A sport that can produce a game like last night's and we're probably going to have to accept a reduced deal from the only bidder, no justice.

Life is a mystery to me when this sport isn’t being lauded throughout the country. That game last night was pure entertainment. It was brutal, it was a sheer endurance test, it pushed every player to their limits and it had that dramatic ending.

When will the game wake up and start levelling up and not down?! I’ve read jokers all week complaining it’s two of the same old four teams in the final. Well whose fault is that? These complainers can’t even get their backsides in gear with a salary cap helping hold the big teams back.

Sadly,

1.Too many games are nowhere near that standard, not even close
2.Too many clubs accept mediocrity and lack ambition,
3. Game is heading for semi-pro status at an alarming rate and the RFL are seriously complicit in that
4. International RL is a joke

A reduced tv deal will be a good result at the present time because the game is is serious difficulty. If that means we have to put up with current Sky commentry (and especially the amateurish summerisers on the commentry team - what a joke they were last night especially) then it is not going to help make it any more appealing to a wider audience.

Unfortunately, a lot of them couldn't run a p##s up in a brewery. That's always been the main problem.

Last time they did nothing but whinge until the salary cap had been introduced to peg the go-ahead clubs back. I wonder what levelling-down tactic the RFL will resort to this time?

Constantly messing with the rules and super 8’s and 6 team playoffs and club call and 6 again and 5 team play offs and penalties for playing the ball into the guy on the floor and inconsistent refereeing of high shots and and and and......


I love the game, played it from being 9 until in my 30’s and I still sometimes don’t have a clue what’s going on so you’ll always struggle to get the new blood that the sport needs to grow, if you keep trying to reinvent the wheel

Innovation is a massive strength of RL IMO. Pretty much everyone loves 6 again. They didn't introduce penalties for playing the ball into the man at the ruck, teams just started realising they could get an easy penalty that way so the RFL had to change the interpretation to cut it out. If they had left that alone it would have wrecked the season. Agreed about the league structure though, they need to pick something and try to stick with it. Not a huge issue but annoying I agree.

My point is that they keep reinventing the wheel. The 6 again is GOOD, but it’s inconsistently given.

Innovation for the sake of it will not bring new fans

they followed the NRL who are innovative

Which innovation do you feel was for the sake of it? Other than the league/play off structure which I agree we have messed with too much.

We have but I'm glad we've replaced the top 5 with this new top 6 system. One thing you dont want in a playoff series is repeat fixtures - wasnt good to play Salford twice last year. This years system was simpler, the top 2 get a clear advantage with the week off and it knocks a week off the year.

Yeah prefer top 5 myself because it rewards you better the higher you finish but do take your point. Regardless of which system you like, it's hard to argue that it isn't frustrating how often we change the structure. Especially when we are going back to what we already had in place sometimes. Other than that I think the rule changes tend to be for the good, and have generally been praised by a fan base that loves an excuse for a good loan as a rule.

This in my opinion is one of RL biggest issues and i have posted on the Warriors fans forum about it previously.

Instead of everyone striving to be Wigan, Saints, Leeds etc and pushing to be the highest denominator, we bring everyone back down to the lowest denominator. When super league was introduced i am sure that there was criteria attached to being entered into SL i.e. ground, business plan, academy etc. It appears that this has fallen by the wayside given the relevant states of not only some of the stadia, but the apparent reluctance of teams to run academy and reserve grade teams.

Whilst i appreciate that there is a salary cap in place i am sure that the last TV deal covered the amout of the salary cap. If that was the case, then all teams should be made to pay the full cap to playing staff. If someone then wants to take advantage of the marquee player and any exemptions for long service, then that is up to that club to do so, but the minimum should be all clubs spending at least the cap amount. There is no incentive for teams to sell season tickets, market their games etc if the TV money makes it easier for them.

Wigan used to be streets ahead with marketing when Simon Collinson was at the club, and have fallen by the wayside up until the last few weeks where it appears to have been re-energised and back to where it should be.

Not looking good at all. SKY have offered £20m which is roughly half the current deal. https://www.totalrl.com/super-league-re ... ghts-blow/

Not looking good at all. SKY have offered £20m which is roughly half the current deal. https://www.totalrl.com/super-league-re ... ghts-blow/

Quote ="MattyB"Not looking good at all. SKY have offered £20m which is roughly half the current deal. https://www.totalrl.com/super-league-re ... ghts-blow/'" Cant help but feel it was always going to be tough going with Skys new owners and that was before covid struck.

Quote ="MattyB"Not looking good at all. SKY have offered £20m which is roughly half the current deal. https://www.totalrl.com/super-league-re ... ghts-blow/'" Cant help but feel it was always going to be tough going with Skys new owners and that was before covid struck.

Any player with an ounce of ambition will be desperate for a NRL contract.
Hard times ahead for the professional game, can't imagine any other broadcasters are going to throw big money our way.

Not good at all. Time to take the shackles off. They need to drastically raise the salary cap so the clubs who do have money can keep talent in our game.

Semi pro here we come i guess

I am sorry having to say this but it comes as no surprise that Sky Sports are offering less money when our game when it no longer attracts the top players from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa like it use to do before Rugby Union sold its sole and became fully professional in the mid nighties. As a result, Rugby Union has become more attractive in the eyes of the television media companies like Sky Sports and BT while Rugby League has now become less attractive to the television media companies..

