& after plenty of us Leigh fans supporting your fans through your last 2 administrations too ! Classy.

Have they fixed that enormous sink hole yet ?

Well thought out & interesting post .....

The product is failing, expansion is last on the list at present. Also how do you think Catalans are still viable in SL.

Sadly, I think Leigh are proof that there are a limited number of SL players of influence. 11 clubs got to pick first, they got what was left, and a lot of them aren’t able to affect an SL game.

I’m not suggesting that their squad doesn’t have players who CAN play at this standard, but that they lack the players who can determine a change in momentum/unlock defence/control a game.

Usually, squads have a lot of these ‘filler’ players, for example Wigan have had Isa, Clubb, Crosby etc. and Leeds had Kirke, Gibson, Achurch etc. No doubt that these have been successful in their career by being in squads that have won trophy’s, but they don’t influence change in matches themselves.

So, is the answer to have less clubs and make the top of the pyramid narrower, or to facilitate better movement of these core talents across a settled group of elite clubs. It’s evident that a lot of clubs have finished their recruitment business before promotion is sorted, so the talent pool is drained before they even get a chance to pick.

Expansion of SL would be a by product not the main aim. The main aim would be to give teams with potential a fighting chance and, over time, improve the competitiveness of the whole competition.
Sorry, I don’t get your reference to Catalans.

Some great posts on here......

I lap up all the business about structures and can assure you for two years now Lenegan & his cohorts cannot stop pushing for a 10 club Superleague and maybe the same for the Championship, so much so that it went to a vote he lost, but that hasn't been the end of it.

Lenegan & Co. getting total control of the SKY money 2022 gives him another chance to push for his "2x10" set up, and how we get to that isn't in any way in the hands of the RFL who have no money, and no power. If at the end of the season Mr. Lenegan and his rich fellow chairmen want to significantly change things who is to stop them?

Certainly it was the votes of Championship and League onc clubs that stopped him last time, a vote he accepted. But once he has all the SKY money he doesn't have to accept West Wales Batley and Coventry saying "no" to him.

Leigh can be the worst ever SL club (bar London) but if Mr. Lenegan fancies Mr. Beaumont to continue putting his money into Superleague next season, rather than bailing out a skint groundless Salford, or allowing Toulouse to field an anglo-aussie team in SL then there we will have it....................

.................Unless anyone can find a quote from Lenegan promotion is 100% "on" this season

Another excellent point Gone are the dark days of the WUM's...........

If there is to be major change for when the reduced SKY deal comes in then as you indicate Lenegan & co can't really make that change after the grand final.

It is an excellent point that clubs are signing players for next season now before the cut off? Could leigh be doing this privately?

I didn't get this point either? Their viability for me is Gaush's money, and the release of Falou, combined with Les Catalans playing nine Frenchmen against Castleford and winning.

The worrying thing with RL at the moment is that it feels like a ever reducing spiral of decisions. Talk of reducing numbers in SL restricting teams that have academies reduced sky money. Less availability of quality players. One of the key things should be to increase participation across all ages all teams should have academies and be charged with recruiting, attracting new players, this is how sport works this is how we grow. Not by reducing the top league so a TV channel can just show a small group of teams endlessly playing each other over and over again. All teams are capable of producing SL quality players given the right development structures. With Leigh we have an owner that is willing to put the resources in the build an academy to create a pathway for local players but is being declined the opportunity. The Leigh club historically has always had a good % of home grown players how can we get back to this without an academy or reserves team.

Independent Commission for the sport? https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/sport/19 ... by-league/

Independent Commission for the sport? https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/sport/19 ... by-league/

Doesn't that apply to most sports, if not all of them?