I believe felicitations in order - Happy Birthday,Danny!





The referee for our first win in this years Qualifiers will be Mr Chris Kendall.

He refereed our loss to London Broncos at the Summer Bash.Blackpool

He also refereed another defeat - the one in July to a club named Halifax.

3rd time luck not required but will accept if absolutely necessary.

Playoff Rugby is back a must win game for both sides, for whoever loses they would need to win their remaining 4 matches to stand a chance of promotion which is highly unlikely. Should be a close game been wondering who the bookies will make favourite I guess that they will make Halifax slight favourites because they have played the better rugby in the last few weeks should be close but i will go Halifax by 4 points 28-24 hopefully i will be proved wrong

Thanks AC! Will have the preview for this game online by the end of today.

Definitely our most 'winnable' match in the Qualifiers, it'd be nice to get off the board in week 3 and show why we came 3rd and Halifax one place below in the Championship. Whether we will get that elusive win remains to be seen but with no pressure on either side, Sunday should be a great contest.

No pressure ?

They seem quite confident of finishing 4th or 5th - Be nice to finish one place above them,again.

[url=http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/halifax-rlfc/halifax-rlfc-news/fax-s-tyrer-has-million-pound-ambitions-1-7413746Halifax Press Report[/url

Compared to our fellow Championship sides in the Qualifiers, who are currently full-time professionals? Yes, no pressure.

I would suggest to you that no-one wants to finish bottom.

We've never finished bottom.

This is a playoff - we finished 3rd in the league so it doesn't count!

The Qualifiers Game 3 - Halifax Home - wp.me/p3JxPK-zd

The Qualifiers Game 3 - Halifax Home - wp.me/p3JxPK-zd

The funding structure suggests otherwise.

I may have his wrong,( I very often do ) but does your quote suggest/mean that there is more financial reward for finishing higher in the Qualifiers Table?

I was of the opinion that the financial reward,the only one,was for finishing 3rd in the regular season league table.

If there is more money available it would be unfair to reward the Super League clubs who have enough advantage as it is;not just with central funding but with television money.

Back on thread - I didn't see Jamie Langley at Widnes.Is he fit for selection,as a player, for this game?

I would love to think that all the sky money for the middle 8's is equally divided with all 8 sides but unlikely I presume all clubs keep home revenue so i presume they keep all media revenue as well i would be very interested to find out how much sky are paying for middle 8 live tv because the championship is in desperate need for live TV, OK Premier Sports were a bit basic and the timeslots were not really fan friendly at least we had a live game every week.

BT Sports have increased the number of Sports Channels and show topflight Rugby Union would they be interested in Rugby League ? if so lets have a proper bidding process i guess at the moment this what happens
RFL "hello is that sky"
Sky Sports "yes"
RFL "would you be interested in having the super league next season"
Sky "I am sure we can find space in our schedule"
RFL "Thank you very much"

RFL ' We'll chuck in the Championship matches as well'
Sky ' OK, that's very good of you. We won't be showing any of the games but it stops somebody else having it. Please bend over!!!!!!!'

They can't award any funding until they know the final positions! If they awarded Sheffield the funding for next season based on them finishing 3rd in the Championship regular rounds and then Sheff went on to be promoted to SL in the 8's it wouldn't work. If you manage to go up this year you would need SL funding for next year!

I understand,obviously,that the 4 Super League sides,ie those finishing in the top 4 of the Qualifiers,are awarded funding next year.

I was of the opinion that Sheffield Eagles were awarded payment for next year,as a result of finishing 3rd in the regular season.

My question is - does a club finishing 6th in the Qualifiers receive funding,and more of it,than a club finishing 7th or 8th and bottom of the Qualifiers? If so,where was it mentioned that this was the situation?

The truth is I don't know but that could be the case, for example If Wakefield were to finish 6th in the middle 8's they would be relegated so I assume they wouldn't get the SL funding for next season but instead get funding for the championship! If this is the case would they receive the funding equivalent to finishing 2nd in the Championship? Do they get parachute payments anymore?? Similarly if Sheffield finished 5th in the middle 8's and played in the million pound game but lost, just missing out on a SL place, would they qualify for the top funding in the championship? Doesn't seem straight forward! It's hard to find any official confirmation of this.

No, it's all based on the division 1½ results.

Top three + the MPG winner get $uperleague level funding.

Bottom three + the MPG loser get Championship grade funding.

Don't forget - this isn't prize money for 2015, it's funding for 2016. It needs to be appropriate to where you'll be in 2016.

There is no money for finishing second in the Championship. They'd get the money for finishing sixth in the Qualifiers.

