not Keating certain criteria after the 3 years can also be removed or given s warningband removed the following time around if not improved.

This would firstly allow sides to prepare properly before entering with a thought out and considered plan of getting to a competatie level and viable business room and 3 years plus to establish themselves in the league.

That one has been tried and it didn’t work just means clubs can finish bottom of league with no relegation pressure so lots of dead rubber games. Promises to improve grounds that never happen. Declining championship crowds because no chance of promotion. Let’s be honest this years situation of one underfunded club being given an impossible task is due to the farcical Toronto experiment.

We need some vision in RL a future plan but don’t see anyone around who has one.

Yes.

Either you have P & R, or you don't. Changing the structure won't help until we increase the number of players playing the game at all levels, at the moment, the player pool is spread too thin.

Promotion and relegation’s not the problem in rugby league. Relegation’s the problem.
Under the current system a team’s relegated whether it deserves to be or not just because it finishes bottom. Take London in 2020, relegated on points difference even though they won 10 games. The thing is they were competitive - they beat Wigan, Leeds, Sts, Trinity (twice), Catalans - and given a bit more time could have been, I think, successful and an asset to Super League. But they had to be relegated because they finished bottom (ahead of HKR who they beat twice!)
The winners of the Championship should be promoted (and protected from relegation for 1 season) whilst they bottom SL team is assessed for its competitiveness during the season. Work’s been done in the States on measuring teams’ competitiveness during matches so it can be done. A competitive team wouldn’t be relegated. It could lead to expansion and increased quality of SL based on measurable on field performance. An odd number would mess up Magic but there's a way round that too. Why relegate a potential asset?
I don’t know if this approach would help Leigh this year but they shouldn’t be relegated anyway. I know they applied for it but they and their fans haven’t been treated fairly. To relegate them would be a farce and bring the game in to disrepute.

The top clubs in SL have next years squad signed up before the current season ends

The team coming up wins the GF in late Sept/early Oct when all the players are signed up.

The odds are massively stacked against the promoted side. They really need to be protected for a season.

Good post mate.

DH

Agreed, sensible post that pal.

Leigh recruited for the championship expecting to be playing there so it’s a bit unfair on them.

I would say, over the length of SL based on a number of factors like league finish, support, stadium, quality of academy etc it’s easily out of Wakefield and Salford for worst ever SL team

Yes it has but not as I described.

It basically ended up being the same teams with no real additions and the championship was effectively cut adrift causing the problems were facing now in that promotes sides are just going to struggle to stay up.

What I am proposing would be that every 3 years 2 additional sides are added to the league with any side falling foul of the franchise conditions being removed if necessary. So more often than not the league numbers will be increased.

With the rfl and super League working with championship clubs creating a pathway into the franchise that's attainable and sustainable.. let's say Halifax as an example they may not be likely to win the grand final but that's not a reason to not have them in the league. I think we can sometimes forget the differences being in the top division or second can have on attendances investment and sponsorship aswel as local participation. If fax were in super League it's more than reasonable to expect after 3 years they will start to have some young local lads coming through or not far off which possibly wouldn't have been picked up by the current 12. But also there is going to be an increase in young lads playing at mature level. This too is dependant on the salary cap being adjusted so that rugby league can become a viable career prospect with not just the 2/3 top players the only ones getting a decent wage.

As you say some kind of new thinking is needed having watched quite a bit if the NFL in the last few years I think that a hybrid of their league and fixture set up as the goal could be annidea to consider that in 10 years we will have a 26 team league set up in a few conferences and all sides playing each other over a 2/3 season period. It would cut loop fixtures yet the "big games would still happen every year it would just be in the play offs imagine the first Wigan saints game is a knock out game in the play offs as there's been no league game that season it would be a huge game with a great atmosphere ! Making every game mean something is not just about league position or if the sides have anything to play for the fixture needs to be the event too !!

I fear that we will make minor changes as there's just a fear of change and a reluctance from super League clubs to vote in what's best for the sport long term over what's best for themselves. Citing quality as the reasoning why we should not expand we may dilute the talent pool initially but we will now have more sides training up potential players. I refuse to believe that we are finding every super League quality player or potential super League player from the lower leagues let alone at amature and youth level as we only have the capacity to have X amount due to there being a low number of sides at the top level of the sport !!!

Either Leigh, or any other team who gets promoted should get a 2 year grace, or we continue with this silly yoyo from champ to SL and back again,or even go bust. Our sport is embarrassing enough as it is without continuing going down the same old failure path. Will the RFL look at this and think, yes that would be a good idea to give a 2 year grace, and improve the sport? No, not a cat in hell chance. WAFS.

Cheers LeBron. Different name, same old guff.

To answer the original post.

YES undoubtedly!

You have to understand it's all he's got why else would he keep reinventing him self, sad isn't it