Since big Nige took over, what has he achieved for our sport? He's implemented a new league system that gives the best of the championship the chance to take on the worst of the super league, but unless you're Leigh with millions in the bank, chances are you still won't be going up.

He's also struck a new long term deal with Sky who don't really give two hoots about the sport. The introduction of Friday Night Football will probably reduce the amount of casual viewers that watch RL on a Fridnay night. Yes without Sky's money a lot of teams will be going down the toilet but that just sums up how small our sport has become. And despite Sky money's a lot of teams are still going to the wall. Then there's the shocking standard of officiating and disciplinary proceedings.

I have no confidence in that big turd turning around this sports fortunes, because it has been on the decline for several years now.

Agree with all that Avenger and just to back it up I've heard that Sheffield will go under if a new owner doesn't appear soon.

Sorry, I mean Willzey

It does feel like the quality is declining. The Middle and Super eights need tweaking. The Middle 8's are exciting, but the Championship clubs are at a disadvantage because 4 of their 7 games are against higher league opposition, whereas for the Super League teams more than half are against lower. However, the team who finishes fourth is effectively the bottom team in Super League and would ordinarily be relegated.

Go back to the top six format. Go back to the Championship Grand Final. If you want a MPG, have it against bottom and Grand Final winners, with no new recruitment allowed after mid-July.

The Sheffield problems are more to do with losing a backer and gambling on the top four.

The biggest problem is quality, and the salary cap needs to be examined. The league is certainly more competitive, but the NRL is too much of a draw now. The whole England pack will be playing in Aus now, as with many of the backs. We are losing too much quality.

Sheffield going full time and failing with money they haven't got, surely someone must have looked into their finances before a decision was made. I don't know but you'll have thought the RFL also kept an eye on these sort of decisions before it went tits up as it appears to have done.

Similar to the York situation (which seems to have steadied for now). Don't the RFL go through a "fit for purpose" process when there are offers to buy RL clubs?

Investment is probably the RFL's biggest failure. That year when Stobart were the main sponsors for free was criminal.

I think the Salary Cap is good for the game but think it needs a bit of a tweak.

There is no way SL could compete with the NRL on the cap ceiling.

Generally there is more money down under and this extends beyond sport. I looked into salaries and for what I do I could earn 20-30% more down under.

If it got increased too high there will be several clubs going under.

I also think the new concept for World Club Championship is wrong and should just revert back to the GF winners

I think the Salary Cap is good for the game but think it needs a bit of a tweak.

There is no way SL could compete with the NRL on the cap ceiling.

Generally there is more money down under and this extends beyond sport. I looked into salaries and for what I do I could earn 20-30% more down under.

If it got increased too high there will be several clubs going under.

I also think the new concept for World Club Championship is wrong and should just revert back to the GF winners

You could argue that, the introduction of the Middle 8's, has already pushed 2 clubs (Bradford and Sheffield and possibly York) right to the cliff edge.
It's ok having a pathway into the top flight but, if this means that clubs chasing the dream age going to go bust, it needs some serious thought.

Even though it's against the very ethos of "sport", maybe the top flight should be decided by the state of a clubs finances and then leave it up to the others to improve their financial health.
I know that this would see clubs like Trinity in the second tier and I dont want to see that but, the bigger picture, with clubs like Toulouse, Toronto and probably others destined to compete for SL, the smaller clubs like ourselves, Cas, KR and probably Widnes, just aren't going to be able to compete and it's only a matter of time before we fall from grace.

Equally, the RFL should take some responsibility for the state of the game.

Although there has been success with The GF and Magic Weekend, overall it feels like the sport is going backwards and something has to change.

Perhaps there was an assumption that Bradford would make the top four and it's on the field where it's gone wrong more than off it. I suppose the problem is that the sudden loss of income comes in the same season as financial obligations are acquired. It's one thing changing your expenditure if you get relegated, but how hard must it be to budget if the half a million pound drop in fortunes comes half way through the same season?

If you had one-up, one-down, once Leigh go up under that system, everyone can operate more evenly and budget for the year ahead in the close season. It's the timing of the drop that is the problem, with all the existing contracts in place.

And the Super 8's are a borefest. The old top-six format worked.

Why bring a team in from Toronto when York, Sheffield and Bradford are all struggling. Crazy!

Agreed but, the new structure means that more clubs are chasing the dream and realistically more clubs are in jeopardy and both of these scenarios are likely to cause clubs to over reach themselves.

Top 5 is probably best in a 12 team league and as I mentioned in another thread, if The RFL are so determined to have the MPG then, why not just have top of The Championship vs bottom of SL.

It's still crazy that a club finishing 9th in SL or 4th in the Championship should even contest promotion or relegation, especially in 12 team leagues.

Let's face it, the new system looked bonkers when it was introduced and apart from an increase in attendances for the Championship clubs who make it into the middle 8's, it's actually had a detrimental effect on attendances.

Mind you, Sky are probably happy as it gives them more games to screen at the end of the season but, after 1 1/2 seasons it's killing the game.

