Widnes didn't get in by winning the Championship 3 times did they. In fact my failing memory (can only think back two seasons) seems to tell me they won nowt in the two seasons prior to SL entry.

I think until franchising is scrapped or Quins go to the wall Non Relegation League is a closed shop.

Having said that I don't want Quins to fold I just feel their future is uncertain. Mind you I could say the same about a lot of clubs in the Championship.

The applications go in in 23 months time, and to answer your question, No

Quite correct , but is that how we want it to be? , honestly?

I agree frank, but the question is, in which league would our future be most uncertain?

You know we don't want it to be like that, but until they change the funding of the whole game and stop giving TV rights away for nothing, and the SL naming rights away for nothing, it can't work any other way. The only real qualification an applicant must have now is the financial ability to cope with superleague. However with the average SL club losses runninng at 300-400K per season, how on earth can they use financial ability as a criteria.

Would we have ' the financial ability to cope with SL ' ?

In a word.......

What about if we retain the train cup why shouldn't we apply? (Can we afford it is another issue altogether)

We have ' qualified ' to apply already, if we think it's a good idea is another question ? , personally I wouldn't bother, and I'd definatly not want to be used as Fax were just to make the process ' credible '

You need a backer who is prepared to lose 1000s

Per day