Genuine question.
Do you really think that Fax are ready for or, actually want to be in SL at present ?

My reason behind suggesting Leigh is that, as a club, they have plenty of experience in the Middle 8's and they know what it takes to get through.
Halifax have made zero impact during the middle 8's and seem to have little ambition or, ability to actually gain promotion through this format.
There are some things that they have done exceptionally well though and they should be applauded for how they go about their business, I just think they are too far behind Toronto and the current SL clubs who they are likely to be up against.

To have a shot at the MPG, they need to beat the 3 Championship contenders and at least 1 SL club.
Do you think they can/will do that ??

Of course, it's the same for Leigh but, as I said previously, only Toronto look good enough to trouble the SL sides and POSSIBLY Leigh, if they can find their best form.

As for Fax having beaten Leigh already, yippee, get the flags out but, it means rock all in terms of their push for promotion.

Fax are a part time team. Along with Fev, the intensity required in the middle eights is too much to raise a realistic challenge. Toronto, Toulouse and Leigh may cause problems if SL clubs have injuries to key personnel, an element of luck and a fair ref.

Gary Hetherington has really shown himself to be a clown through all of this. Calling it a ‘power grab’ was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen when you consider the power that he and Wood have had for so long. It’s thanks to himself and Wood that we are in this position so for him to come out with the rubbish he did was pathetic. He’s only bothered about himself and Leeds and through that he’s helped to bring Super League on its backside. Eamonn McManus’ statement today more than shuts down his heartfelt ‘concerns’. An idiot and if I was a Leeds fan I’d be embarrassed. However , it’s great to finally see the demise of him.

Yes, Super League is on its backside because of the chief executive of the sports only commercially profitable club and the summer era's most successful club. Seriously give your head a shake.

Wood and GH have not presided over the demise of Super League. It is the twelve Super League chairmen that have done that (admittedly with various degrees of culpability) - including the three men who sad beside Elstone.

I also suspect that you're mistaken if you think that this is the demise of Hetherington. None of this works without Leeds. McMannus knows it, [url=http://www.totalrl.com/elstone-hopeful-super-league-can-convince-leeds-to-back-new-era/Elstone knows it[/url and, most importantly, Hetherington knows it

Leeds are in a strong position because they can both afford to take a broader view of the overall sport (Caddick is happy for them to just break even and not need his funding but Hetherington keeps posting profits). Plus, obviously, SL can't exactly ignore them not only because they are the largest club but also many of the key Super League corporate contacts and sponsors tend to start at Leeds before moving onto the wider sport (Tetleys, Engage etc).

The problems in Rugby League are very little to do with the clubs in the Championship - they are a convenient smoke screen, as to a degree are the RFL who have for the past few years provided central funding greater than ever before to the SL clubs but most of them still can't make their figures add up. Local factors are always much more important than what the RFL is up to in terms of club performance. Wigan lose hundreds of thousands of pounds each year because they have ever-falling crowds and a poor infrastructure which isn't helping them generate profits - that's not the RFL's fault and it's not Batley's fault. This lot talk about taking responsibility but will any of them admit to why their crowds are poor or why their clubs lose money?

Super league does need Leeds but nowhere near as much as Leeds need SL. SL would survive if the other 11 clubs wandered off...Toronto (or whoever) would join in taking the few half decent remaining Leeds players with them. Hetherington could then spend the entire summer putting bombs up to Golding in an empty revamped Headingley. Sure the Leeds fans would love Uncle Gary then. Be interesting to see how he reacts tomorrow to McManus when Leeds get sixty put on them.

Actually the way things are going the scrapping of the middle 8s might come too late for Leeds....now that would be funny.

It's a moot point as no-one is suggesting a league without Leeds but I don't imagine the other clubs would enjoy the effect on their TV deal if the best-rated club wasn't on every second week.

Guess we'll find out when Leeds get relegated in September.

Although it’s obviously sarcastic, with that first paragraph you’ve, rather stupidly, backed up my point. The point is Hetherington only cares about Leeds and himself, he couldn’t care less about Super League or the game in general.

So you’re suggesting that McManus, Lenagan and Moran are at fault for the demise of SL when they aren’t even in charge of the game? You’re just as much of a fool as Hetherington. Wood, Hetherington and the rest of them have all have presided over the demise of SL considering its collapsed under their watch.

I don’t even know what to say about that third paragraph. Are you seriously suggesting Leeds could break away from Super League? If true and clubs are 11vs1 on key issues then Leeds don’t have a leg to stand on. Hetherington’s power is diminishing, now his mate has been ousted, and he can’t handle it. You are well and truly deluded if you think that he had a big tantrum for any other reason.

Except you just have.

I don’t think you get it. SL clubs are 11 vs 1 on key issues with that 1 being Leeds. Leeds are definitely not in a strong position, they’re on their own and everyone has had enough of the Wood-Hetherington dictatorship we’ve had to endure for so long. Also, how is it the Chairmen’s fault if crowds are low? What are they supposed to do?

If Hetherington only cared about himself and Leeds then he'd be sat alongside those other 3 chairmen wouldn't he. More money for themselves and reduced chances of relegation are what interest the other 11 chairmen, being against these is the exact opposite only caring about themselves. You think Wigan or Saints really care about teams at the bottom worried about relegatio....not for one second but they need them on board, you scratch our backs we'll scratch yours.

