I'm all for Leigh getting promoted in to SL.

BUT, just because they are dominating the championship and beating ex-SL teams doesn't mean anything. Even if they beat Salford in a one off game it still doesn't mean anything. The 8's league will be totally different from the championship and Challenge cup games. On paper 2 championship teams probably have a chance at coming up and that's Leigh and Bradford. Picking the 4 bottom teams in SL at the moment, they all have players who have performed at a higher standard. Even if Wakefield go the season with only two wins they still have players that can put in a "final" winning performances. So on the day Leigh might have to play 4 big matches against SL players that don't want to lose their jobs.

Personally I see this as the first year in a several year development, which might not see a promotion for a few years. Unfortunately I think a lot of people expect instant promotion and relegation otherwise it's going to be a failure.

Sorry m8. If you were all for Leigh getting the promotion.. You wouldn't have made your last statement.



Do you see yourself being at that the bottom 4 coming the middle 8's?? Is that what worries you?

I think all the Championship clubs need to see this season's Middle 8's as a learning curve and not a disaster if they don't go up at the first attempt. Leigh have made such big strides, relatively speaking in the last two or three years that it's tempting to think promotion will happen. All that has happened, is that we now get a shot at it, which is brilliant, but it's still a long shot and has to be when you consider how many years and how much money all the current SL clubs have had to spend over the last decade. It would be extremely embarrassing to say the least for a current SL side to drop out through the Middle 8's, heads would have to roll.

On the other hand we now have a situation where two Championship clubs can lay claim to bigger support than a number of SL clubs and it's probably been a while since that has happened.

Lol. Do you think everyone who reckons no Championship team will be promoted this year are scared or worried about playing Leigh?

Spot on. Leigh or Bradford or someone else might do really well, or a SL club might implode, and the Championship club is promoted. But I think, because of a couple of good results/performances for Championship clubs in the Cup in recent years, some Championship clubs fans are very much underestimating the size of the challenge.

haha, I think I might of worded it a bit wrong. I'm worried that people will see a none promotion this year as a failure with the system. In my eyes its not a failure, as its a work in progress.

I'm looking forward to it, as the championship clubs will be playing out of their skin to get in to SL and the SL clubs fighting for survival. So on paper it should be some good matches. Nice siege mentality from you though

I'd say yes..

Tbh, the Middle 8 could go to form and the 4 SL clubs finish in the top 4 spots with the Championship clubs filling 5th-8th.

But that still leaves a one off match of 4th vs 5th at the end and in a one off match even when the SL team will be favourites, anything could happen. Won't be no pressure on the Championship club, will be massive pressure on the SL club (who won't have experience of big finals to draw on, at least the likes of Leigh can look back to recents finals at that level)......8 times out of 10 the SL team would win IMO, but as Sheffield Eagles proved in 1998, it doesn't always go according to script.

The Championship sides don't even need to win a game against the SL sides in the 'league' format......all they need to do is be the best of the Championship sides and finish 5th and win that one off "Million Pound" game and they're up.

I think people are forgetting. It ain't the top 4 sides that get 'promoted' to SL. It's the top 3 sides and the winner of a one off game between 4th and 5th.

Indeed.
If one or two clubs finish a long way behind the rest in SL, they will go into the middle 8 with very low confidence compared with the clubs at the top of the Championship who will be fired up and full of confidence.
The big unknown question is, how the Championship clubs will cope with 7 games in a row, with higher intensity, against full time opposition.

I still despise the concept but, the games will be an interesting watch.

Of course, the sting in the tail is that, even if a club wins promotion, they will very likely be back in the middle 8 the following season which isn't much of a reward.

The bit the super league fans are not grasping is it gives a clear passage for any club below super league to progress,its not a boom and bust its a steady growth were you can keep hold of your players,they grow and each year they know what they need to do to compete.the crowds increase bringing more money into the club which in turn means the club can sign up better youngsters thus improving themselves.if you ask any Leigh fan is it much of a reward to only end up in the bottom four of super league next year they would snatch your hand off.....cannot wait for the middle 8 games with Wakefield both hulls and Widnes playing at Leigh

It isn't a clear passage, it's dangling a forlorn hope in the naively grateful faces of Championship sides. The sort of steady progression you advocate would see you stuffed in every game, hell you'd probably struggle to get in the top 4 of the Championship. To have any hope a championship side needs to take a punt at a fair few players who are almost but not quite superleague class. Steady growth of your existing players isn't going to get you remotely competitive in the middle 8s.

And once you've made the decision to have your Lee Gaskell's and Moi Moi, you've probably got two good years at sustaining full time promotion chasing. Thereafter any decent players will leave and, in my opinion, the club falls back from serious contention.

I know everything is rosey in the Leigh garden, but at Bradford we know if we don't get up this time or next, we might never under this faux promotion system.

I haven't done the maths but would 4 wins out of 7 get you in one to third spot in the middle 8's ?

Say Leigh beat (for example) Fev, Bulls and Halifax plus one SL club - would that be enough ?

I don't think so off the top of my head.

8 points would give them a good shot of being 3rd but I think it's possible two teams could finish on 8 pts with points difference pushing one down into 4th.

The plus side is that there is a pathway into SL for Championship clubs into SL, which is good for the game and the possibility of promotion has re-invigorated the Championship.

As I mentioned earlier, the difficulty for any club that gains promotion, will be staying in SL.
Far from allowing steady growth, promoted clubs will have the uncertainty of the following seasons "qualifying league".

As things sand, most fans could predict the top half of SL (although Dr K may want to spoil the party), which leaves the other 6 clubs battling for 2 places.
The uncertainty that this causes has to have an impact on recruitment for next season and the top 6 (Saints, Leeds, Warrington, Wigan, Huddersfield and Catalan) have a massive advantage over the other clubs when it comes to signing players on long term deals.

IF Leigh and/ or Bradford gain promotion, they wont be in a position to entice the quality of player to allow them to finish in the top 8 an therefore they are likely to yo-yo between the divisions, which is one of the main reasons that the sport went for the licensing system in the first place (plus the ability of clubs to develop more home grown youngsters.

The 2 x 12, 3x8 structure will see the return of the merry go round of journeyman pros moving from relegated club to promoted club and back again, just as it was pre licensing and inevitably, some clubs will over stretch themselves financially, either chasing the dream or trying t survive in the top flight (not to mention the dual reg. debacle).

You missed the obvious point "We are able to keep hold of our players"..We are no longer a feeder club for SL..Bradfords scenario is completely different to a Championship sides scenario as your indeed finding out.

I'm sick of saying this,you were relegated from SL..The championship sides have been striving for SL many seasons..It's about time they were given a chance or a path that didn't have a closed gate at the end.