“The inclusion of both Catalans and Toulouse in SL under their own TV deal will leave eight (8) places for the English.
It's not hard to see who that will be
Lenegan & Wigan
McManus & Saints
Pearson and Hull
HKR & their new chairman and Hudgell
Moran and Warrington
Caddick and Leeds
Davey and Huddersfield
These are largely the richest English club owners and biggest clubs and I would guess in an improved stadium Carter and Wakefield will make the eight.”


On that basis I’d rather Trinity didn’t make the 10. It’d be the most boring pile of cr@p imaginable.

Wakefield are one of the clubs dragging the league down, ground is in the same poor state it was when it was told 'last chance' during the licensing era, crowds are solid but never spectacular (in part due to the poor ground) they haven't made a final in how long now? We are basically handing out a £1m of TV money for you to tread water.

Its a City with no major Football team and potential is there, but how many decades do we have to wait for progress to be made?

And I'm not just throwing stones, my own club should be doing better too, we are in the 'permanently 6th place no matter much money is spent' rut and have issues with our tenancy at the stadium. Pretty much every club in SL needs to be upping their game in different ways.

I wonder if the people coming up with the all new super league format have any connection whatsoever to the clowns that brought us the 3 x 8 debacle.
You know, the "every minute matters nonsense


The drop to 10 clubs is merely to allow the big boys not to suffer a drop in TV revenue and IF there are to be 2 French clubs, relying on their own deal, they would just about hold onto the same amount of cash that they currently receive from Sky.

It's strange how a few years ago, the old first division was cut, to "drive up quality" and then SL was cut from 14 to 12 to "drive up quality" and now we have a further cut "to drive up quality" and yet, through all of these changes the quality had spiraled down.

The obvious solution seems to be to get rid of the cap and allow those that have the cash and want to spend it, to do just that.

However, there are no guarantees.

Eventually, we'll probable end up with McManus and Lennegan staring at each other across the table and blaming the other for the total demise of the sport, only to be saved by Wigan old boys Farrell and Edwards, suggesting that they become Union clubs and then the surrender will be complete. 130 years of resistance down the pan.

I agree with you that cutting the league hasn't driven up standards, the quality of play is the worst I can remember right now.

I also think there's a risk of at least one club being lured to Union eventually. Union still hasn't broken the North despite its best efforts such as sending Johnny Wilkinson to Newcastle. Grabbing St Helens, a proper Leeds or Wigan would be a big prize and would add to the Premiership which is already looking to expand.

Here’s a radical plan to improve the game. Stop fkn about with league set-ups and blindly following what the NRL do with constant rule changes.

I don’t know about getting more people interested in the game because at the moment they’re far more likely to lose the interest of those they already have.

Not sure how reducing the number to f teams makes the sport more appealing just repeat fixtures all the time. Boring. Happened in the championship a while ago and was terrible as teams repeat playing each other they are so familiar with each other they come up with tactics to negate best players and you just end up with 80 minute arm wrestles. If anything extend number bring more fans and players into the mix.

How on this earth do you deduce that Championshipnclubs wasted tens of millions?
The ' elite ' clubs have benefited for years from the money from the broadcast deal and the sport is where it is.
The ' elite ' clubs have been allowed and assisted to get richer.
It isn't, and wasn't, the fault of non - elite clubs that the great and good cannot get decent attendances for their own play- off games or the ' every minute matters ' games against st Championship clubs.
The wasted money on Elstone and Private Equity proved how wonderful it is when the elite owners are left to their own devices.
Even now only the elite are allowed reserve sides and academies.
The rich get richer and the rest can die.
From the vortex to the abyss.Well done the elite.
Be very grateful the much maligned RFL,have,in the past,got the elite owners some money to waste.So you can now blame the impoverished,the unlucky,ne'er-do-wells,for the incompetence and ineptitude of the elite clubs,and their owners who failed during the best of times.Yet you still believe they'll do the right things during the worst of times.
The jewels in the crown?
You probably believed the summer era,playing on nice pitches,in a Super League, would improve our players and we would beat the Aussies...
Yet here are your elite clubs,with their elite owners,still requiring overseas players and overseas head coaches.
Keep following the yellow brick Road...

Wakefield are doing better than Featherstone, and before Daryl Powell came along Cas were no great shakes and were relegated once and escaped relegation on points difference another time. Wheldon road is in a poor state and there's no money for improvements, meanwhile Carter is improving Belle Vue.. But the point here is for balance there has to be a "Calder" club in Superleague and without Powell's undoubted magic, Castleford are no better a bet than Wakey....

Wakey do well banking the funding and surviving. That’s what’s needs to change.

Not your best post mate, Paul Caddick the massively rich builder went to Headingley to turn his Union club into a pro RU outfit. It was a complete disaster.

The M62 is a wasteland for professional Rugby Union, just as the south, the midlands, Scotland Ireland and Wales (and Canada) are wastelands for Rugby league.

This is why we must continue to be an "M62" game.....

I know mate and you'd have a massive point arguing that Leigh in their modern ground with their highly committed wealthy owner are a better bet than Wakefield, and probably a second Hull club, and maybe even Huddersfield

.

They offer absolutely nothing to rugby league when looking at the bigger picture.

But neither do Salford, Leigh and hull kr so it’s unfair to single out Wakefield