Are we allowed to merge the game with Union or is that a tad too radical?

If we did we would go back to 15 players on each side and back to lineouts and rucks and mauls,no thanks.

We have to look at the amount of overseas players in RL.
This for me is the biggest problem we have in our game plus we need to concentrate on the skills of the game especially in the backs.

A 13 a side game with rucks, line outs, 2 for a kick and 1 for a drop would be a decent sport to watch. Far better than some of the 5 drives and a hoof nonsence I've watched in many SL these last few years.

Plus its the only way our game will every become truly national.

Like I said though, far too radical (unless Uncle Rupert says its going to happen).

Sorry mate can't agree with this.
If we brought lineouts and mauls back into the game it would drive a lot of fans away from the game,me included.
I will admit though the last few seasons the quality of rugby has not been as good as previous years.

the RFL is doing all it can.

maurice lindsay turned the game around, one that had been left to rot for 30 years

lewis is the man who will finish the job off

P&R kept the game back, as did clubs stuck in their ways refusing to change

franchising will basically fix all the games problems and end up with a competitionn as dynamic and healthy as the nrl

SL clubs that cant improve will be kicked out and replaced by champ. clubs that rise to the challenge

survival of the fittest.

In thirty years from now, the north of England shall be as bleak as Chernobyl in 2010 as the industrialist government is constantly conspiring to kill its inhabitants. If rugby league is to survive the social cleansing in this country then our only choice is to migrate all the big clubs on the M62 to the mythical south where sport is well attended unlike in the north of England where rugby league is dieing a slow painful death.

Leeds Rhinos could become Southampton Rhinos and Bradford Bulls could become Portsmouth Bulls meaning that we’ll still have that locally rivalry.

Wigan Warriors - Reading Warriors
Hull KR - Bristol KR
Hull FC - Bristol FC

And so on.

Have you been on the medication again Damo.

1)
Play some England matches in the south (Madejski/St Mary's/Fratton Park) and other parts of the country. They need to be meaningful matches such as part of the four nations or a Kangaroo/Kiwi tour. Offer football season ticket holders in that area reduced prices to encourage them to attend. Playing England games in these sorts of stadiums is something that league can do that union wouldn't consider doing. Union can sell out Twickenham for virtually any fixture so, aside from Old Trafford, it's hard to see them ever taking the national team around the country.

2)
Introduce a county of origin game/series between Lancashire and Yorkshire. This is not parochial, it's a recognition of tradition and where the game has its roots. A sell out at Wembley would make a big statement about the level of interest in rugby league. A single game would be a good start with hopefully a three match series in the long term.

The first thing we have to do is decide whether as a sport we want to be competitive internationally. Do we want the increased exposure and revenue that would follow from a competitive England side? That doesn't mean saying we do, but committing to it. And that means clubs and fans committing to it as well even when in the short-term it may cause problems. And also admitting that SL, whilst entertaining, is patently a very poor competition in terms of quality.

If we don't want to improve, then we can carry on as we are and blindly hope to unearth some freakishly talented kids. And every year keep complaining about why we are still miles off Australia.

If we do want to improve then we need to look at all possible solutions to raise the standards of SL and the national team.

Short-term I'd try to get some NRL backs into the side who qualify on parentage, or overseas SL players on residency. The simple reason is that we do not have enough players of remotely the right quality, and any possible solution will take years to implement. A lot of people have disparaged Widdop, but he looked better than a lot of the so-called 'stars' SL has produced. His SL equivalent (some kid kept out of the first team by an established player) would have looked laughably out of their depth. Widdop was able to step out of reserve grade in Australia and not look hopeless.

Secondly we HAVE to stop importing average NRL players into SL, and replace them with England-qualified players. That means stopping the nonsensical excuses for signing these guys. The only exception I would allow is for players who are able and willing to play for England (or Wales). I wouldn't be at all bothered if a club has 10 'Aussies' in their side in the short-term so long as they were all eligible to be picked by England. Other sports use imports in their national side (is it the English cricket team or South Africa B?), and yet when this is done in league there are howls of complaint, and 'I'd rather watch true-blue English lads getting hammered thanks'. You and increasingly few fans.

