The top clubs in SL have next years squad signed up before the current season ends

The team coming up wins the GF in late Sept/early Oct when all the players are signed up.

The odds are massively stacked against the promoted side. They really need to be protected for a season.

Good post mate.

DH

Agreed, sensible post that pal.

Leigh recruited for the championship expecting to be playing there so it’s a bit unfair on them.

I would say, over the length of SL based on a number of factors like league finish, support, stadium, quality of academy etc it’s easily out of Wakefield and Salford for worst ever SL team

Yes it has but not as I described.

It basically ended up being the same teams with no real additions and the championship was effectively cut adrift causing the problems were facing now in that promotes sides are just going to struggle to stay up.

What I am proposing would be that every 3 years 2 additional sides are added to the league with any side falling foul of the franchise conditions being removed if necessary. So more often than not the league numbers will be increased.

With the rfl and super League working with championship clubs creating a pathway into the franchise that's attainable and sustainable.. let's say Halifax as an example they may not be likely to win the grand final but that's not a reason to not have them in the league. I think we can sometimes forget the differences being in the top division or second can have on attendances investment and sponsorship aswel as local participation. If fax were in super League it's more than reasonable to expect after 3 years they will start to have some young local lads coming through or not far off which possibly wouldn't have been picked up by the current 12. But also there is going to be an increase in young lads playing at mature level. This too is dependant on the salary cap being adjusted so that rugby league can become a viable career prospect with not just the 2/3 top players the only ones getting a decent wage.

As you say some kind of new thinking is needed having watched quite a bit if the NFL in the last few years I think that a hybrid of their league and fixture set up as the goal could be annidea to consider that in 10 years we will have a 26 team league set up in a few conferences and all sides playing each other over a 2/3 season period. It would cut loop fixtures yet the "big games would still happen every year it would just be in the play offs imagine the first Wigan saints game is a knock out game in the play offs as there's been no league game that season it would be a huge game with a great atmosphere ! Making every game mean something is not just about league position or if the sides have anything to play for the fixture needs to be the event too !!

I fear that we will make minor changes as there's just a fear of change and a reluctance from super League clubs to vote in what's best for the sport long term over what's best for themselves. Citing quality as the reasoning why we should not expand we may dilute the talent pool initially but we will now have more sides training up potential players. I refuse to believe that we are finding every super League quality player or potential super League player from the lower leagues let alone at amature and youth level as we only have the capacity to have X amount due to there being a low number of sides at the top level of the sport !!!

Either Leigh, or any other team who gets promoted should get a 2 year grace, or we continue with this silly yoyo from champ to SL and back again,or even go bust. Our sport is embarrassing enough as it is without continuing going down the same old failure path. Will the RFL look at this and think, yes that would be a good idea to give a 2 year grace, and improve the sport? No, not a cat in hell chance. WAFS.

Cheers LeBron. Different name, same old guff.

To answer the original post.

YES undoubtedly!

Bless, at least rubbish Leigh will be guaranteed 4 points when they play Bradford Bulls next season.

This certainly has been suggested in the past, and was suggested by Lenegan when musing over changes to the current system. There is of course the alternative view that other clubs don't want every other year with no promotion.

Last time Leigh went up and straight down the problem was the play off system caused that, they actually managed 11th.

I'd leave ambitious clubs to have a whole year to build and go up........Leigh issue is the lateness of their promotion and they asked for this.....

His mother doesn’t let him out of the basement that much.

I wonder if he "signs on" multiple times, under his various pseudonyms. He's probably loaded.

An interesting post.

I think there would be a lot of support for a league with no "third fixtures". Also no marquee allowances etc to give the richer clubs more of an advantage.

OK Superleague may have introduced these things over the years to give SKY bigger and allegedly more attractive content, but if SKY aren't that bothered any more and are paying less then 14 English clubs all starting off on an even salary cap may well see more SKY subs sold in Bradford, Halifax, Widnes etc.

More derbies to sell as well........ Widnes/Wire Bradford/Halifax etc