Developing this theme still further how about numbered apples instead of rugby shaped balls !

Obvious choices for me would be:
Workington v Whitehaven (Cumbrian Derby)
Sheffield v Doncaster (South Yorkshire Derby)
Batley v Dewsbury (Heavy Woollen Derby)

This would leave London, Leigh, Featherstone, Hunslet, Bradford and Halifax
If you assume that the RFL want two games with large crowds one to end each day that would give you
Halifax v Bradford (West Yorkshire Derby with a lot of history/rivalry)
Leigh v Featherstone (arguably the best teams from last year’s comp)
or some other combination of the same four clubs

That would mean
London v Hunslet as the remaining game

Maybe no club would argue but their fans might, just as fans do after every draw

as I said, either 1 or 3 semi-professional clubs fans will have plenty to whine about when they are drawn against a 100% full-time outfit. Given they "bottom" 8 Keep their points from the regular season before they enter their "avoid relegation" play-offs, being drawn against Bradford, London or Leigh could be the difference between finishing in a relegation spot or not.
Yes, all 12 teams have the opportunity to be full-time, but the reality is there isn't the money available for 24 pro teams in the UK........It's a skewed system that rewards teams with benefactors prepared to prop them up.

It's not down to the RFL to consider who is F/t and who is P/t in my eyes. The set of fixtures by FevGrinder make sense

That's not going to stop the whining from Hunslet, (or whomever) fans when they are relegated at the end of the year by 1 point and the team above them got to play another semi-pro side....
The reason for the switch back to 12 from 14 sides was because the game couldn't support 14 pro teams. Next year it will actually have 15. The only difference is that the 3 professional teams that aren't in SL are also unfairly hamstrung with a lesser salary cap allowance. If the RFL truly wanted a team to have a chance of promotion then Championship teams should be allowed the same cap limit as SL sides.....it would certainly make the middle 8 games far more competitive than they are going to be.

Yep.

You were the one who brought GF into the thread with a snide comment and then you moan

yawn is a moan??? am confused

Think about it then.

Well am pleased that you see it as a snide comment and thank you for your insightful input to the discussion! Apparently most of gutters "digs" at people in his own words are meant as "banter"!!!!!! so take it whichever way you will! What you failed to notice was the other poster who responded used several smiley emoticons, gives the hint we are taking the mick a wee bit.
But if you wish to take it as a snide comment then thats fine! The 15 line response to one word actually just doubled the yawn

Yawn

Not wishing to spoil you in fighting (debate) what GF states about the unfairness of the additional 23rd game is true, and if my team was relegated having had a harder fixture than the team above us in the league then I would be a bit peeved. However fixture lists have always been skewed whether it be from:
- Having a harder 23rd game in either SL or Championship meaning missing out on a promotion/relegation spot (this could affect which teams are in the middle 8 both ways.
- An uneven set of fixtures in Championship 1 where not all teams play each other in the league.
- One team getting an easier game on Good Friday before playing a rival team, whom have had a hard game on the Friday night.
- Halifax having what on paper looks to be an easy game week 1 against Whitehaven before playing Leigh at home week 2 when Leigh have had a hard game against Bradford in week 1.
- Playing a team who plays expansive rugby in June when a rival club has been lucky to play them in February when the ground conditions are a disadvantage to the team who plays expansive rugby.
- Etc.
The reality is we all know what the rules (and fixture) are before we start the season so we all have to get on with it. And the vagaries of the fixtures have been with us since we have been playing in leagues. The issues with the extra game have been with us a long time and applied to SL relegation before the franchise system came into force.

I think the salary cap discrepancy is a much bigger deal when you get to the middle 8 since this puts the 4 teams from SL at a big advantage. To allow all the clubs across all 3 leagues to have the same salary cap, with caveats such as it can only be 50% of revenue, only 20 players over 20k per annum, etc. would make a lot of sense. This gives Bradford the opportunity to spend more and gives them the best chance of getting back into SL, and why shouldn’t they have that chance? Why should Wakefield or Salford, etc. have a significant advantage in the middle 8? And eventually all clubs would find the right level in this way. However to make this even a possibility the TV money has to be circulated on a more even basis across all clubs and since we have owners at the top level that want to keep more of the TV money in SL this will never happen. And it will be all branded as the RFL are helping clubs by saving them from themselves to stop them overspending.

gutters good response
Fev mate, this is not in fighting this is us being nice nice to each other

But back on thread, I think using Bradford as an example of spending the salary cap is nearly as daft as using us, we never actually went into administration but near as damn
You do make a good point though! the salary cap is apparently in place to protect clubs from over spending, that obviously has not worked.
So yep maybe they should let clubs spend what they can afford! if it was 50% of gate receipts technically last year we could have spent nothing!!
The fixture list is the fixture list, I think the worries that one of the part time teams is going to kick off because they get us or Bradford is a bit of a misnomer! all the clubs signed up to it and am pretty sure will just get on with it

I wasn't worried
I simply pointed out the unfairness of a) the extra game and b) the cap restrictions.

True, we know the rules before we start and the extra fixture is in there, but the reality is it does nothing other than create the unfairness and make the RFL a few bob. The initial "spreading the gospel" reason is long gone.....it's about cash.

The Cap issue should be "everyone can spend the same" but if you go bust, don't expect us to bail you out. Then if Bradford (or anyone else for that matter) go tits up, then they go Tits up.....the game will survive.

If we were allowed to spend the same cap as Wakefield, HKR, Salford and any of the other Middle 8 candidates, then the middle 8 competition would be a hum-dinger that regardless of SKY's interest, would attract bigger crowds than it's going to this year, when basically the worst side in SL will be playing a side with 50% less to spend on players who have in all probability "coasted" through the season.