indeed. middle 8's has been a great idea even though we've been in once and could be again. some clubs want a closed shop though

The middle 8s might seem a good idea on the surface as it creates 'excitement' but what it also creates is uncertainty for 4 Superleague clubs which in turn means they can't plan for the following year which hinders sponsorship and season ticket sales, we as a sport simply cannot afford to have all the uncertainty for1/3rd of the top tier clubs half way through the season.

Do you think its good that teams are now throwing cash at over rated Aussies in the hope of keeping up ? and we wonder why we don't produce a load of good youngsters, if clubs know they can plan properly after having a bad season it means they are not forced to throw money they don't have at players they don't need. It's just a race to the bottom, the excitement should be at the top of the league not the bottom.

Lets say Either Leeds or Warrington last year got relegated for finishing 9th because they had a bad year, yes it will give some fans a good 'laugh' but it would be a disaster for the Superleague.

Why would it be a disaster for Super League? Some on here are saying that having Toronto in SL will be a great benefit, and why would swapping places with Leeds (given they could be in the bottom 4 come the end of the season) be so bad for SL? If Leeds, or any other current SL team, get relegated then that will be because they have failed to perform better than a current Championship team in the M8's.

In terms of clubs throwing money at players in desperation, surely that's a relatively simple one to fix? Stop clubs from signing new players at an appropriate point in the season.

Regarding excitement, don't we want this at both the top and bottom of each league? The way it's panned out this year means that there's more interest in the bottom of SL and top of the Championship due to the number of clubs still involved, whereas the top 4 of SL is already pretty much decided. It's not talked about much, but the bottom of the Championship is tight as well, with realistically 4 teams playing for the two survival slots. Next season could be completely different.

Without P&R, the vast majority of teams would now be playing out dead rubbers. With P&R, we have around 15 teams still with very much to play for.

With a closed shop for SL, look at the table now and try and see where there's any excitement through the last few games of the season? Just a period of waiting for the top 4 teams for the playoffs to start, and meaningless games for the rest (other than potentially Hull, but overhauling Cas is pretty unlikely).

“Lets say Either Leeds or Warrington last year got relegated for finishing 9th because they had a bad year, yes it will give some fans a good 'laugh' but it would be a disaster for the Superleague”
Was losing Bradford a disaster for Super League?

Bradford were in an absolute mess on and off the field especially off the field, Leeds and Warrington are two if not the two best run clubs in Superleague. And even with Bradfords troubles they were and are a big loss to Superleague with both their crowds and junior development.

You are correct in that it creates uncertainty, but not just for super league clubs. Teams in the leagues below SL have to deal with everything you mentioned in addition to not knowing what their central funding allocation will be the following year. Look at the top of the championship right now, it could go down to the last regular fixture of the season before some of those clubs will know if they're going to be playing games against the likes of Hull KR and Leeds, or Dewsbury and Sheffield.
The disparity in income levels is mad.

This setup also does nothing for youth development. Every overseas signing takes the spot of a british player, and those fighting tooth and nail for SL survival are highly unlikely to bring through any junior talent for fear of dropping out of the top tier of the sport.

Some will disagree but I still think licensing (with mandatory reserve teams) is the way to go.
Give those outside of SL some clear KPIs to hit, and give those who move up into SL a few years to prove their worth.

2 up 2 down, 10x10

Nah.....2 conferences of 9.....play your own teams H&A and then 1 game against the other 9......25 regular seasons games with an assured 12 home games as well as a Magic weekend bonanza of 3 days 3 games a day.

On Current Form...
Conf 1
ST HELENS
WIRE
FC
HUDDS
LEEDS
SALFORD
TORONTO
FAX
LONDON
Conf 2
WIGAN
CASTLEFORD
CATALAN
WAKEY
HKR
WIDNES
TOULOUSE
FEV
LEIGH

8 home games v your conference sides with another 4 v the other conference sides and Magic weekend.....top 4 from each play off quarter finals to GF.......

What we do't need is a new format designed to increase revenue by increasing the number of games......12 home games is 12 opportunities to budget.....SKY (or whomever) TV cash split evenly between all 18 sides with MINIMAL bonus payments to the teams finishing in the top 4 of each conference.......Maybe take the 4 QF games and 2 Semi's to neutral grounds and let all the clubs make money by selling tickets for these EVENTS....?

It's the "SINFIELD" factor
Amended in the original......

Catalans could beat Wigan and if other results go their way Catalans could end up in 6th place instead of their current 7th. Then it is on for all and sundry.

Any of the sides down to 8th could finish as high as fifth. I fully expect Wakefield to beat Hull next week, Hull are in freefall at the moment and with Connor injured that's only going to get worse, and have little to play for now whereas next weeks game is actually Wakefields best shot at avoiding the Middle eights.