I dont understand why one club has to go, the aussies just add to their league. Why cant we? The RFL really dont have a clue.

It's not the RFL not wanting to expand - it's the clubs.

Did not say they will dominate.

Why on earth would they be recruiting an entire new squad?

They should have better, lower cost, young players coming through. And it depends how they load this years contracts re 2011 and 2012

You forgot to factor in the three months taken to apply for Full PP as well as amendments requested by the SoS and the Section 106 and other things needed before applying for Full PP.

Be nearer mid 2013 than early.

You mean ' cheat ' like W1g4n did ?

Lots of reasons , most important one being money

You're right.

Unfortunately for wakey the decision re a licence will be made long bfore the PI decides. Unless the welsh pull out.

The question of economic viability is key. A year elsewhere will be very costly for a very poor club. Wakey will still have to show they have a plan that gets them through 3 years.

It would be more down to the SL clubs rather than the RFL. Why would SL clubs vote for something that would cost them around £200K / year?

All SL playing contracts have a clause saying they finish should the club not be in SL. The RFL required clubs to do that, to avoid the need for parachute payments and avoid previous problems with relegated clubs meeting contractual obligations. If any club leaves SL, I would expect nearly all of their first team squad to be out looking for a full-time job. It's not like in the past where there was some possibility of bouncing back up the following season.

What you say here does not change what i say about loading of salaries. It can be done and without cheating.

Looking at the wakey squad there are several players in the 1st team squad that would be of little or no interest to SL clubs, so they would be available for wakey and would likely stay on so an entire new squad is unlikely.

The truth of why Wakey will soon leave SL is that Widnes have overtaken them off the pitch, they have better facilities, stadium and bank balance.

Having staggered contracts (£50K in year 1, £100k in year 2, £150k in year 3) isn't cheating though and I would imagine a lot of players (especially overseas players) are on them in both SL and the Championship.

What Wigan did was try to change already agreed player contracts to load them more onto the proceeding years so as to find more space on the cap for the current year. That is cheating.

The players contracts come to an end when the club leaves SL. They'd be under no obligation to stay for the 3 years on part time wages in the championship. Unless the RFL makes some special dispensation, they simply would not be allowed to register a 2011 contract that says (for example) £60k this year in SL and £15k next year in championship.

I'm sure you're right that Wakefield (or Cas or Salford for that matter) have some players on the fringe of the squad who're not currently full-time who would stay and others would make the step up from the academy. But I'd expect nearly all of the current first 17 to leave. As the salary cap will make it hard to outbid other championship clubs when it comes to recruiting replacements, I just can't see any club which leaves SL being an instant play-off contender in the championship.

Is their stadium as bad as it looks Jonny?

I saw it on telly once...it looked pretty ordinary. Had a huge inflatable cat down one end from what I recall

Whilst this is correct, it sounds to me as if Widnes are very fortunate in their wealthy backer, a luxury Wakefield don't currently enjoy.