Thirdly, we need to get more English players in the NRL. I wouldn't advocate sending established players to the NRL. In an ideal world maybe, but having thought about it I reckon it would be better to send the best juniors. If we sent the best 1/2 kids from each side to Australia to train with NRL sides for a year at 17/18 we'd start to see the benefit within a few years. We'd probably lose a few permanently to Australia, but that would be fine so long as they committed to play for England (and Australia also played ball on that).

More generally, the Academy system is obviously useless in developing players past a certain level. That's why clubs are increasingly loaning out fringe players to SL/NL sides, and why kids get into the first team with huge gaps in their basic skills (why no quality centres? Why so few English halfbacks with a half-decent kicking game?). There's no way Leeds would loan out the likes of Jones-Bishop or McShane if they thought they could develop as well in the Academy.

Not sure what to do there, although you could look at running an elite Academy competition with maybe 4 teams in it with the best kids from each area in them. Alternatively we could accept the Senior Academy (or whatever its called) is useless and use NL clubs as true feeder clubs.

Anyway, I expect the usual suspects to bag each and all of the above. And for nothing to change.

OK, here's another wacky idea that is probably e and probably wouldn't work, but...

Create a 'Nomads' team that plays in the super league. However, instead of being attached to any one area, they are permanently 'on the road'. They play their 'home' fixtures against the other superleague teams in different stadiums around the country (e.g. outside the traditional heartlands). Wherever they play, they take the name of that area and play in the colours (maybe even the same replica shirts) of the football team that normally occupies the stadium -I'm assuming most of their fixtures would take place in football stadiums.

So,

Portsmouth Nomads (Blue shirts) v Wigan - Fratton Park
Nottingham Nomads (Red shirts) v Bradford - City Ground
Norwich Nomads - (Yellow shirts) v St Helens - Carrow Road

In effect the Nomads would become the team for everyone who doesn't have a club team in their area. It would work in the same way that people support the rugby union Barbarians. Obviously The Nomads could have their own kit (they would need it for away games) which could be sold a bit like the Barbarians black and white hoops. I'd recommend an all black kit. There would also be a fan club that you could join for £15 per year.

I'm not really sure where the Nomad players would come from, at least in the first season. Perhaps every club should have to donate one player for the Nomad squad - this could be one of their younger players who hadn't quite broken through. The rule would be that you could only play for the Nomads for one season, meaning it would become quite prestigious to be selected.

Have a 10 club super league, top four into the playoffs.

We only have enough decent players for 10 teams.

Any team facing winding up orders / admin etc relegated at end of season with no chance of returning for 10 years.

Each team is only allowed to START 1 non England / GB qualified player, with 1 on the bench, one must be a forward the other a back.

Stop playing as England and return to GB. The so called lower tear of internationals is a waste of time, as 600 fans turning out to for Ireland v Scotland showed. They didn't even open the bar!

End expansion. End the salary cap. End the franchise system. Bring back relegation. Strongly enforced business guidelines.

Allow rugby league to grow organically. Stop forcing it in areas where it is not viable.

Oh where to start.

1. I guess the first point is we need to try and bring the game in line properly around the world - but thats a different thread so Ill resist the urge to go further.

2. I think its time we understood where we are now. All this expansion into France and Wales. Its all well and good but our home grown clubs are struggling. If the home grown clubs struggle then grass roots in the area struggles and without grass roots there is no game. There is an element of the strong should survive but we are so quick to throw money at these new clubs but where is the support for our bread and butter clubs?

3. A big question - how do we get kids through the turn styles and playing the game? We need to raise the games profile but also the mkting. Remember when Braford became the Bulls? BOOM overnight cos they got the mkting side right. We need to employ some good PR guys to raise the profile and generate interest.

4. For those regular watchers its becoming more apparent that our ref's simply aren't up to it. Its a tough job and I wouldn't want it but they put their hands up for it. After games the fans should be talking about the players not what a **** ref we had this week.

5. Have a proper international set-up and by this I mean proper tours again. You want to get TV interest and local interest then send in the world champions to play some hometown clubs .... Ah good days.

In truth you could go on forever here and everyone will have their pet ones....