What big points changed the game against Bradford and not for them?

Bradford overspending in a hunt for glory? Surely that'd never happen.

With Bradford I assume they were one of the championship sides in £900K salary cap. I have no idea if that is set to change or if they were on a higher cap for some reason. So if they do remain on £900K it should not be an issue. The issue is with the relegated side.

Under the old system of P&R players contracts were simply ripped up with no compensation and they all became free agents. That was just ludicrous.

Going the other way this time, presumably if Bradford had players with time to run on their current contracts and they had won promotion they simply could not do that without compensation. Only out of contract players may find themselves possibly without a place but they will have already been looking to their next deal with Bradford or other teams so no surprises there.

So no, promotion does not affect contracts like relegation does.

The salary cap for all clubs is now fully funded by the Sky money whether you are an SL club on £1.8m, a top championship side on £900K (don't know how many of them there are) or lower down the pecking order on a much smaller cap. So that means it is highly likely you have a squad of contracted players who take up all the cap.

Going up a level is no problem as no one's contract needs to be ripped up. Going down a level is just the same issue as previously where all of a sudden you have to reduce your wage bill by at least half at best.

Do you fancy being asked to take a 50% pay cut?

This is before we consider if any championship side will ever be up to making the grade in this system having spent a season playing basketball against some very poor sides. I think Rowley at Leigh recognised early on the gap was much bigger than he anticipated.

"The new structure allows for that increased investment and sees the best performing Championship clubs receive up to £750,000 per season from 2015, which will enable them to recruit a competitive squad and invest in the player development pathways needed to achieve sustained success." Taken from the The RFL website ( Home / 2015 RL New Era)

So the best clubs only get a maximum of £750k.....not the full salary cap

I would imagine that if a SL club is relegated then it would still be the case that their players contracts would be null and void unless clubs start putting in a releagtion pay cut clause in them

Maybe I was watching a completely different game to some of the people on here.

Just so we are all on the same page... did the season have to result in definitely one team being relegated and one team being promoted to conclusively prove that the system works?

Did the competition deliver drama? Yes..
Leigh running up a lead against HKR in the first half and then letting it slip in the second half?
Bradford beating Leigh
Halifax pushing us really close
Bradford beating Salford... As a Widnes fan I certainly went into the Wakey game feeling nervous about the result. As a fan it was also great to revisit some familiar grounds.

Was it feasible that one of the Championship sides might gain promotion?
Absolutely... more than feasible.. it was only a ball bouncing off someones shoulder rather than his chest away of ending in that result. It wasn't a classic by any standards but the game was close, it wasn't decided before half-time and was still in the balance going into the last minute. Wakey were nervous and Bradford were buoyed at the prospect of SL.

As for Lowes the only scenario where it might have worked out for him would have been in the old NFP/Championship play-off scenario where they might have beaten Leigh in a GF and gained promotion that way. But his team were a whisker away from doing it on Saturday.

Looking forward to it next year with the tweaks mentioned above around moving the transfer deadline etc.