Ok so I've come up with an idea which may seem a bit wacky at first, but I think it could potentially work.

For this theory I have used the current 12 super league teams, and also hull kr, London, Toronto and Toulouse.

So rather than a league of 16, we have 2 groups of 8. Each season the two groups are picked by a random draw, however for at least the first year I would have 3 pots of teams.

Pot A
Warrington
Wigan
Widnes
Salford
Saints
Leigh

Pot B
Leeds
Huddersfield
Castleford
Wakefield
Hull fc
Hull kr

Pot C
Catalan
Toulouse
Toronto
London

Each group of 8 would consist of 3 from pot A and 3 from pot B, with 2 from pot C. This will ensure that each team has equal trips across the Pennines and make sure the visits to the 'expansion' teams are equal.

Now the starting groups are sorted, each team plays home and away, 14 fixtures each. Once these fixtures are complete, the top 4 from both groups come together, likewise with the bottom 4 from each group.

Now in their respective groups, 1st/5th start with 4 points, 2nd/6th with 3 points, and so on. Now obviously there will be 2 teams on the same points so their starting position will be based on their points difference. The reason that the starting positions is important is the fixtures for this section will remain in the grid used to calculate the super 8's fixtures currently. This is a further 7 games.

Once these 7 fixtures are complete, in the top group, the top 4 have the playoff semi finals then grand final.

In the bottom 8, teams try to secure safety. The bottom team at the end will be replaced by the winner of the championship (providing that the championship winners can match certain criteria, mainly that they can secure the step up financially).

This will reduce the number of fixtures and we can remove the double fixtures at easter, freeing up space for internationals or a separate competition etc.

Now I know it may sound similar to the current format with me talking of 8's and splitting, however if you actually think about this it's quite a different format that I think could work. There will always be people that say there will be dead rubbers but it's impossible to get a system where every game means something.

(As a side note I would make it compulsory for every team to run a reserve team, who's fixtures would be the same as the first team until the split, and have these games played as curtain raisers to the first team game.)

I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts on this.

Why are you so Angry all the time?

Regards

King James

The bloke has serious issues.

I'd be going the other way - reduce the league by a team or two, replace the joke that is Magic Weekend with a nines tournament backed by a big sponsor. There just isn't enough quality in the game to support 14 clubs and the players are playing too many matches as it is. No wonder the Aussies are always able to go up a gear when they play us - they're even complaining they're playing too many games!

Nines? What's the obsession?

No way would a big sponsor back it. Someone like bachelors maybe but until we get the game into the commonwealth/Olympics forget it.

Plus we have already had a tried/tested/failed Nines for a couple of years 2008/9 and that didn't last long