Franchising made some clubs including HullFC lazy, we were quite content with getting an 'A' licence and plodding around in mid to low table with no fear of relegation while costs were cut from the backroom staff. When given the size of our crowds, stadium and sponsor/retail income we should be at the very least top half of the table. There is no way the 11th and 12th places we put in back in 2008 & 2009 would have been tolerated if relegation was there as a threat, the board would have had to invest.

It also was a death knell for the Championship, with no promotion on offer there was no point to that league. Whereas now there are several clubs Rovers, London, Toulouse, Toronto and even Halifax and Featherstone who would fancy their chances at winning promotion in the next few years.

It's too boring and RL likes to be innovative for media coverage which we cannot secure otherwise.

Some interesting ideas here - franchising with a twist, and here's my 2-penneth...

Grant SL franchises based on business plans and other criteria, but with rather more challenge on the credibility of the numbers put forward than we've had before. An A license makes you immune from relegation, but you automatically get reassessed if you come in the bottom 2. A B license means you get replaced by a top 2 Championship club who can meet B license criteria as well, with the same for C licenses.

Potential for 2-up, 2-down between SL and the Championship, but only if the Championship clubs have equal or better licensing criteria.

Go bust or into admin, then you're out. No points deductions, you just move down a division automatically. No parachute payments for relegated clubs either.

Lets be honest. the super 8's hasnt worked.

the bottom 4 of the 8 tend be so far behind that by the time we get to the super 8's they cant make the top 4.

we have ended up having games that are dont really mean much. Yes when we had 8 in the play offs that was a failure also as the bottom 4 of the 8 were not good enough and ended up getting hammered.

but we did have times when we saw catalan get results and actually make a run in the play offs. Leeds went all the way from 5th.

i do prefer a system where we have a chance of seeing a dark horse cause upsets in a one off game and can make the play offs exciting. the super 8's doesnt allow it.

What we need to aim for is creating a competition where we can get 8 teams in a play off which wont see hammerings in the 1st round.

What ever happens will have to meet with sky approval so i can't see the GF disappearing unless sky pull out of the deal.
There used to be a good system many years ago where it was based on Lancs & Yorks teams so there was one division & each team played about 34 league games a year.Any team would play all teams on its own side of the Pennines & so many from over the hills to make up the numbers.The competition also worked to provide county divisions because all games played against your own county opponents counted in seperate leagues to provide county champions. It worked well for years.

The problem we have is most fans in RL want every game to mean something but in reality this is impossible in any league system. Do you hear footie fans complaining, most teams in the PL have nothing to play for with months of the season remaining. If your team hasn't had a decent start and find they're to far behind come crunch time, then tough, better luck next year. What your team can do though (when there's nothing to play for) is to cause other teams damage and affect the final result.

Agreed.

The worst thing the RFL ever did was moving to a 8 team play off in a 14 team league that had only 4/5 capable of competing at the top end.ever since then, when average teams gained access to the business end of the season it opened this can of worms where it was felt everyone had to be involved.

Most, if not all, other sports seem to do ok for media coverage without making themselves look stupid/innovative.

We should be portraying RL as the hardest physical sport, played by top athletes, going toe to toe to find the beast Club in the League, Country, World and not selling ourselves as a mickey mouse sport, run by a mickey mouse administration, that cant even take itself seriously.

Nothing wrong with being innovative if it leads somewhere and improves the sport.

Perhaps it's all about marketing . RU seems to be doing well from selling itself.

Chopping and changing the system does rugby league no favours and whilst I think we should be innovative another change will make us look like we do not know what we are doing!

As mentioned take WBA in the Premier League. Come Feb/March this year they had hit the 40 point mark and literally had nothing else to play for, and the Premier League is the dogs whatsits according to many.

The super 8's as a Hull fan was boring in 2015 when we qualified but had zero chance of making the top 4. We decided to blood youngsters and the likes of Logan, Fash, Turget and Matongo all made their debuts. Two years later they are super league ready which probably played a part in this?

I personally still think that the points should be wiped and the top 4 start on 4,3,2,1 points dependant on league placings giving every team a real incentive.

Warrington,Wigan,Saints,Widnes and Leigh in the elite league. Then sod the biased Yorkshire teams.lol

Isn't that this seasons "qualifiers"

Hardest physical lol. It's not in the top 5. Rugby league has been soft for years

Regards

King James

please name the sports above RL and then make a reasoned argument on each to justify your selections.
I'll give you a helping hand, outright injury numbers doesn't automatcially make a sport 'more' physical.
Crack on sonshine.