If we went with 2 up, 2 down, at least one (possibly both) would have an instant return to The Championship.
At least with one up, there is a chance of that side remaining in the top flight.

Relegation was scrapped to try and create some stability in the game and although Bradford and Wakefield did almost everything they could to maintain the instability that there had been previously, in general terms, the franchising/licensing period did help.
However, there just wasn't a decent mechanism for swapping clubs in or out of the top flight.
Whilst relegation is difficult for any side that goes down, there is little doubt that it adds to the excitement towards the end of the season and prevents the "dead rubbers" that nobody was interested in.
The cynical fans believe that certain clubs would still be prevented form going down but, what we have currently seems ok and the irony is that having scrapped the "every minute matters" nonsense with it's contrived MPG, we have more genuine excitement when the season occurs "organically".
Having said that, if London had been the easy beats that most pundits had suggested, the situation would be a whole lot different and with a little help from Saints, Dave Ward deserves a huge amount of credit and looks like he will have a very bright future as a coach in the top flight.

There is no change that 2 up 2 down would get approved by SL chairmen. They're only concerned with their club well-being and an increased chance of relegation is not what they want.

BUMP.....and let's keep it on topic lads eh?

Looking at that Wakefield run in and hearing Chester say he's only got 17 fit players, then I can see them being really strong candidates. If London hit any bit of form, then it really could come down to the final day at Hell View.

Wakey run a reserve team don't they and have a first team squad of 34 players ? All guff from Chester.

I'm sure that 34 man squad includes the reserves as well, at present we have lost Johnstone, Arona, and Ashurst for the season, plus the loss of Huby, and Caton Brown, which dilutes that squad somewhat, we have players out on loan who cannot be recalled for a month, then we come on to the players that are having to play with injuries, that dilutes the squad further more, but you being the font of all knowledge regarding Wakey will have taken all this into account before deeming that Chester is all guff, all I can say tiggerpops is it's not often you get it right, but once again your wrong

Well he as named 19 for tonight:- Annakin, Arundel, Batchelor, Brough, England, Fifta, Hampshire, Hirst, Jones-Bishop, Jowitt, King, Kirmond, Kopczak, Lyne, Miller, Randell, Tanginoa, Tupou, Wood

Are the following all out on loan ?.....Reynolds, Crowther, Hooley, Baldwinson, Kershaw, Wray, Gwaze, Croft and Aydin ?

What a huge win for us tonight. Great performance in what what like a three point win bringing our points deficit down.

Wakefield also lost their game v St Helens. Leeds moving to 8th place, Huddersfield down to 10th, Wakefield to 9th. Huge games for London and Hull KR on Sunday.

it was a very good win and you could of run a few more, hard at the bottom isn't it

Reynolds has been recalled (although not sure how long into the first 28 days it has been - will be getting close to that though) and any of the others who've already been on loan for 28 days should really be on week by week extensions. If WT have agreed to long term loans with no recall clauses then more fool them.

With respect to all of the players mentioned, are any of them better than what we have.
There are serious questions to be asked about how impotent we are with ball in hand but, the games are being lost in the middle, plus some long standing questions about our defensive structure.
Ashurst and Arona are huge misses for us and Pauli has proven to be ok with ball in hand but utterly idle in defence, a luxury that we can ill afford.

My reply was pointing out that having players out on long term loan shouldn't be an excuse for a shortage of available players, which was implied to be the case a few posts back.

Leeds (-58 - 1icon_cool.gif - Catalan H, St Helens H, London A, Salford H, Warrington H.

Wakefield (-127 - 1icon_cool.gif - Hull FC H, Hull KR A, Wigan H, Warrington A, London H.

Huddersfield (-131 - 1icon_cool.gif - Salford A, Hull FC A, Castleford H, St Helens A, Catalan H.

Hull KR (-187 - 1icon_cool.gif - Wigan A, Wakefield H, Catalan A, London H, Salford A

London (-250 - 16) - Castleford A, Catalan A, Leeds H, Hull KR A, Wakefield A.

It looks like the Wakefield v London game at the end of the season will be the decider

This year is turning into a real nail-biter, forget all the guff in previous seasons about "every minute counts" or whatever it was, every club has something to play for.

Whether the bottom five or top seven, it's all still in the melting pot, & because every team still has an incentive it's so difficult to call which way a game will go.

Looking at the remaining fixtures I feel like Leeds & Hull K.R. are almost over the line, but Wakefield, Huddersfield & London's fixtures look very tricky, then again didn't Huddersfield inexplicably turn Salford over a few weeks ago?

London only have one home game left now, against a rejuvenated Leeds, their best chance of an away victory is obviously against Wakefield, but by then they may have to win by about fifty, which is probably doable!

Think London are gone. Can’t see them picking up any more points. Even if they beat Wakefield their pts difference will relegate them.

Imagine if London weren't there. It would be one hell of a finish to the season. As it is they're going to save everyone's blushes and go down.

Yeah, looks like London are gone - but you just think there will be another couple of surprises before it’s done and dusted. Points difference has done them.

Which if happens will be a real shame IMO

I'd be more worried if I was a shudds fan, especially if Catalans are still fighting for a top 5 place.

Considering the amount of points all the teams at the bottom are on it’s not exactly saving blushes more London doing incredibly well to keep up and turn a mid-table battle into a relegation fight.

Well after this weekend if anyone thought Leeds still had a chance of slipping through the trap door thats pretty much done and dusted now especially if the RFL have any balls Catalan should be struggling to name a team.

Why is it a shame? London have done quite well so far this season,but if it isn't enough, then there is no such thing of it's a real shame.

Catalan will be so short they’ll have Charles Aznavour at 7.

Apologies if you are under 50

Agree.
We've punched well above our weight this year and have 16 more points than anyone expected us to have, but that's more to do with how far the "rest" have fallen, rather than how brilliant we've been.
It's not done and dusted just yet though, as we play Leeds, HKR and Wakey as well as schizophrenic Catalans and an Jekyl & Hyde Castleford, and 3 wins might just well keep us up. All the loss v Salford did was confirm we wouldn't make the play offs this year

If you can pull that off,then it will be more than well deserved.