With the attendances for play-off games in Super League not the best,how will play-off games against part time opposition improve things? Should the part time players progress will there be enough time to get them up to full time fitness levels for the season ahead?
Should the sport find the resources to fund a relegated club with parachute payments will it give that club an unfair advantage against other Championship clubs?It could result in a yo-yo future for some clubs.

Has the idea for change come about due to pressure from Championship clubs or because licensing and clubs avoiding debt has failed,or because the international players want fewer but more intense games?
Are any of those questions answered by the announcement yesterday and has any consideration been given to financing the development of younger players and attaining the level of the players representing Australia at international level?

Just have to suck it and see until the next change.It doesn't strike me as progress on any of the topics raised over the recent years and the financing of it also concerns me.
Supporters of Championship clubs may be happy with their prospects of promotion but the idea may fail to generate better sponsorship and interest from non-rugby league followers.

if we were to have a decent run in this extended season ,our end of season could overlap with the start of sales , who would get priority if we both had a friday night fixture ? would we get sent to leigh again

Whilst it means everyone will have something to play for I cannot see how this will help clubs financially.

There is already a reduction in games due to Super League being reduced to 12. If you come 8th in Super League, which means you would be away in the first stage of the play offs, and get knocked out, your season ends early and as a club there is only the income of 11 home games. Not much to sustain cash strapped clubs over 12 months.

Unless, I am mistaken and the top 8 are to form a mini league too?

Surely the format for the playoffs will have to change, otherwise the 7th and 8th placed clubs could play 23 games and those 9th and below 29 games. This would give the lower placed clubs an unfair reward of an extra 3 home fixtures for failing to make the top 8.

The playoff format will have to change otherwise the 7th and 8th placed clubs could be financially disadvantaged for performing better during the regular season. It would be a total non starter because no club could survive with just 11 home fixtures. The only way around this if they wanted to keep the existing format would be to compensate 7th and 8th placed clubs with 250K each.

Why the RL have to try and complicate matters is beyond me.

A straight forward reduction of SL if that's what is wanted and then promotion and relegation, two down with the bottom club relegated and the Champions of the Championship promoted. Second bottom of SL then plays second in the Championship in a play off to decide who gets the SL place.

I'd then look at allowing both clubs promoted a 12 month break from being included in the relegation battle the following season.

The top 8 in superleague, will play a further 7 rounds after the split (aka everyone will play everyone once) taking the number of rounds to 30. I believe the top 4 get 4 home games and 3 away games, and similarly finishing 5-8 means you'll play 3 home games and 4 away games. It means the minimum number of home games increases from 13 currently to 14 and the maximum of 14 currently (when magic weekend is considered a home game) to 16 (magic a home game, and finish in top 4). It also means, if your in the top 8 you will play the traditionally ... Better supported clubs ... Shall we say ... Which will positively skew the attendances (Wigan and saints are, supposing both finish in the top 8 guaranteed to play 3 derbies instead of the 2 now, which will draw a much bigger crowd etc)

From then the top 4 will compete in an actual playoff (1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 ) winners straight into the grandfinal.

The bottom 4 in super league will drop out, and join a new middle 8 league with the top 4 of the championship. Unlike the top 8 everyone's points are reset to 0 and will play 7 games, with the championship clubs having 4 home games and the super league ones having 3. Teams who finish 1st 2nd and 3rd are ensured promotion/ safety (depending on who they are) and after the 7 rounds, the 4th placed side will play a one off match against the 5th placed side, with the winner taking the last remaining spot in the super league the following year.

Clear?

Clear. Thanks for taking the time to explain it. In my opinion this is a far better way of doing it and whoever came up with this format is a genius.

What it will do is get the pulses racing for every fan of every club in those last seven games with so much at stake. The end of a season should always be the pinnacle, not the start as it is for most. Bring it on!!

Thanks MS for taking the time to post that information.
Not that I consider the game to be totally fragmented,but will these Play-off games be by the Championship criteria of 3 points for a win and a bonus point of 1 for losing by 12 or less points,or is it 2 points for the win?
Will dual-reg.players be allowed to play in these games?

I have absolutely no idea which set of rules the middle 8 will play under, I can only assume there will be no bonus points as with the championship now (and I hope not because to me getting points for losing is frankly stupid) I will double check in a minute.

I imagine duel reg will depend entirely how arrangements are set up.

In the case of saints, I know the way it works is in the middle of the week we will send Whitehaven a list of players we are making available for them, and from that they can then decide if they want anybody to feature. If this is the case with every club, and the two teams found themselves in the same group, it would be a case of simply not offering the players up.

I also believe that two superleague teams can't be duel reg, so should a team win promotion, they wouldn't be allowed to continue (though I'll have to check on that)

Great, thanks for that, but how does the Relegation work for the Championship and the Promotion for the Championship 1 clubs ?

Will there even be dual reg in 2015? The idea is to get strong clubs into SL1 not clubs that rely on players from other teams.

I believe there will be a straight 2 up 2 down, the league champions and the grandfinal winners, but there is a minimum criteria that all championship and super league clubs adhere to, which any promotion team needs to satisfy.

There has been no mention of dual reg, simply put. My assumption is it will still be an option open to clubs, but potentially fewer clubs will be viable options for top clubs.

Hopefully what this will mean is more clubs will take on clubs who are in expansion areas instead.

Eamonn McManus at Saints,fulsome in his praise of it !
rlHERErl

Much is said at present that the league winners don't get enough recognition.

Under this new system it strikes me that a team could win the 23 game season and the 7 game play off group but then still not be champions by virtue of losing one game in eiher the play off semi final or final.

To me this makes a mockery of the game if after 30 games you are not the best side team particularly if you come top of the group of eight.