So today we find out which team joins us in the Championship next season. The sensible money has to be on Leigh, they are playing the better rugby and are at home.
I however believe Catalan will not be allowed to drop out of Super League. Being that I am getting more cynical in my old age I fear a stitch up.
If I was a fan of Leigh I would be worried.
My prediction, Catalan to stay up. Leigh to get tucked up.

How at this late stage do you propose the RFL will navigate themselves around that one???

same way they did for Huddersfield two years running. Merged bottom of the league Huddersfield to Sheffield hence shhuddersfield and then the following time merged Hull to Gateshead and bottom of the league shuddersfield escaped again. First and only time we were bottom we were relegated and the same should happen to Cats if they are beaten.

So who will Cats merge with Salford? Catalans red devils

So then with 6 minutes to go looks like Catalan are safe, good thing is all the doom Sayers can say the ref is responsible for the conspiracy to save Catalans from the drop.
Then again it shatters all the theories that Catalans never get any penalties!!!!
Not sure how that's going to work

Cats deserved that. Bring on Leigh. They will clear out the old guard. That team looked tired.

So Leigh, TO, Toronto and Us for top 4

Fev Fax looking for the upset.

Reserve judgement till we know what sort of pack and playmakers we have.

SR if Fev Fax can run competitive clubs on a shoestring it wont look well on out club management if we can't when we are FT.

You never know next season Qs might be irrelevant depending on what the clubs decide is the next new "new dawn" again.
Without doubt Toronto will push hard, I do think though they may do a Toulouse next year, fall short at the final fences, there last run of results I feel were tighter than they expected in L1
Toulouse a bit like us, it depends how they recruit.
Leigh are obviously going to want. To do a HKR and finish top of the pile, with them a lot depends on if they can keep the core of the squad.
Us ahhhh who knows, let's see who we get in.

I know it's not for everyone, and some folk think there should be no promotion demotion in our sport, but for me sport is about excitement and challenges.
The 8s I think have really come into there own.
What confuses me is the whinging about the MP game. If you are to have promotion then why not make it exciting, all the complaints by clubs involved revolve around people losing jobs etc, only difference would be if they got rid of the MP game would be it's decided a different way, one club was still relegated from SL this year, yes it would have been Catalan but would that not have just made there game against Widnes the week before there MP game?

I suspect the problem in this game with P&R is clubs try to buy safety and spend above there means( we aren't as wealthy as football). Franchising provides time to settle the club.

Times reporting the MPG is to be dumped and not used in the future, presumably because franchising to be re-introduced?

I hope so and if thats the case we need to understand the criteria and get a good proposal ready

scrap stupid play off games and add extra two to SL and straight forward system of 2 down 2 up.

The 2 that go up being the 2 that go down and the players move from one to the other, nothing like turning the clock back 20 years.

and what happens now has moved the game forward. its the same play off which has been exciting this year but still predictable who go es up and down. championship sides dont have the money and are not playing to SL standard week in week out so this resolves nothing. Stability and excitement are called for and that is beyond the depths of the fat cats at RFL

The million pound game was a great idea, you have a fully professional league on a salary cap, and a largley semi-pro game on half the salary cap. Created a bit more interest at the end of the season, but basically there would be no promotion or relegation because of the gap in quality between the leagues. Plus there was always a chance one of the Superleague 'franchises' would self-destruct financially, and this provided an instant replacement if that happened without costing the RFL anything. The blowing away of the salary cap has also blown away the concept. The superleague clubs can now be cast into the wilderness (championship) just because an owner in the lower league has a lot of money. The RFL either has to establish a fully professional league with all the fully professional clubs in it and re-impose the salary cap or re-introduce franchising.

Show us the massive increases in Attendances that this jeopardy has delivered...or the line of new top notch sponsors with their cheque books open, of the flow of players heading the NRL (It pretty much stopped the day Licencing did), or the extra column inches in the mainstream media that this end of season farce has delivered.