I did think that finishing 3rd in the regular season was rewarded immediately hence the announcement of going full time for 2016.

Anyhow -
[uSheffield Eagles Squad[/u
Togagae, Turner, Yere, Smeaton, Worrincy, Brambani, Aston, Battye, Carlile, Stringer, Knowles, Straughier, Taulapapa, Walker, Petersen, Davies, Davey, Tonks, Scott.
[uHalifax RLFC Squad[/u
Ambler, Bracek, Cahalane, Divorty, Fairbank, Heaton, Johnston, Kaye, Maneely, Manning, Moore, Murrell, Potts, A. Robinson, C. Robinson, Saltonstall, Saxton, Tangata, Tyrer.

Still no Langley.Pleased Petersen back in.

Desire and determination for 80 minutes and plenty of noise from the home supporters.

Depends what you mean by "rewarded immediately". Anyone in the Middle Eight gets a lot more than anyone in the Also Ran Eight. But not until 2016.

.

Betting Update
The bookies have us as favourites but only just by 2 Points I expect it to be close I have stated previously that I expected Halifax to be favourites because they have been playing better than us in recent weeks pity it is in Doncaster and not Sheffield.

Leigh have a must win game at home to Wakefield before the middle 8's a lot of people would have Leigh as favourites for this game however last weeks result has changed the odds still quite tempted by Leigh recieving 6 points back at home where they played well against Hull KR

Bradford are playing Salford who have been playing well in the middle 8's however Bradford are difficult to beat at home in front of a large crowd Salford should win but the bookies have them as 12 point favourites I quite fancy Bradford to cover the spread

On the Plastic Widnes should continue their winning run against Hull KR but 12 points is quite a high handicap

Nothing wrong with Plastic, duggs.



Although ours will be better grade 4G plastic, apparently. Widnes only have an Aye-pitch.

Eagles Edge Qualifiers Thriller - wp.me/p3JxPK-zg I thought Halifax were more than six points better than us in the first half, we just didn't meet them in the collision at all and they made big yards with every carry. However, I was very glad with our second half performance despite some dodgy offloading decisions here and there. Pat Walker and Misi Taulapapa were my standout performers for us today, both were immense. Really happy the lads proved me wrong and got their first points on the Qualifiers board. Looking forward to our trip to Leigh in two weeks time, need to right a lot of wrongs from our last visit there. It will also be the last game I cover on social media for Sheffield (for the time being anyway..) as I'm moving up to Sunderland on the following Saturday.

Eagles Edge Qualifiers Thriller - wp.me/p3JxPK-zg I thought Halifax were more than six points better than us in the first half, we just didn't meet them in the collision at all and they made big yards with every carry. However, I was very glad with our second half performance despite some dodgy offloading decisions here and there. Pat Walker and Misi Taulapapa were my standout performers for us today, both were immense. Really happy the lads proved me wrong and got their first points on the Qualifiers board. Looking forward to our trip to Leigh in two weeks time, need to right a lot of wrongs from our last visit there. It will also be the last game I cover on social media for Sheffield (for the time being anyway..) as I'm moving up to Sunderland on the following Saturday.

Quote ="DannytheEagle"Eagles Edge Qualifiers Thriller - wp.me/p3JxPK-zg I thought Halifax were more than six points better than us in the first half, we just didn't meet them in the collision at all and they made big yards with every carry. However, I was very glad with our second half performance despite some dodgy offloading decisions here and there. Pat Walker and Misi Taulapapa were my standout performers for us today, both were immense. Really happy the lads proved me wrong and got their first points on the Qualifiers board. Looking forward to our trip to Leigh in two weeks time, need to right a lot of wrongs from our last visit there. It will also be the last game I cover on social media for Sheffield (for the time being anyway..) as I'm moving up to Sunderland on the following Saturday.'" Good luck on the move Danny..I'll be away myself come game day..Will miss the reports while your in transition..Good luck.

Quote ="DannytheEagle"Eagles Edge Qualifiers Thriller - wp.me/p3JxPK-zg I thought Halifax were more than six points better than us in the first half, we just didn't meet them in the collision at all and they made big yards with every carry. However, I was very glad with our second half performance despite some dodgy offloading decisions here and there. Pat Walker and Misi Taulapapa were my standout performers for us today, both were immense. Really happy the lads proved me wrong and got their first points on the Qualifiers board. Looking forward to our trip to Leigh in two weeks time, need to right a lot of wrongs from our last visit there. It will also be the last game I cover on social media for Sheffield (for the time being anyway..) as I'm moving up to Sunderland on the following Saturday.'" Good luck on the move Danny..I'll be away myself come game day..Will miss the reports while your in transition..Good luck.