Totally agree Boxer. Those who's say "ah well put London, Toulouse in automatically" and come out with the usual hyperbole, soundbites of those you mention. It's arrogance and they just throw "little Englander/northerner" insults back at you. I'd love a strong London and two French teams in a strong 14 team competition. But you expand from a position of strength. Those who think the expansion clubs are the saviours are deluded.

London could be weeks away from not existing (13th strongest club apparently) Catalans have been in SL for twenty years and haven't brought any sponsors from France (which is why SL clubs rightly or wrongly now want them to fund flights) the final last year involving Catalans had 40% less viewers on sky. Then you look at the 50k CC final where the sport made a big loss from it. These are facts those who see themselves as "cosmopolitan forward thinking fans" don't face up to.

Don't confuse the above with me saying Catalans shouldn't be in as they're a strong club. They should be in SL. But they're not the saviours of the sport as the above shows.

I would not be resting on our Laurels when we get up to 13.275 if I was Hirsty and Co I would be aiming to keep going as no doubt all the other clubs involved will also be looking to improve.
One thing I am looking forward to is hopefully a new coach bringing a change of culture and for the first time actually aiming to be the best team in the championship.
I just hope the fans get behind it.

This year we've been the best part-time team in the comp. And we've pushed Toulouse pretty hard.

Next year I don't think London will stay full-time, so it will be the usual suspects, Toulouse, York, ourselves, Fev etc. I think we can improve on this years 3rd place.

I certainly didn’t pick any of that up when spending the afternoon with Jason yesterday.

I see the 2025 Championship season wide open between Bradford, Featherstone, Toulouse, Sheffield and York.

With Bradford having realistic ambitions of winning the 1895 Cup (0.10 IMG points) and the Grand Final (0.25 IMG points).

If you look at the Leigh statement regarding Derek effectively buying IMG points through his generous contributions to the club, the same could be achieved at Bradford.

That is one way of Bradford becoming a Grade A club despite the limitations of Odsal. Easier said than done but Jason genuinely believes there is an opportunity for a genuine push towards the Super League in 2026.

So, who is going to give those "generous contributions" to Mick?

Genuine question.

I've been a supporter for close to 50 years, and we've never had a money man able to do what Beaumont has done at Leigh (or Hudgell at Hull KR or Davy at Huddersfield etc etc). Why would one appear now when they never showed up in any of our many financial meltdowns?