I don’t expect any Leeds fan to openly criticise Hetherington but at the same time I don’t understand why it’s so hard to understand? Hetherington has had power and influence that no other club has had thanks to having his mate at the helm. He’s no doubt used this for the benefit of himself and Leeds. He’s hardly going to like losing this power at the expense of other clubs gaining it is he? That’s why he’s had a big tantrum not because he cares for any other club.

Go on then list all these bad awful things he's done to benefit Leeds at the expense of other clubs?

Looks like McManus has knocked the ball firmly back over the net.
Over to you Gary.

Lennagan, McManus, Moran & all their followers want to take £1M of the Central Funding away from the lower tiers of RL & distribute that extra pie between themselves, they will then raise the Salary Cap to *random example* £2.5M thereby ensuring that no lower tier Club will ever be able to compete. Those outside of SL at the change will wither & die as their ambitions will be cut stone dead.

I don't pretend to know too much about Hetherington but surely his condemnation of the plans which would benefit a Club such as Leeds *sharing the extra £1M, demise of lower tier Clubs & therefore having less mouths to feed etc* so why would he vote against more pie ?
My thoughts are initially that he knows it will kill off the roots & foundations creating a house of cards with no solid underpinnings !

I seem to remember there was a lot of bleating about the 'smaller clubs' were holding the game back, but maybe, just maybe, it's actually the power struggle between the bigger clubs?

Every club chairman is looking with their own club's interests first. Any that tells you otherwise is lying.



You're vastly overstating GH's influence over the RFL, and you're rather lazily blaming the RFL for the games ills.

I'm saying that as stakeholders in the sport, every chairman carries responsibility for the failings and successes of this sport. One of the three you mention has recently spoken of a "special club culture", only to fine two (and effectively sack one) senior players barely more than a week later for abusing two female bar staff. Another one of those men associates his club with a pay day loan company. Another of the supporters of this new structure is currently running around town advertising that this sport is not worth paying to see, whilst others can barely sell tickets either. Another club that supports this idea has to raffle off its stadium sponsorship. None of these are problems created by Wood or GH, they are problems created by the very people who support this structure, who are using the Super 8s as a convenient excuse for their failings, and are criticising the man who runs a very successful club and the only profitable club in the sport.



No, but what I am suggesting is that GH is not shy of a bit of brinkmanship. Even from this position, do not be surprised if he ends up pulling some very sizable strings. After all, he has a good track record when it comes to bitch-slapping rival club chairmen who bear a resemblance to Eric Pollard. Just ask Chris Caisley how well taking on GH worked for him.

SO.......to be totally clear, you are of the ilk that prescribes that "watch it once and you're hooked'?

Here....in sleepy NZ.....we have a sports show that is the ONLY sports show on FTA.....and tonight......Friday, they have a regular segment.....[urlhttps://youtu.be/y4J836eVV_o[/url
nuff said...

They're supposed to market their clubs and attract new audiences.

Seriously, is that question a wind-up?

No, and I think you've seen enough of my posts on this issue to see that's not the case. Again you're taking the comment out of context.

What I am saying is that in an era where it is easier and cheaper for businesses to reach an audience, and when social media in particular has made audience attention spans shorter, the sport need to adapt to that.

At the moment we are nowhere near slick enough, attractive enough and, dare I say it, aspirational enough to gain the attention of audiences that advertisers and sponsors want to reach.

Put it about way, if I can create and get approval for an ad in 15 mins and reach 4,000 people in a Northern working class town for less than £200, why would I spend months of negotiating and potentially seven figures sponsoring a sports competition that achives the same?

you are my clone and I claim my $5 (in BITCOIN please)

So you don’t think they do that. Look at Koukash at Salford for example, he tried numerous times to bring new fans through the gates and nothing worked. It’s not as simple as marketing their clubs to attract new audiences. Dear me, you are slow.

So what, it's the RFL's fault that nobody wants to watch Salford? That the match day experience is crap, that the stadium experience is crap, that the on-field product wasn't as good as what else was on offer in the area? Don't be so simple.

If businesses aren't selling enough of their product, they have to find new customers, they have to adapt to the market or they deserve to die.

Every club has it within their power to do the right things to increase their audience and their revenue. Blaming the RFL is a cop-out.

Why are we so obsessed by attendances, hardly any teams get 5 figure crowds.
If you are good enough 'on the field' then that's what matters.
In football, Conference side Boreham Wood finished 'bottom of the table' in average attendances (684) but reached the play off final at Wembley ! (shocking, they don't have many fans)
It only looks bad on TV, most new grounds are too big anyway for our sport, and NOTHING will change that. Best sport in the world, shouldn't need marketing, but it's struggling right now for crowds, just like it did in the 1970's. Most SL games are boring/predictable, who's fault is that ? Answers on a postcard to.....
I know what you are saying as regards to 'match day' experience being crap, but that's the English culture for you. When we (Leigh) were in Super League last season, we had 'outside stalls' selling food & drink, a mini fairground, and then fireworks. But most folk didn't bother with it all, and still entered the ground '5 or 10 minutes before kick off'.