Nope....Widnes went up and were safe from relegation under licencing. The minute the comfort blanket was removed they regressed in their style of play...The Average the season they got their first Licence was 5,769 and they finished at the foot of the table.....they got that up to a 7,928 average the season that was the last of licencing was their average, 5,767 this year (less after the 8's)......RL isn't just about the 80 minutes on the park and until we get people at the helm who can grasp that, even if it miffs some of the "old guard" we will remain as we are.

Why is it a farce? Ok change the scenario straight two up two down, club can be relegated knowing it's relegated with 6 weeks of the season left, what does that achieve? If yr going to have progression within the league then make it interesting.
I stand by it, the super 8s and qualifiers were exciting this year, no one can deny that, the emotion of that MP game is interesting.
If they got rid of the 4/5 play off the final result is the same just decided differently, yep this year that means Leigh would have been safe and Catalan in the championship! Who can deny that 1 point game last year was not drama.
It's my view that's all, franchise without a top to bottom change in the game achieves very little.
Keep some sort of p&r

And that's what forums are for...discussing differing views. The issue as I see it is financial....unless we have the same amount of cash flowing around 3 divisions as football, then we should follow the route trodden by more successful comps.....like say....oh, I don't know...the NRL? They're not perfect and they have to reinvigorate themselves from time to time, but middle 8's/straight p&r is only "interesting" if you're involved, whilst growing the game and letting clubs build for the future by concentrating on off field matters and not just "staying up" has helped the game.......Catalans will spend heavily on overseas players this off season to prevent a return to the Q8.......remind me how that helps the French game?

Or you could look at a more successful comp that has promotion and relegation, I think they call it football premiership in the UK.
*NRL has much different dynamics involved because of the geography of the game.
as for p&r only being interesting if you are involved!!!!!you can say that about any game, let's scrap the grand final then!
Catalan and overseas players! So should Toronto just be n American players? The game has developed in France Toulouse are credit to that.

The answers are not easy.
Should SL be A 14 team comp? Or why not 16 franchise? P&R? They all have pros and cons, I will say the super 8s game generated more media coverage this year than in lots before.

RL is not soccer, we should protect and encourage ambition for the benefit of the sport. Two divisions of 10 with p&r between them and a 3 year licence protects the current ambitious clubs, allows expansion and provides those wanting to be ambitious a defined timeline/pathway to succeed. London, Toulouse and Toronto should be in that structure

Two divisions of 10 assume you mean second and third tier?
How many in the top flight then? And question being what criteria do you use for the licence system? At the end of the 3 years how do you then demote/promote someone??? The problem with franchise is you then have 12/13/14 clubs who are getting the money from tv etc in theory cementing there position in that top flight, what process do you then use to change that top flight make up?
No one said rl was soccer, but it's not NRL either! All that was suggested was that franchise worked for one of the biggest competitions that being NRL.
Let's take RU instead then, you could argue that they are very close to the way RL works, I think Exeter are a prime example of how p&r can work successfully

No I mean a two division full time SL. we should be currently able to central fund £1.8m and £1m pa respectively, but secure a better deal to increase that imo. One up/down between divisions and possibly a 2nd bottom v second top million pound game. Clubs apply to join every 3 years, at which point failing clubs can be replaced or the leagues expanded. The gap would be closer and fixtures very competitive in both comps, I also believe in min spends not max

2 conferences of 8 or 9, split on broadly 'geographical' lines - Yorks + London and Toronto / Lancs + Toulouse and Les Cats. Home away fixtures home or away as cross conference. Play off for Grand Final involving both conferences, and relegation, for one team. One cross conference game for Magic or 'on the road'. Conference 'of Origin' game to get the juices flowing. Monies graduated down finishing position, 12 home games, 12 away, one neutral. Offers more local derbies, hopefully more simple tv scheduling. Championship level below offers existing teams plus any new comers the chance to get into the top level, possibly in one year.