Supporters, prior to the mid nighties were used to watching many of the top players from not only from Rugby Union, especially South Wales, but also top players at their peak from down under which is no longer the case due to the NRL in New South Wales and Queensland becoming like Premiership Football in our country.

The only way to improve the situation in order to attract better offer from Sky Sports or even BT who are the two biggest companies in sports media coverage is for some clubs to merge and form bigger and financially stronger clubs to create a better, bigger and financially stronger professional game in our country.

As long as some supporters want to cling to the past and have the same number of small clubs along the M62 corridor, where attendances are nothing like they were years ago, our game will continue to struggle as a major sport and will perhaps end up again as a part time sport, but unlike in the past, now living in the shadow of Rugby Union which is now a far bigger game in the eyes of the television companies like Sky Sports and BT.

The idea that the league game should be put out to tender is a non starter as Sky Sports and BT have the most money where the coverage of team sports is concerned as illustrated by the massive multi million pound contacts to the Premiership in Football and more recently, Rugby Union with its Premiership and European Cup Competitions.

The financial future of the game is bleak unless the RFL follow the example of the game in Australia of a few years ago and take some similar draconian measures to rectify the situation, even if upsets some clubs and its supporters.

Having Leigh as the 12th SL club has hardly helped the case for bigger investment by Sky. To them and the watching world its just "another M62 club" joining an insular, inward looking sport.

Totally agreed. The whole way it was done absolutely stinks. The clubs decided Toronto’s fate but an independent committee decide to promote Leigh?

Leigh was the safe bet but that doesn’t mean it was the right one.

The so called NRL takeover will happen next year IMO for a fraction of the prove touted. The sooner the bloody better, no one in this country seems capable of running RL effectively or competently. That offer is the result of years of poor baffling decisions, impatience with decisions (licensing, Exiles, War of the Roses etc) and a clear inability to do anything but lower the standards of the league to satisfy the likes of Wakefield, Cas, KR who have absolutely no intentions of raising their own standards.

Licensing should have been a new dawn for RL. A set of minimum standards each club had to meet consistently to keep their place in the league. Instead we got clubs like the aforementioned half heartedly promise stadia and investment that just never came. Wigan, Saints, Leeds, Catalans and Warrington have been consistently meeting and exceeding those standards, even after they went. Those clubs are the benchmark for UKRL and the standard which York, Newcastle, Toulouse and London are aiming for. Having successful and well run clubs attracts sponsors, fans and media and that’s irrespective of where in the country the clubs are.

The only people to blame for this mess is the RFL and SL. Together they’ve reduced RL to no more than an after thought. The kind of sport people like but wouldn’t know when/where to go watch a game. It’s an absolute disgrace of epic proportions.

The mergers might have worked when Mo Lindsay suggested them back in the early days of SL. Cumbria, Humberside, Manchester and central Yorkshire would have been perfect zones for it to happen. Even the like of Wigan / Saints, Bradford / Leeds and Warrington / Widnes could have looked at it, but only the emergence of super teams in other big cities would have made it worthwhile for our bigger clubs, and there was never any sign of that.

I still think that a combined Cumbria team could have worked, along with combined Manchester and central Yorkshire teams, but if you look at the situation now, the potential advantages aren't as evident.

Even if the Cumbrian clubs were willing, most of them would bring nothing to the table. Instead of having two or three ineffective Cumbrian clubs, we'd have one. Likewise the teams in Manchester: Salford would simply consume Oldham, Rochdale etc and gain little from it.

It might work in central Yorkshire and on Humberside, but it's impossible to imagine Cas, Wakey, FC and KR agreeing to it. Besides, if we did that, we'd be reducing the numbers of our viable clubs even more, and there aren't many of those to start with.

I'm not sure what other mergers we could even consider. Wigan and Leigh? Why would either agree? Wigan would gain nothing from it and Leigh would just disappear. It would be the same with Wire and Widnes.

This new TV deal is really worrying for the sport. A reported 50% of the last one, a drop of 33% for SL clubs and no funding for any lower leagues. The future looks bleak.

What I don't understand, is why the game doesn't get a bigger following. As you can tell from my name I am a softy Southerner (granted lived in the NW for a good while) and was brought up on Union.

To watch and to play League is far more entertaining. Doesn't matter if you think that its a simple game and the facets of Union make it better. For shear action League is miles in front.

I have mates down hear who love the game. Took me a while to get them into it but they love far more than Union now.

A blind man can see its more entertaining, so why does it still struggle to increase the following even if its only tv and not in the grounds.

is it the coverage? The commentators? The lack of marketing? Not enough quality sides?

I base this on the fact I don't think the game needs improving as a spectacle

(sigh) It would be nice to be a fan of the sport without worrying about the sport.

Looks like private investors will plug the gap in the short term with the hope that the next contract will be of higher value. If its the right investor who is able to play a significant role in driving the sport forward it might be a good move but still a massive gamble.

What the Championship clubs do is anyone's guess - I can't see any broadcasters offering a deal purely for lower league RL.

Elstone has done a great job since he came .....