I think Barrow would HAVE to be included in the 2nd tier. Our stadium is no worse than Cas, Wakey, Salford and Fev. Plus, we actually won the league and GF in 2009 (something the RFL don't seem to care about) and we knocked Cas out of the Cup.

Out of curiosity, why are Sheffield in that list ??

I said on the last page that I forgot to inlcude Barrow I was doing it by memory.

They are on of the first on the list after the super league clubs.

Sheffield are playing in a big, quality stadium in a big city, they used to be in super league, they have been getting some decent crowds. Huge potential.

Sheffield are on the up...very slowly but there trying

we do need fewer teams in the top division, more teams overall
the increase to a fourteen team league was a mistake, there are 14+ viable clubs who can play in the division, what there are not are 14 squads of European players with sufficient quality, moving to franchises would have been more problematic if they had kept the division at 12 beecasue they would be cutting off more viable clubs for three years or more from one of the two biggest sources of income and reducing the other
it also maintained the high numbers of fixtures which is bad for the players but better for the clubs
the RFL needs to look towards "super league 2" a division of clubs that could be in superleague but are not and split the income from television accordingly, a return to smei automatic P+R would be great too

I notice that no one put forward these ideas last year when Bradford and Hull were near the bottom

Just because Warrington have some mug throwing money at them all of sudden doesnt mean that they should get all smug. It was only a couple of years ago that Warrington were a mid table team at best!

If this had been done last season and we'd got rid of the last four it would have mean't Wire being 10th were bottom club.
At Smith previous bottom club Huddersfield, which he relegated, he kept quiet about his proposal then.

I don't think it's about the number of teams rather about the number of games. Therefore i'd suggest the league is split into two. An Eastern & Western conference containing 8 teams in each.

East
Bradford
Castleford
Harlequins
Huddersfield
Hull FC
Hull KR
Leeds
Wakefield

West
Catalans
Crusaders
Salford
St Helens
Warrington
Widnes
Wigan
Another (Leigh/Barrow/etc)

Team play those in their conference twice and those in the other conference once rotating H & A each season. It would reduce the games from 27 to 22 (23 if you include Murrayfield). Which would allow geniune space for mid season internationals or even East v West. It should help reduce travelling costs and could even increase crowds as the majority of games within the conference are either derbies or will hugely determine if a side makes the play-offs. Top 3/4 from each conference qualify for Play-Offs.

For me, surely we need to increase games not reduce them? If we increase them there's more likely to be more revenues made from individual games, which in turn is likely to stimulate higher incomes and revenues for seasons, which in turn is going to increase players' pay packets and incomes, which will in turn make the game more attractive to those with aspirations to be sports stars, which in turns will stimulate more players in the game and bigger squads and lighten the load on squads.

Or am I clutching at straws?

Fully.

It's a salary cap sport, there is only a max of £1.6 million to spend no matter what.

I wonder how the NRL manage to have a 16 club league and 3 SoO games?

They must be super men or something. Or maybe the NRL and SoO just aren’t as tough and competitive as Super League?

I mean, we can see how poor they are internationally…

So what we are saying is let's restructure the whole game for the benefit of about two dozen players!
What happened to the days of holding down a day job, playing league games and then the Challenge Cup, JP Trophy, Yorks & Lancs Cup and Premiership etc?
WE DO NOT PLAY ENOUGH GAMES TO SUSTAIN THE CLUBS WE HAVE!
Where is the money supposed to come from?

No, this would benefit all players. Less games could lead to fewer injuries and players being able to play on for longer.

We play too many games at the moment. That is without question. 30+ club games a year is not the way forward at all.

20 league games in CC1 this year.
Not enough!

Quins dont play 30+ games per year. I question whether they play in half the games they turn out for- and still manage to get stacks of injuries!

With respect, this isn't about CC1.