Losing Catalans will be catastrophic to the game

In what way

How will RL in this country grow? Success of the international game which means strong England international players.

How are Catalans/London/Toronto/Pyongyang? Contributing to that?

Widnes and Leigh are hot beds of RL talent in this country. Widnes run an academy graded as Outstanding by the RFL and Leigh have plans to run one once they are safe in SL. Those academies will produce England internationals. Walker and Brand at Widnes are two players with massive international potential.

Some times people need to see the bigger picture rather than think what a great away day the South of France is.

Come on Leigh next week!

Rugby league will not exist in this country without Catalan's and their NRL journeymen I'll disciplined side. In what way has London's relegation been negative ? You just crack on with it without them. Catalan's are not a new side. Relegation could well revitalise their whole club as opposed to them just regressing and stagnating in a franchised based environment.

If relegated, they need to crack on with it like the likes of Cas, Leigh , Widnes And Hull KR have done in the last decade. Whilst their gone it will have zero impact on SL imo.

In no way, it's just expansionist bullcrap

Please excuse this view from a fossil ( I'm over 30 !!!)
The second tier of rugby league is looking very cosmopolitan next year with the possibility for 2 French, a Canadian and a team from that there London place.
All are full time, with good home support bases (London accepted) and their games against each other should be a marketing man's dream.
2 French local derby's, Toronto playing in the Capital broadcast all over Canada and beyond. With good advertising, the Summer Bash becomes an International Rugby League Weekend.
Blackpool landladies will be scrubbing their door steps already.
This offers so much if professionally handled (what would a Barry Hearn do with it) it could be the birth of a proper 2 league system with 20+ full time clubs with good TV money from international providers not just Sky and a platform for negotiations of the TV rights next time around.

Anyway, time for my elevenses, a think that was the tea trolley ?

I think that's fair Printer, I suppose the question is whether relegation will allow them to rebuild to where they were, or acause further damage?

When you boil it down, SL needs the strongest teams in the top flight, strength is measured in a number of ways imo, not just on the field (which it can be argued is what the current system measures).

If people cared about the game and not just their own team, they'd want the strongest most stable teams in the top flight to create a higher quality competition. It shouldn't matter if the team is from Leigh, Toronto, Catalan, Featherstone or Timbuktu.

I'd like to think there's room for Catalans, Leigh, Toronto, Toulouse & London in an expanded Super League. Each with an academy and a reserve grade team.

Other than the drama and jeopardy I struggle to see what good P&R does. Widnes are a good example of a club who benefited from the protection of the franchise, they improved each year and as has been mentioned they are producing first team players through their academy now. However this year they've obviously took 3 steps back. They sold their best player and showed no ambition to try and sign someone of similar quality. Would they have been more willing to invest in quality if they knew they were guaranteed to be in Super League next year?

To improve the quality of the competition in the long term you need to significantly increase the pool of players, this can be achieved through expansion as well as investing in the junior game in the heartlands. Clubs need to be have the stability and resource to invest in academies, reserve grades and coaching. Get more players playing the game and importantly, have the facilities to retain them when they get to 18-19.

Excellent post.

Well said Vasty.

Of course Catalan offer SL more in terms of profile, TV contracts, sponsorship and a access to a bigger player pool than Leigh, but that shouldn't be a reason to keep them in SL by default.

quite simply they recruited the wrong coach in Fresseynous, have bought some terrible players while allowing the better French talent to go elsewhere in SL and seem to have no team spirit at all. It's been a shocking mis-management from where they were under Trent Robinson where teams used to fear going to France and they always had an advantage in the transfer market due to the lifestyle on offer in the South of France.

In some ways relegation could help them, they would be allowed to release all the deadwood and start afresh. As much as it pains me to say it HullKR are in a stronger position now post-relegation than they were 12 months ago.

Rugby League needs to get to a place where relegation to the Championship isn't seen as a death sentence, it is seen as a blow but a place to re-build and come back stronger.