Quote: Bulliac "Toronto pay their visitors expenses and the French trips are covered by central funds (RFL) so it's not an issue for clubs.'" Barrow's expenses were not covered by the RFL or Toronto according to their crowd funding page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/louise-scarr

Quote: Bulliac "Toronto pay their visitors expenses and the French trips are covered by central funds (RFL) so it's not an issue for clubs.'" Barrow's expenses were not covered by the RFL or Toronto according to their crowd funding page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/louise-scarr

Oh dear. So no big away following from Bradford or HKR next year and trips to London, Toulouse, Toronto and Catalan to pay for?

Lean year for Championship clubs.

If only the RFL had followed its own rules and relegated Bradford to League 1 for the 2017 season. It's likely the club would have sorted itself out and be poised for a return in 2018 with a revitalised fanbase who've not been utterly disillusioned with the sport and the club and have walked away for good.

But no, because something like that would require foresight and forward planning. Things that this sport has always lacked

At least they'll save on stewarding costs for the Summer Bash in 2018...

I feel a bit sorry for Leigh in all this. Lots of people are hoping they'll lose next week so Catalans don't get relegated.

The last thing we need from any system is a return to the 'yo-yo' syndrome of clubs going straight back down again after getting promoted. I feel for Beaumont, after he's put shedloads of his own money into the club, and here they are fighting against falling straight back into the Championship.

Re:Catalans. They seem to have got steadily worse since Trent Robinson left, and rapidly worse since they appointed McNamara (strange sense of deja-vu?)

From what I've seen, Cats could've appointed Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all the saints as their coaching team and still be rubbish.

That said, when the chips are down, I'm very confident that Supermac will get them out of it

My take on the million quid game before the weekend was that, if it involved Catalans, then they would be going down. Their away form is, and always has been, rubbish and I can't see it changing soon. Even a combination of Ganson and Klein would struggle to keep them up.

Agreed. I think Leigh will be far more up for it. Catalans just look like they've lost all stomach for the fight.

Yeah, they do. I'll be sorry to see them go down, tbh, I like their club and the people in Perpignan. Too many good times on the vin rouge over there to be dispassionate about their fate! I guess that, even if we get promoted next season so will Les Cats, so still no trip over to Canet Plage..

Don't think it helps that players in their key positions really don't have a lot riding on it. Their fullback is only on loan and will be back at Wigan next year. Their two half backs are both leaving the club, so they won't be playing in the Championship. So as much as they'll want to win for their pride and teammates, it's not actually going to affect their careers all that much.

Can't wait to see the expression on Guasch's face during the mpg. As these middle 8 games have gone on, he's looked more and more p!ssed off with every game. Had a face like thunder during the match against Widnes.

One (Widnes supporting) journo on twitter mentioned some rumours that Catalans wouldn't even bother with the Championship if they were relegated and not actually accept/apply for membership. Proper take your ball and bat home stuff.

I would not want to see Leigh relegated as they have only been in SL for one season and in my opinion not had the time to get a SL team together that can compete with the big boys.
Catalan however have been in the lower tier for some time and i do believe that the Championship's teams will suffer with little or no away support (gate receipts) coming from a number of teams.
RFL mess in their own making

Catalan - 4th, 7th, 8th and 5th in the preceding seasons.

Your statement is simply not true

Correct, it's pretty much a one off for them and they've done nothing to deserve losing a spot in the top flight, imo.

Except appointing Steve McNamara and calling him a coach.