I'd like to know how Catalans are bigger and better. For me they are just the French equivalent of Leigh and Salford spending money on Aussie 'superstars' with nothing to show for it.

That is just nonsense.
Average crowd in Perpignan is more than double Leigh or Salford and EVERY club spends on imports.
The main issue with Catalan was sticking with a very poor coach for almost 2 seasons, which took them to the brink.
If you count every one of their French players as "homegrown", they have a damn sight more home grown players than most other SL clubs.

Having said all that, IF Sky need a French club (or 2) in SL , how does this fit with a structure that allows for promotion and relegation ?

Big Nige was a Toulouse presenting the Shield to TO13.

If there were more fans for our match in Perpignan than there were at the LSV yesterday , I'm a Frenchman , despite them declaring a 9,000 attendance

The situation with French players is poor , and is in my opinion the reason they are struggling , it isn't necessarily the number , it's the positions they occupy and what seems like the Gallic politics within the sport

News flash. Catalans still have a very poor coach, but just had enough strength and skill to beat Leigh when it mattered.

Toulouse have announced the signing of Anthony Maria and William Barthau for next season, a couple of French kids who will add depth to the squad, something lacking this season.

I refer m'learned friend to an earlier post.



What more would you like them to bring other than.....drumroll..... "away fans"?

How many other clubs contribute even close to that?

And how exactly does that disprove my point. The Leigh owner made his point crystal clear. Accept it and move on

That will really get the conspiracy theorists going. Congrats to TO. Need to continue and make the top 4 next year. Champo will be well worth the watch next year with Leigh, Toronto, TO plus Fax and Fev. If only Sky could be bothered showing it.

It will be a cracking Championship next season, not too many soft touches in there with probably Barrow also in the mix. The relegation battle will be as fierce as the top-four shoot-out.

So long as Toulouse and Toronto are in the Championship top 4 and hence the Middle 8s next season, everything will be going nicely for international development.

Once Toulouse are promoted to Super League, assuming Catalans remain there, we can probably look forward to a televised game from France every Saturday. And if the RFL are smart they will schedule each English club playing Catalans and Toulouse in France to do so on successive weekends, to give the English fans with the time and money the opportunity to stay in France for at least 8 days and see their clubs play both French sides.

William Barthau and Lucas Albert could make a potent halves pairing. I am assuming that Luke Walsh is leaving Catalans for Salford, though it is not official.

Can't see Leigh being part of Super League for a while now. If rumours are true about restructuring/licensing etc, I would be very worried if I were a Leigh fan.
Sort of reminds me of Rovers ten years ago. I fully believe that if they had been relegated in there first season, they would have never come back.
IMO, its alot easier to be included when you're already there. If super league expanded to 14 teams, Tolousd, Toronto, London, Bradford or Leigh? I wonder what the pecking order would be...