I think the Middle 8s is a good concept but it is badly skewed against the Championship teams. Apart from the full time / part time issue there's also the fact that Slugger pointed out - SL teams play three other SL sides whilst the Ch teams each have to play four. Whilst that puts all the Ch teams on a level playing field it definitely gives the SL teams an advantage over them. I don't like the MPG - it's virtually impossible for a Ch team to win and it celebrates absolute mediocrity for a winning SL team. I'd get rid of it and just have the lowest placed SL team at the end of the Qualifiers relegated, the highest placed Ch team promoted irrespective of relative positions. Last year we would have gone down and Bradford would have been promoted but, let's face it, we deserved to go down. Get rid of the MPG - it's a farce.

otally agree about Woods he should go.

However I think to the wider general public the game has become boring. Its same old,same old, every season. Same names winning everything. I realise this year Leeds have dropped back and Hull have stepped up . But since SL started you can pick 4 teams every season who you know are certain to win everything and the rest never will. Those same teams get all the best players ,sweep up all the best juniors and has every season passes, they get stronger and the rest fall away and the gap widens.

There are only so many Leeds/Saints/Wigan games etc that the general public can stomach.

The games shot and provides nothing and will not entice people to go and see for themselves. Sky do nothing to promote the game but use it as a time filler hence Thursday night games. With football now on Fridays I wonder how long it will be before games midweek become the norm? I have just cancelled my sky sports today and feel the game in generals lost it.

Agree with this. At one time I watched just about every game of SL on TV, if not live recorded. This past couple of years, the interest has gradually waned & I've found other things to do. If I feel that way, casual fans will feel even worse.

Imo one of the biggest mistakes by the RFL that's led us here was not getting a proper value for SL off SKY. If say all clubs had say for example got 2 million each. Which isn't that much of a rise in the grand scheme of things and to be honest we should have been at that point years ago, instead of the 1.4 million. It would have enabled all clubs to spend the cap easily, even room to have risen it if need be, or at least allowed all clubs to maybe had a marque player in the side. Plus allowed all clubs to have a shot at keeping their juniors and invested in that area more.

I agree with some of the comments on here but not all.

For example haven't Sheffield hit financial trouble because their financial backer of many years pulled out a couple of months ago. How can the RFL take the blame for that when Warrington face the same risk with Moran and Saints with McManus. Let's face it, many clubs are reliant on a sugar daddy and without one they tend to be part time outfits. Sheffield no longer have a sugar daddy and will either go out of existence or live within their means by going part time, a bit like Batley.

I don't think it is impossible for Championship clubs to win the MPG. So far we only have one to go on and how did that go? The Championship club were 2 points behind (could have been level) with about 5 minutes to go. That is a lot closer than many SL matches this year. Also we have seen Championship clubs beat SL clubs this year and last year. (The fact it tends to be Salford maybe a different story.) I think people should give the Middle 8's more time before they write them off. At least with the Middle 8's any promoted Championship club has proven that they can compete against SL clubs. Compare that to the system 10-15 years ago where the promoted club tended to be whipping boys. What was it the last time Leigh won promotion, they won maybe 2 games? (One against us.)

The problem is that, even IF a Championship club gains promotion and has their season in the top flight, the very fact that 4 clubs (out of 12) face the "qualifiers" at the end of the following season, means that it's nailed on that they will be fighting for survival at the end of the following season.
Ok, they may survive again but, they will be back doing the same again 12 months later.

At lease with 1 up, 1 down, they have a better chance of survival and maybe moving forward.

The current structure means a perpetual fight for survival for 5/6 clubs every season and this would include any promoted club.

I agree wrencat. It also stops the high number of dead rubber matches towards the end of the season. Some people like it some people don't. For me, in the current experiment the only change I would make for the Super 8s is for a top 6 rather than top 4 going into eliminations. I'd have 3 v 6 (game A) and 4 v 5 (game B). Then the winner of those games play 1st and 2nd such as 1st v winner of game A and 2nd vs winner of game B. This would make Super 8s more interesting for me at least.

Hi.May I just ask a little favour,please.

In the long,very long,distant past,when you had financial problems,you were able to set up a particular bank account which allowed supporters to put money into it until you decided what to do with the money.
You informed Bradford fans about this but they chose to ignore the advice.

Could you inform me of the name of this type of bank account please,and whether or not it is still available to be used?

Thanks.

I think we were referring to an ESCRO (sp?) account, where you can keep your money until it's either needed or returned. You can also set up crowd funding schemes to do the same.

during a transaction between two negotiating parties where the funds are held by the third party until the conditions between seller and buyer are settled. The funds are then released by the third party once all the conditions are met. It is usually used in property/mortgage transactions but can be used in other deals where money transactions are concerned.

The Bradford method is probably better - pass buckets around at as many matches as possible, get the Sky commentators to make an emotional Comic Relief style appeal on air, and have past players like Jamie Peacock cajoling people to donate; then make the money disappear with no discernible positive impact on the situation you find yourself in.

We know the RFL won't change their minds once they have set on a course

but the system is in desperate need of tweaking. I'm sure plenty will say the problem with the Top 8's is that Trinity are there but it was essentially the same problem last year.

If we must keep the system, why not make the entire season worthwhile. split as now but middle 8's retain all points scored against fellow middle 8 clubs then they play 8 games against the Championship teams, home and away, to give a true league with top four going up.

Top 8's keep their points but top 4 play each other twice, 6 games against fellow teams. Likewise 5-8 with 4th & 5th teams of full league playing off for 4th playoff spot.

This surely has to be better than the dog's breakfast we have now.

Thank you very much people.



Good luck with your stadium issues.

Good luck to John Kear on his return for 2017.