With the announcement of the new 1895 cup competition starting next season surely we must be in with a decent chance of making the final at Wembley.Toronto and Toulouse are exempt which leaves us given a decent draw a real opportunity to showcase our talents on the big stage down in North London.

What do you mean they're exempt?
Not allowed to participate? Or not wanting to?

It depends what our ambitions are next season. If we're just looking to consolidate then I'd say we give the cup some serious attention. If we're pushing for promotion then it's just extra games we don't need/want and I'd be tempted to play a reserves side in it.

It should be everyone in the division, or no-one. Why does there always have to be some kind of imbalance with this damn sport!

I agree everyone should be involved.The excuse there giving is because the rounds are expected to be played mid week,logistically it's not doable for these two.

Interesting concept from the RFL which I’m fully behind at this stage. It would be awesome to see the Bulls back at Wembley!

So it's basically the Northern Rail Cup, just with a new coat of paint then?

The blurb from the RFL is that it's a competion aimed at lower league clubs who have a history of winning the main comp at some point but are not likely to repeat that any time soon. I would imagine it's a way of trying to fans of non Super League clubs interested in going to Wembley again and get the main cup final attendance figure to start climbing again.

Might just be me, but when i next go to wembley, i want it to be to watch the Bulls in the cup.

Good to see this type of cup back though. Opportunity to give some of the younger players a run out.

It seems like a good idea on the face of it and could spark interest in the CC final day out at Wembley if we have a curtain raiser cup final before hand.

Interesting to see how it will fit in the rl calendar though. Comment above mentions playing these fixtures mid week but will Championship and league 1 teams have to back up and play Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday for example? Might affect player welfare and quality of game but suppose it would be the same for all teams.

Also whats betting a championship team upset the apple cart and make it towards the later stages of the CC causing the rfl to sweat on a team having to play in both finals on the same day ha very unlikely but Leigh got close to the CC a few year back

You would presume that they have thought about this and only include teams who have been knocked out of the CC.

But probably not.

In theory I like the idea but I'd like to see the detail before firmly nailing my colours to the mast.

Tournament for those knocked out of the cup - fine. Instead of the cup - no.

Midweek games - I'm less keen but if there's only 16 teams in it that's only 3 games at the most if you get to the semis. The potential to play on the big stage, get some national coverage, make some extra money from it and all the good publicity probably outweighs the extra games factor. With our larger squad we should be better placed than most.

Playing it as curtain raiser - yes. Playing it after the cup final (it has been mooted they'd want it after in case it messes up the pitch for the big event) - no.

That would be my thought too, if I'm honest.

That said, even if it is just another 'plate' competition (we'll all be out of the Challenge Cup by then) it shouldn't be condemned without giving it a go. Who wouldn't be up for a trip to Wembley?

I like the idea too. I haven't seen any details of whether it's going to be run as a plate competition or a seperate one but either way, like Bulliac says, it's a trip to wembley at the end of the day and that will make it much more prestigious than the dreadful Championship shield.

Like others, I'm interested in the detail. The more I think about it, the harder it seems to think of a way to make it actually work.

If it is going to be a competition for all non-SL clubs, then its going to add quite a lot of fixtures to those clubs who make decent progress in the Challenge Cup.

But if its going to be a 'lucky loser' type thing, then what about those clubs who - simply through the luck of the draw - make progress in the Challenge Cup?

For example, we might draw lower league opposition and get to the Quarter Finals of the Challenge Cup, then get smashed by a SL club. But then surely the other competition would have started and we'd be too late to join in, thus scuppering chances of a potential Wembley trip

Will we get put in a position of 'wanting to lose' a Challenge Cup game so that we can enter the 1895 Cup?

The devil's in the detail for sure. Will the RFL get it right? What do we think?

there's folk who want to do the Wembley trip in one day. waiting until after the final to watch a 2nd game will put the kibosh on that. I think it's better suited as a curtain raiser.